Author: diocesan-reston

Pentecost Sunday Multi–Lingual Mass/Multi–Cultural Reception 

On Sunday, June 5, we will celebrate a Pentecost Multi-Lingual Mass at 12:00pm (this Mass replaces our 11:30am and 2:00pm Masses). We would love to have many different cultures represented, whether in word, song, or visually in how we dress, either in our native dress or in red (the color of Pentecost).

St. Paul tells us through his first letter to the Corinthians: “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.”  (1 Corinthians 12:13). Come to our Mass and join our one body in Christ!

After the Mass, we will have a potluck in the Brown/McCarthy Auditorium. To volunteer to bring a dish, click here.

We hope you will join us for this vibrant celebration of the birthday of the Church!

Domingo de Pentecostés Misa Multilingüe/Recepción Multicultural 

El domingo, 5 de junio, celebraremos una Misa Multilingüe de Pentecostés a las 12:00pm (esta Misa reemplaza nuestras Misas de 11:30am y 2:00pm). Nos encantaría tener muchas culturas diferentes representadas, ya sea en palabras, cantos, o visualmente en cómo nos vestimos, ya sea con nuestra vestimenta nativa o en rojo (el color de Pentecostés).

San Pablo nos dice en su primera carta a los Corintios “Como el cuerpo es uno aunque tenga muchas partes, y todas las partes del cuerpo, aunque sean muchas, son un solo cuerpo, así también Cristo. Porque en un solo Espíritu fuimos todos bautizados en un solo cuerpo, ya sean judíos o griegos, esclavos o libres, y a todos se nos dio a beber un solo Espíritu”.  (1 Corintios 12:13). Ven a nuestra misa y únete a nuestro único cuerpo en Cristo.

Después de la misa, tendremos un potluck en el Auditorio Brown/McCarthy. Para ser voluntario para traer un plato, haga clic aquí.

Esperamos que se una a nosotros en esta vibrante celebración del cumpleaños de la Iglesia.

This year, we will hold our special collection for the Diocesan Missionary Cooperative Appeal to benefit the Diocese of Kumbakonam, India, on the weekend of July 30-31.

This Diocese started in 1899 in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, has an area of 7824 sq. km. (3,020.8 sq. mi.) and a Catholic population of 2,13,000 (6% of the population), living in 94 parishes and 610 missions served by 224 diocesan and 79 religious priests, 620 nuns, 12 trained catechists, 330 untrained lay catechists, and two social service centers.

What does the Diocese Need?

These are its most pressing missionary needs:-

• Establishing eight more new parishes, each with a new church. Also, the large missions need to be made independent parishes with the resident priest for better pastoral ministry. But the people are unable to give financial support.
  
• Providing the 136 Catholic schools and 22 orphanages in the missions with better facilities, building, infrastructure, educational and technical tools, children’s Bibles, a projector, catechetical materials in the form of videos, pictures, textbooks, and workbooks to improve the quality of religious and faith formation of Catholic and non-Catholic students in mission­ schools. Schools are our main means of ushering in progress at all levels. Education is a main means of evangelization and boosting the prospects of the youth.

• Enabling 480 nuns and 4955 Catholic Teachers in charge of catechetical, educational, medical, and social ministries throughout this rural to educate the children and adults in the Catholic faith and to help the people, particularly the poor and the marginalized, for their integral development, through annual seminars on Scripture and Catechetics.

• Projecting the healing touch and loving care of the Divine Healer through our diocesan hospitals for lepers, homes and school for deaf and hard of hearing children, children of HIV patients, and the many rural medical staffed by nuns.

• Education of more young men in the seminary since the diocese abounds in vocations to the priesthood and religious life. This would allow the diocese to send some of the young people as missionaries to missions abroad where there is a shortage of priests. 

Note: Every year an average of 120 young men and women go from this diocese to other missions and religious orders in India and abroad as missionaries.

• Educating 4,800 very poor or orphan children, from families of single mothers and widows, and of addictive and abusive fathers by providing them with free boarding and lodging, in order to eradicate child labor. Such children are forced to tend cattle, work in hazardous conditions in factories, hotels, or farms in order to eke out a living for the family.

The above mission projects are 80% dependent on MCP funds. Due to acute poverty of 65% of the Catholics, the diocese depends mostly on funds from the annual mission appeal for the pastoral, educational, medical, and socio-economic emancipation of the marginalized and QOOI converts.

Your Christ like intervention and sacrifice of:

• $20 will feed a poor child or an orphan for a month.($200 annually).
• $50 will enable a single mother or widow feed her family of three for a month.
• $100 for monthly pay for a catechist.
• $250 will provide four goats to maintain a family of four.
• $500 will educate a physically challenged child (annually).
• $600 will pay the bill for healthcare & family maintenance of a leprosy patient for a year.
• $700 will fix the roof of a hut.
• $800 will provide a cow to feed an entire family of five or more.
• $900 11 provide a grocery store, and employment to feed a family of 10 with elderly parents and grandparents.
• $1000 for treatment and rehabilitation of an individual afflicted with leprosy.
• $2000 to sponsor a seminarian for a year.
• $6000 for a home a family.
• $2,5000 will build a mission chapel.

Please prayerfully consider a donation to the appeal. Thank you for your generosity!

On the weekend of May 7-8, the SJN Pro-Life Committee hosted their annual Mother’s Day Carnation Sale to benefit the Mother of Mercy Clinic.

On Thursday, May 5, we celebrated our first Cinco de Mayo celebration here at St. John Neumann.

Earth Day Nature Walk at St. John Neumann

For all parishioners. Hosted by Care for our Common Home

When: Saturday April 23 at 10:00am – 11:00am

Where: Meet in front of the church. See here for any last-minute notifications in case of weather issues: http://cfoch.weebly.com/

Join fellow parishioner Alexandria Gillen, certified master naturalist, as we walk along the trails behind the church. Alexandria will point out ecological points of interest and how “everything is connected.”

“Because all creatures are connected, each must be cherished with love and respect, for all of us as living creatures are dependent on one another.” (Laudato Si’ #42)

From Sunday, April 3 to Tuesday, April 5, SJN hosted its annual Parish Lenten Mission. This year, Rev. J. Christian “Chris” Beretta, OSFS, was our speaker. For three nights he preached on the theme, “All Love, No Fear!”

Are you divorced or separated? Would you like to talk with someone else traveling the same road? Would you like to learn more about what our Catholic faith says regarding divorce? Could you use some positive thoughts regarding your future? Then, please join us at our first get-together. We will be meeting in person on seven consecutive Tuesday evenings, starting this Tuesday, April 26, at 7:00pm.Registration is required – Please get in touch with Jo-Ann Duggan jduggan@saintjn.org or call 703-860-6149.