June 2023 – St. John – St. Paul Catholic Collaborative

Hunger Doesn’t Take Vacations – Your Help is Needed This Summer!

As you know, our parishes collect non-perishable food items for local food pantries – the Wellesley Food Pantry at St. Paul and the St. Katharine Drexel Food Pantry at St. John. What you may not know is that food pantries face their greatest need in the summer. Why? Families with children who receive free/reduced-cost breakfast and lunch have to find a way to replace those meals during the summer break – so they turn to food pantries for help. At the same time, food pantry donations drop as folks who regularly support the pantries go away.

We have already seen a significant drop in both parish food pantry collections since Memorial Day…

WYD Lisbon 2023 Update: Itineraries for Pope Francis – and for us!

It’s official! Pope Francis’ itinerary for his apostolic visit to Portugal for World Youth Day has been released!

Our journey begins with an overnight flight on Friday, July 28 from Boston, arriving in Portugal early Saturday. After spending Saturday in Santarém, site of a Eucharistic Miracle, we travel to Fatima where we will celebrate Mass with Cardinal Sean on Sunday. On Monday we head to Lisbon – here’s the preliminary schedule for the week…

Cardinal O’Malley’s Statement on Newton Tragedy

“As priests, we serve to minister to people in times of great loss and tragedy. Often words are not enough to help families and friends come to terms with the loss of a loved one. We look to God for answers. We seek to understand. Often, we simply cannot make sense of what has happened. But our faith sustains us, and in this moment of enormous pain, we know that God is with us always.

This week and for the weeks, months, and years ahead, the brutal and senseless murders of Gilda D’Amore, her husband, Bruno D’Amore, and Gilda’s mother, Lucia Arpino, will stay with us as we come to terms with this unimaginable loss. They loved Christ and the Church. On the day of their murders, Gilda and Bruno were to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at Our Lady Help of Christians. They lived their Catholic faith proudly and in service to the Church…”

NPH Update: Modesto’s Story

The St. John-St. Paul Collaborative has been a part of the Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (Our Little Brothers and Sisters) family since 2017. You can learn more about the history of our partnership with NPH on our NPH: Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos page.

NPH will be providing periodic updates that we will share in the bulletin and on the website to help us stay current on their amazing work!

Dear Parishioners,

The mission of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) – meaning ‘our little brothers and sisters’ – is to transform the lives of vulnerable children in nine countries in Latin America and the Caribbean… I want to share a recent story of a young boy Modesto, who joined the home in Mexico in 2015, because his family lacked resources to take care of him…

WYD 2023 Update: 33 Days to Go!

Last weekend we participated in an event for all pilgrims traveling to WYD Lisbon with the Archdiocese of Boston – a group of more than 200 people. It was an extraordinary opportunity to experience the joy, excitement, and enthusiasm of those preparing to make this pilgrimage with us!

In addition to winning the WYD Trivia Contest led by Chris Donoghue, Evangelization Consultant with the Secretariat for Evangelization and Discipleship, our group demonstrated that they are most likely to break out in song – and dance!

We were moved by the Spirit – literally!

Instrumentum laboris: Vatican releases Synod working document

On June 20, the secretariat for the synod published the working document (known by its Latin title instrumentum laboris) for the first session of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality that will be held in the Vatican from October 4 to October 29, 2023. The second session will be held in October 2024.

Cardinal Grech described the working document as “the fruit of a synodal process” that started on Oct. 10, 2021, and “involved the whole church” in an exercise of listening to the people of God…

Collaborative Book Club: “How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization”

We will continue with Chapters 5-6 of How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, by Thomas E. Woods. (Available online and at local booksellers.)

In this short book, Professor Woods provides a survey of the Church’s contribution to literary preservation, education, science, art and architecture, law, economics, charity, and morality.

NEWCOMERS WELCOME! Meetings are in person on the 2nd and 4th Thursday evenings of each month at St. Paul. To register or make inquiries, please email: bookclub@sjspwellesley.org