Lenten Season

02-25-2022Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, VC

Have you made any plans yet for the Lenten season this year? Remember, Lent begins next week on Ash Wednesday, March 2. The season of Lent is not the most favorite season for a number of people. This is generally because they consider Lent as a time to give up something or a time of self-discipline. This is generally true, however, the best way to look at the season of Lent is to consider it as a period of renewal, a period of spiritual fruitfulness, and a period of spiritual growth. The most common way many people make plans for the season of Lent is by making Lenten promises.

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Charity and Development Appeal (CDA)

02-18-2022Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, VC

This weekend is the Kickoff Weekend for the CDA in our parish community. Our Bishop, Thomas Olmsted, will be directly inviting everyone to participate during all Masses. I thank those who have already participated this year in the CDA. We will provide you with an envelope this weekend, especially if you have not yet received one by mail. We will also explain the different ways to give to CDA, including the new “text to give” option. 

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Charity and Development Appeal

02-11-2022Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, VC

It is the time of year again when we are all called to participate in the annual Charity and Development Appeal (CDA). I thank all of our parishioners who participated in the appeal last year. Despite the pandemic, we went beyond our goal of $85,000 by over 98%. A total of 239 families in our parish participated in the CDA last year with a total gift of $88,500. I also thank those who have already participated in the appeal this year. Our parish goal remains the same this year at $85,000. 

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Catholic Schools Week Concludes

02-04-2022Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, VC

Congratulations to our St. John Bosco School and St. Benedict community for a very successful Catholic Schools Week celebration. The celebration started last Sunday and ended today with an outdoor Mass. All the events went well as planned. The high points of the week were the Field Day on Tuesday, Open House on Wednesday, with the climax being the celebration of the Feast of St. John Bosco with a special play about his life presented by the 5th graders on Thursday and the beautiful outdoor Mass today. The original feast day for St. John Bosco is January 31st, but we celebrated it today as our closing event for the week.

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Catholic Schools Week

01-28-2022Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, VC

This week we celebrate the 48th Annual Catholic Schools Week (CSW) in all of the Dioceses throughout the United States from January 30th through February 5th. Traditionally, CSW is held from the last Sunday in January and runs all week.  

The theme for National CSW 2022 is “Catholic Schools: Faith. Excellence. Service.” This theme embodies the core values found in Catholic schools across the country; that is, to train the child academically, morally, spiritually, and socially so they can become future servant leaders, faith-filled disciples, and good citizens.

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Pro-Life Week

01-21-2022Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, VC

This week, Catholics across the country are encouraged to actively participate in prayers, fasting, a peaceful March For Life, vigils and Mass as we pray for protection and respect for human life from the moment of conception to natural death. Catholics across the country started the annual Nine-day Novena for protection for human life beginning on Wednesday this week, January 19 continuing through Thursday next week, January 27. Each day’s intention is accompanied by a short reflection and suggested actions to help build a culture of life. It is not too late for you to join the novena if you have not already started. You can download the novena or sign up to receive the daily prayers via email or text message here.

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Revisiting Our New Year Resolutions

01-14-2022Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, VC

How is your New Year going so far? Did you know that this mid-weekend in January is commonly known as “Quitters Weekend? Studies found that today, January 14 and Monday January 17 are considered as Quitters Days. The theory behind this is that most people generally give up their motivation to keep their new year resolutions by the second Friday of January. Research also found that only 10% of people generally keep their new year resolutions to the end. I found this very interesting! Do you think you could be one of the 10% this year? Whether you made your new year resolutions privately or as a family, this weekend is a wake-up call to all of us revisit our new year plans as we move farther on our journey through the year.

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End of Christmas Season

01-07-2022Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, VC

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a peaceful Christmas and New Year celebration. We have one of the shortest Christmastide this year as the Christmas season ends this weekend with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. We can now put away all of our Christmas decorations. We will begin the 1st week of Ordinary Time, Year “C” from Monday next week. The Ordinary Time will last from next week until Ash Wednesday on March 2, 2022.

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Happy New Year

12-31-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, VC

Just like a dream, the year 2022 is just a few hours away now. I thank God for His blessings upon our families and our parish community through this year, 2021. The end of a year and beginning of a new year is generally a time of personal inventory and planning. As we count God’s blessings upon us through this year, let us also entrust all our plans and dreams for the year 2022 into His hands that He will see us through it all to the end.

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Merry Christmas!

12-24-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, VC

Merry Christmas everyone! We thank God for the beautiful rain this morning. We surely need it. Looking at the current weather situation, we will hold all our Christmas Masses indoors tonight and tomorrow in St John Bosco Multipurpose Room (MPR). I apologize for informing you about the change at this last minute. The Mass times remain the same at: 4pm, 6pm, 8pm and 11pm tonight. The Christmas Day Mass is at 10am tomorrow. Please check our parish website and bulletin for more information about Christmas schedules.

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Advent Penance Service

12-17-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, VC

I invite you and your family and friends to join us for our parish Advent Penance Service at 7pm on Tuesday, December 21 in the St. John Bosco Catholic School (SJB) Multi-purpose Room (MPR). We expect about 10 priests from our Deanery to attend. We will start with a Penitential Service which will then be followed by individual Confessions.

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Thank You

12-10-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, V.C.

I would like to thank everyone who attended the Mass on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on Wednesday last week. All three Masses were well-attended, and more than we had expected. The noon Mass, in particular, was so well-attended that the Chapel was overflowing. Thus we created an additional concurrent Mass in Annex 1 to accommodate everyone. This was a good problem to have! Thank you to everyone who helped with setting up and tearing down for the Masses.

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Welcome to the New Liturgical Year

12-03-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, V.C.

Welcome to the month of December and the beginning of the new Liturgical year, “C.” A new liturgical year is the beginning of a new step on our spiritual journey and an invitation to grow closer to Christ. The Church urges us to take the beginning of the liturgical year as seriously as we take the new calendar year. Just as we do for the calendar year, we are encouraged to consider making some new year resolutions at the beginning of Advent to help us grow in our spiritual life.

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