Catholic Charities Appeal — Archbishop Nelson Perez is asking us to take up another collection for the 2022 Catholic Charities Appeal. Saint John's has collected only 32% of our 2022 $21,739 goal. Catholic Charitable appeals have suffered because fewer people are at Mass since the 2020 Covid shut down.
We will take up a Catholic Charities second collection at all Sunday Masses on September 24-25. Please be extra generous to our Catholic Charities collection. You can also mail or bring a donation to the parish office.

Transitus of Saint Francis — As has been the custom at Saint John's for many years, we Capuchins and the Secular Franciscan Order will mark in prayer the death of Saint Francis, his "transitus" to eternal life, on October 3 at 6 PM. Please mark your calendars and join us in prayer in the upper church.

Jack’s Yacs —For many years Saint John’s had one of the most successful young adult ministries in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. However, since the 2020 Covid shut down, our young adult ministry has disappeared. There will be young adult volunteers available after all Masses on October 1-2, greeting young adults and asking for contact information. We hope to invite as many young adults as possible to help us to form a new ministry. Reactivating young adult ministry is one of my highest priorities for Saint John’s.

Relics and Devotions —Saint John Church has a long tradition of devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Bernadette. In 1858 Mary appeared to a peasant girl, Bernadette, in Lourdes, France with a message of healing and peace. Saint John’s has two statues of Our Lady of Lourdes, one in the upper church and one in a grotto in the lower church. People still love to light candles in front of these statues, asking the Blessed Mother for her intercession and help.
For many decades, those attending Wednesday Masses at Saint John’s have offered novena prayers to Our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Bernadette after Mass. After the prayers, relics of Saint Bernadette have been offered for veneration. Since the 2020 Covid shut down, the relics have not been presented to those in attendance. Starting this week, the relics will again be available for veneration.
Likewise, we Capuchins began to lead those attending Mass in a prayer of Padre Pio after Friday Masses. Beginning this week, we will also present a glove worn by Padre Pio to those in attendance for veneration after each Mass.
What are relics all about? Some accuse us Catholics of superstition for our veneration of relics. Actually it is quite natural to honor objects associated with deceased people whom we love. In the early 1990s, my mother gave me a leather jacket. I still have it. It is a bit shabby and when I wear it, I have been told that I should get rid of it. I won’t, because my mother gave it to me and it reminds me of her. For me, it is a relic of my mother. That’s what relics are: physical objects, maybe even a part of a deceased person’s body, that remind us of the person who has died, in the case of our relics, of Padre Pio and Saint Bernadette. Relics aren’t magic. They have no intrinsic power to heal and they provide no special access to heavenly graces. But we venerate them because we love the saint.

Holy Redeemer Chinese Catholic School Fundraising Dinner — Consider attending the Holy Redeemer School fundraising dinner on Saturday, October 15 at 4:30 PM at Ocean Harbor Restaurant in Chinatown. Holy Redeemer is unique Catholic school, vitally important in Chinatown. Holy Redeemer was founded out of Saint John Church and is still served by the friars of Saint John's. Consider supporting this important educational institution in our Chinatown neighborhood. Invitations are available in the parish office