Thank you everyone for the lovely gifts, cards, delicious cookies, and kind wishes you shared with me during my retirement weekend. You have blessed me in so many ways and you remain in my prayers of gratitude and hope!
~ Anne Frederick
Priest Assignment Announced
Priests Assigned to the St. John the Baptist/Holy Spirit Family
We are in a parish family with Holy Spirit
- This will go into effect on July 1st of this year.
- Over the next 3 years we will come together with Holy Spirit to eventually become one canonical parish.
- (Please note, this does not necessarily mean just 1 church building or campus.)
- The pastor and parochial vicar(s) for this parish family will be announced later this spring, and they will begin July 1st.
Letter from Archbishop Etienne
July 30, 2023
St. John the Baptist Church is a Diverse Community
Our parish is growing in its multi-cultural identity. This weekend, our Filipino community shares some of their delicious cuisine, including a signature dessert, halo-halo. This coming Saturday, we will be celebrating a quinceañera from the Mexican culture. It is a blessing for a girl’s 15th birthday, a rite of passage into becoming a young woman. In this blessing, the girl gives thanks to God for the gift of life and faith. She makes the promise, “With your grace, I commit myself to serve my brothers and sisters all my life.” She asks the Blessed Virgin Mary, “ Help me to hear the Word of God as you did, holding it in my heart and loving others, so that as I walk with Jesus in this life, I may worship Him with you in all eternity.”
This coming week we are also celebrating a baptism according to the rite of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. The Melkites, who are Byzantine Rite Catholics in union with Rome, trace their history to the first century Christians of Antioch, where Christianity was introduced by St. Peter. They are mainly centered in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. In their ritual for baptism, the infant is immersed in water, and the infant is also confirmed and shares in Holy Communion.
We are a wonderfully diverse community with many customs and ways of doing things. Our parish priorities call us to look for ways to recognize, respect, and share the cultural diversity that exists in our community. We are all the richer for it