This weekend we welcome back our Sunday 9:00am Family Mass (and Coffee & Donuts!) and our Sunday 5pm Youth Mass!
It’s the 2nd Sunday of the month, so we’re at St. Paul this weekend – please join us after the 9:00am Family Mass for Coffee & Donuts in the Parish Hall, and after the Sunday 5pm we’ll celebrate with “Make Your Own Sundaes”!
October 2023 will begin a process of communal discernment in a month-long Vatican assembly of Bishops, Cardinals, Priests, Consecrated, and Lay People representing the experiences of the whole People of God at the Synod on Synodality. Throughout this two year process, their guiding document will be the Instrumentum Laboris, a document which was compiled from the sharing of millions of Catholics worldwide participating in the Continental Stage of the Synod… For the first time in history, women (more than 50!) will be voting delegates of the Synod. A significant area of focus for the Synod will be the equal baptismal dignity of Women in the Church…
I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is also a minister (diakonos) of the church at Cenchreae,
that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the holy ones,
and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a benefactor to many and to me as well.
-Romans 16:1,2
I am so happy to introduce you to Sister Colleen Gibson, SSJ, the new Coordinator of Pastoral Care for our Collaborative. Sister Colleen, whose primary office will be at the St. Paul Rectory Offices, will work in partnership with Kelly Meraw, our Director of Pastoral Care, on adult faith formation programs, service and outreach initiatives, and coordinating sacramental liturgies and services across the Collaborative. Below is a brief introduction – please join me in welcoming Sister Colleen to our Collaborative!
Sister Colleen Gibson, SSJ is a Sister of Saint Joseph from Philadelphia and recent graduate of the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. An award-winning writer, her work appears regularly in Give Us This Day and the National Catholic Reporter…
Please join us on Sunday, September 17 for our first post-Covid Collaborative Outdoor Mass and fellowship event! Putting to use everything we learned (and all the equipment we aquired!) celebrating outdoor Masses during Covid, we will gather as a Collaborative community on the expansive lawn in front of St. Paul Church for Mass – recreating what Fr. Jim calls “our own Tanglewood East!” After Mass we’ll come together in the parking lot behind the church for fellowship, food, and fun!
The St. John-St. Paul Collaborative has been a part of the NPH family since 2017, and our Collaborative families currently sponsor more than 100 children in NPH homes. On the weekend of September 9-10, representatives from NPH, as well as members of our parishes who are currently sponsoring children, will be present at all Masses to talk about the sponsorship program and to encourage those who are able to sponsor a child…
The online signup for Fall Masses (September 9/10 – November 25/26) is now open! Please visit the Eucharistic Ministers and Lectors page on our website (sjspwellesley.org/liturgy/eucharistic-ministers-and-lectors) to sign up!
Anyone interested in learning more about serving as a Lector or Eucharistic Minister is encouraged to contact Kelly Meraw…
I am thrilled to let you know that we will be welcoming a new deacon to our St. John-St. Paul Collaborative community!
Rick Vatcher will be ordained a Permanent Deacon on September 9, and will be joining our Collaborative pastoral staff in a part-time capacity after that.
Below is a brief introduction – I know you will join me in welcoming him to the Collaborative!
Enlarge the Space of Your Tent: Rethinking Women’s Participation is a Global Synod Gathering hosted at the Pastoral Center of the Archdiocese of Boston in Braintree on Saturday, September 23 from 2:00 – 5:00pm. Participants will be invited through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the resources of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to fruitfully contribute to Conversations in the Spirit. The event will include: a gathering and invitational liturgy, small group sharing, personal witnesses, fellowship, and a Vigil Mass celebrated by Father Richard Lennan.
Preregistration required…
All registered families should have received an email with program information for the upcoming year. This email has detailed information about each program, schedules and a link to the Religious Ed website. If you have not received the email please check your spam folder and if it is not there please contact Linda at Linda.Messore@sjspwellesley.org to resolve any communication issues. Please note that we are still looking for teachers for Sunday morning and Wednesday afternoon classes… Please consider sharing your faith with the young people in our program…