Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 18, 2025
On January 5, 2025, Archbishop Perez issued an important pastoral letter, Trust and Hope. This is the Archbishop’s major pastoral initiative and in this letter he offers his vision for the Archdiocese. As faithful Catholics, we should read and understand his dreams for our Archdiocese. The letter is about evangelization and about the reorganization necessary so that we can evangelize effectively.
Every Catholic and every Catholic institution — parishes, schools, charitable programs—should evangelize, that is, invite people to come to know Jesus. The Archbishop has a compelling vision that works of charity are essential to our Christian identity and that the reorganization of the Archdiocese must include service to suffering people.
Since January, the people and leaders of the Archdiocese have been busy studying the Archbishop’s letter and imagining ways that it can be implemented throughout the Archdiocese. There are urban parishes, rural and suburban parishes and small town parishes. There are schools, social service programs and other Catholic activity in all of these places. And there is also Center City. Because Center City is different, our Catholic mission in Center City necessarily differs from the Church’s mission in other areas.
What does Archbishop Perez’s initiative mean for Center City parishes, particularly Saint John’s? I urge all of our parishioners and friends to:
1. Read the Archbishop’s letter. It can be found at trustandhope.org.
2. Attend a study/discussion session on the letter on Sunday, June 29, after the 10:30 AM Mass in our Saint John’s Parish Center. It will be led by Deacon James O’Neill.
Neither the Archbishop nor the Archdiocese can plan the Church’s evangelizing mission in Center City and at Saint John’s. We have to do it because we are in the best position to understand our parish, our neighborhood and our unique mission. That’s why we all need to participate in the June 29 conversation.
In the meantime, we should reflect on our unique mission. Here’s a summary of our Saint John’s ministry and outreach:
1. More than half of our Sunday congregation are visitors, tourists. We have a vibrant outreach to the Catholic Church beyond our parish boundaries.
2. Yet, we are a visible Catholic presence in Center City, specifically Market East. Market East has lots of residents and it is also Philadelphia’s tourism and convention neighborhood. Saint John’s exists and ministers in Market East, Center City.
3. Our priests have a huge ministry at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Our parishioners don’t and can’t help with this ministry, but it occupies a lot of our priests’ time and attention.
4. Each week Saint John’s offers 17 weekday Masses, 5 Sunday Masses and 6 hours of confessions for downtown workers, shoppers, visitors and parishioners. People from all over the Philadelphia region come to Saint John’s for confessions.
5. Saint John’s is open and staffed more than 10 hours each day from Monday to Saturday as a quiet place of prayer in the midst of Philadelphia’s busy Center City. People come to Saint John’s to pray and to find an oasis of peace.
6. Many young adults attend Mass, get married and attend young adult events at Saint John’s. However, most of these young adults will move from Center City. Saint John’s prepares young Catholic families for parishes across the nation and the world. This Easter we had 16 baptisms and confirmations. Of these, 13 were young adults who will likely move away from Center City in the next couple of years. However, if our mission is successful, they will enrich the Catholic Church wherever they settle and raise families.
Unlike other parishes, the impact of our ministry is felt mostly in other parishes, not our own. Sr. John’s is not like other parishes which are mostly neighborhood based. So how do we implement the Archbishop’s letter and initiative?
Next week I will say more about our Center City home.
