It was wonderful to see our church filled for the Feast of All Saints. I am learning that not everyone in Center City knows about our church. We have a good website so some people learn about our services there.

We are installing new signs that will make our presence and our services much more visible.

But the best publicity is word of mouth. Please tell your friends and acquaintances about Saint John Church and invite them to Sunday or weekday Mass.

Young Adult Outreach. Our first Jack’s Yacs event, held last Sunday after the 6 PM Mass was a great success. More than 30 young adults attended our after Mass gathering. Please mark your calendars for November 16, 6:30 pm, when we will have “Adoration and Libation”, an hour of adoration and prayer in the lower church, followed by socializing in a local pub.

Installation Mass I will be installed as pastor of Saint John the Evangelist Church at the 10:30AM Mass next Sunday, November 13. Bishop Timothy Senior will preside and officiate at the installation. If possible, please try to attend the installation Mass.

Saint Charles Seminary Collection: The annual appeal for Saint Charles Seminary is one of the most important collections for the Philadelphia Archdiocese. The appeal assists seminarians studying for the priesthood and those preparing to be permanent deacons as well as lay people preparing for church ministry. The collection will be on the weekend of November 19-20. Please plan on making a generous donation.

Sick and Shut in Members of the Parish: For the most part, visiting of our sick and disabled parishioners stopped during the Covid pandemic shut down. At this point, only a few disabled parishioners are visited by friars or Eucharistic ministers. If you know of Saint John parishioners who are unable to attend Mass because of disability, please inform the parish office. Our elderly and disabled parishioners must be treasured members of our church family.

October Count: Each year during the month of October, we are required to count all persons at Saturday Vigil and Sunday Masses and to submit the numbers. For the five weekends of October our average Vigil/Sunday Mass attendance was 297 persons. We are still recovering from the Covid shut downs, but Mass attendance is rising. The most important thing we do as a Church is to gather for worship, to listen to God’s Word and to support one another in faith. Please invite back to Mass anyone who has not been to church for a while.