Jesus and His Church

07-31-2022Pastor's LetterFr. Oliver Vietor

Hello,

When it comes to Christian morality, particularly in regard to the Church’s teachings on sexuality, people sometimes want to separate Jesus and Saint Paul. Paul is more explicit and complete on such questions, and so when people are uncomfortable with this, they want to ignore Paul and focus on Jesus, who says less and is perhaps a little less clear. This move is appealing because it puts the priority on Jesus and holds him up as our ultimate authority. The trouble is that it just doesn’t work. We can’t separate Jesus from Saint Paul.

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Rely on your Church Family

07-24-2022Pastor's LetterFr. Oliver Vietor

Hello,

I had my vacation and now it is Fr. Connealy’s turn, so he is away for a bit. As always seems to be the case, my vacation was great but it is nice to be back. We mostly stayed close to home but I did travel back East briefly. This was for my father’s funeral, which went as well as it could. One point that I will always remember was at the committal.

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Gifts I am Grateful For

07-17-2022Pastor's LetterFr. Dan Connealy

Happy Sunday!

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes! I’m grateful to God for another year of life and to be here at St. Joan of Arc with all of you. The gift of the priesthood is another gift from God for which I am incredibly grateful. The Sacraments are the life of our parish and it is a great joy to be a minister of the Holy Eucharist. All of the Sacraments give us the grace to encounter the Risen Lord and experience the Divine Life here and now. I pray that this week each of us is able to spend time to reflect more intently on the Sacred Mysteries and God’s loving action in our lives.

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Encourage Deeper Understanding of Scripture

07-10-2022Gospel Reflection

We can learn a great deal from Mister Rogers. Remember him? He was the gentle soul who found his way into living rooms worldwide starting as far back as 1968. Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was a beloved program that celebrated and exalted people, especially children. He taught us that we are neighbors and that everyone has a place. Everyone matters. He had a vision, born of his relationship with God that highlighted every human life’s innocence, beauty, and uniqueness. To that end, he called us to be responsible for each other, saying nothing different than what Jesus said. Viewers quickly learned that life is not just about me.

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Happy Independence Day!

07-03-2022Pastor's LetterFr. Dan Connealy

Happy Sunday and Happy 4th of July Weekend!

This week we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We recall those famous words of the Declaration, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These truths acknowledged by the founders of our country remind us that these rights are “unalienable”, that is, they are not able to be alienated from the person.

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Feast of St. Joan of Arc

06-26-2022Pastor's LetterFr. Dan Connealy

Happy Sunday!

This Sunday we are celebrating our patronal feast. St. Joan of Arc’s feast day is on May 30. Because she is our patron we are allowed to move it to be celebrated on the closest Sunday. However, since we have been in the Easter season and then had major feasts, this is the first Sunday available. Therefore, this Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of St. Joan of Arc. This means if you follow along with the readings in the Magnificat, Daily Roman Missal, or other book the readings won’t match. If you are looking for something to read about the life of St. Joan of Arc I recommend Mark Twain’s biography “Joan of Arc” or Regine Pernoud’s “Joan of Arc: Her Story”.

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Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

06-19-2022Pastor's LetterFr. Dan Connealy

Happy Sunday!

This Sunday there is much to celebrate. The Church unites in celebrating the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus, or Corpus Christi Sunday. The weeks following the Easter Season are filled with wonderful celebrations of the mysteries of our faith. Today we reflect on the Holy Eucharist, the true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Maybe you have seen the polls that say that over 50% of practicing Catholics do not believe in the True Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. This is astounding!

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Happy Trinity Sunday

06-12-2022Pastor's LetterFr. Dan Connealy

Happy Trinity Sunday!

We give thanks to God for our new priests in the Diocese of Phoenix, Fr. John of the Cross, Fr. Marvin Soto, Fr. Anthony Dang, and our very own Fr. Harold Escarcega. Fr. Harold celebrated his first Mass of Thanksgiving last Sunday. It was a beautiful liturgy with the readings being sung and additional members present to help support our choir. Fr. Harold will begin his first priestly assignment in July at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral. Please keep him and all the new priests in your prayers.

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Pentecost

06-05-2022Pastor's LetterFr. Oliver Vietor

Hello,

If Christmas and Easter celebrate the great mysteries of Christ, then Pentecost celebrates the great mystery of the Church. Some people call Pentecost the birthday of the Church. It was that day when the Holy Spirit came upon the gathering of believers and sent the apostles out into the streets to proclaim the Good News. It was that day when the gathering of believers were gifted with the power of God to carry out the mission with which they had been charged. They became the Church, the instrument of God on earth through which he would call all people into unity and new life.

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The Ascension of Our Lord

05-29-2022Pastor's LetterFr. Oliver Vietor

Hello,

The Ascension is the completion of the Resurrection. When Jesus rose from the dead, He rose up, and now in the Ascension He continues that action, He rises further upward. In fact, He rises all the way to the right hand of God the Father. When we see that the Ascension completes what began at the Resurrection, then it makes a bit more sense. Then also we can see its meaning and the great hope that it holds out to us. Just as Jesus rose from the dead and went up to God, so shall we who have been baptized. In the Ascension, we see the model of our own salvation, which we wait for in hope.

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6th Sunday of Easter

05-22-2022Pastor's LetterFr. Dan Connealy

Happy Sunday!

Congratulations to our newly confirmed and to all those who received their First Communion. This past Friday we had our First Communion and Confirmation Mass in English and the Friday before we had it in Spanish. I am very grateful to all of our catechists who made this such a splendid year. We have such a great team of catechists and volunteers who make everything run so smoothly. I want to offer a special word of gratitude to Laura Gallant, our Coordinator of Religious Education. This was her first year in the position and she did a wonderful job supporting our families, catechists, volunteers, and all the children who received Sacraments this year. Thank you Laura!

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Love One Another

05-15-2022Pastor's LetterFr. Dan Connealy

Happy Sunday!

This Sunday we have another short yet powerful Gospel reading. Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” How profoundly simply is this new commandment that Jesus gives the disciples. “Love one another.” There are no conditions, just a blanket command to love. Jesus tells us that we are to love as he has loved us. How has he loved us? By dying for us while we were still sinners. He did not wait for us to understand everything perfectly. He died for us knowing that we would still, at times, choose sin. Likewise, we are not to wait until we have assurance that someone won’t turn against us. We are called to love one another even if we are not loved in return.

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I Know Them and They Follow Me

05-08-2022Pastor's LetterFr. Dan Connealy

Happy Sunday! And Happy Mother’s Day!

I hope that this day is one filled with many blessings for all of the mothers in our parish. During this month of May, a month of Mary, we entrust our whole parish, but in a special way all mothers to the protection and guidance of the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Luke tells us twice in the beginning of the Gospel he wrote that Mary would ponder the events of her life in her heart. She constantly kept a contemplative spirit and would bring to the Lord everything happening concerning herself and her Son. She is an example for all Christians and in a special way mothers, who always hold their children very dear to their hearts.

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Celebrating the Easter Season

05-01-2022Pastor's LetterFr. Oliver Vietor

Hello,

We are now in the season of Easter and will be for several weeks. Then comes the Ascension and Pentecost and then after that Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi. There are many great celebrations ahead of us this year before summer settles in. The liturgical year is just so rich. I encourage you to look ahead at your calendars and maybe plan something nice for those days. Just as at Easter, the family celebrations that go along with the liturgical celebrations add to our experience of God’s goodness to us. But for now it is Easter.

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