Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul

The Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul is celebrated on June 29. The date is the anniversary of a day around year 258, under the Valerian persecution, when what were believed to be the remains of the two apostles were both moved temporarily to prevent them from falling into the hands of the persecutors. These two early leaders of the Christian community were the men most responsible for the establishment of Christianity in Rome, and so we honor them together.

While Scriptures do not record the deaths of Peter or Paul, tradition is that they were martyred at Rome at the command of the Emperor Nero, and buried there. As a Roman citizen, Paul would probably have been beheaded with a sword. It is said of Peter that he was crucified head downward, at his own request because he did not deserve to suffer as Jesus had. The present Basilica of St. Peter in Rome replaces earlier churches built on the same site going back to the time of the Emperor Constantine, in whose reign a church was built there on what was believed to be the burial site of Peter. Excavations under the church suggest that the belief is older than Constantine. St. Augustine wrote (sermon, year 295):

"Both apostles share the same feast day, for these two were one; and even though they suffered on different days, they were as one. Peter went first, and Paul followed. And so we celebrate this day made holy for us by the apostles' blood. Let us embrace what they believed, their life, their labors, their sufferings, their preaching, and their confession of faith."

Peter, a brother of Andrew the First-Called, was from Bethsaida. They were the sons of Jonas, of the tribe of Simeon. They lived by the work of their hands. At the time when John the Baptist was in prison, Jesus came to the Lake of Genesareth, and, finding Peter and Andrew mending their nets, He called them and they followed Him without hesitation. Peter preached the Gospel in Judea, founded the Church of Antioch and finally came to Rome.

Paul, a Pharisee, belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. He was born in Tarrus of Asia Minor. At first, he persecuted the Church with great zeal and violence, imprisoning and killing the Christians. But Christ appeared to him on the way to Damascus and changed his heart, he was baptized in Damascus by Ananias. He was to become one of the greatest exponents of Christ's teachings, which he explained in his letters or epistles. Much of the New Testament is credited to Paul and the community of Christians who grew around his teachings.

Because of the great significance of these Apostles to the Holy Church, they were honored by the Christian community from the very moment of their death. St. Jerome (year 120) wrote:

"When I was still a young man studying In Rome, I would go with my companions to the tombs of the Apostles and Martyrs."

The Apostles' tombs in Rome were well known and all Christians revered them.

Parish Town Hall Meeting
By Ann McEntee

St. John Vianney Town Hall Meeting was held on Sunday, June 12, from 2:30 to 4:30 PM. Pamela Bjorklund, our facilitator, warmly welcomed us and introduced Fr. Tim, who lead us in the stewardship prayer.

We then heard from the Parish Pastoral Council on the accomplishments made since the Town Hall Meeting of last June, before Fr. Tim became pastor.

The four priorities we chose last year were:

• Communication
• Social Justice
• Youth Ministry and Young Adult Ministry
• Liturgy

Accomplishments on those priorities:

    Communication

• A Communication Team has been established
• Communication Team produces a weekly newsletter via email and the Web
• A printed copy of the newsletter is posted in the church vestibule each week
• The Team manages the parish website
• The Team created a survey of weekend liturgies and why people attend a particular one
• The Team promoted and supported the 2005 Fiesta, helping more folks learn about the weekly newsletter
• There will be a monthly newsletter that will be mailed to all parishioners starting in the Fall

    Social Justice

We have four organizations in our parish that work to make the world a better place:

St. Vincent de Paul Society helps people in need.

Community Ministry works along with St. Vincent de Paul to distribute food baskets at Thanksgiving and Christmas. A new person, Bruno Martinez, was just hired to handle Community Ministry

PACT has been working on the small school project and has been to Sacramento to lobby our legislature for Children's Initiative on Universal Health Care in California.

JustFaith serves breakfast at the San Jose Family Shelter one Sunday every other month, and some additional parishioners have joined them. JustFaith members and alumni organized the recent "Fair Trade Week of Global Awareness" and the "Fair Trade coffee action" to encourage local coffee houses to sell brewed Fair Trade coffee. JustFaith organized MT25, a website about Catholic Social Teaching, www.mt25.org , and distributed thousands of buttons, stickers and bookmarks at the LA Religious Education Congress.

These four organizations are just beginning to learn about each other and how they might be mutually supportive.

In the Diocese, we are currently preparing a workshop on social justice to be used throughout the parishes in our Deanery.

    Youth & Young Adult Ministry

We now have active Junior High, High School, Confirmation and Young Adult Ministry programs. A group of students from SJV attended the LA Congress. The Young Adult group just held a one day retreat titled "A Walk with Jesus."

    Liturgy

A new choir has been brought in for the 10:30 AM Sunday Mass. A second Spanish language Mass has been added at 7:00 PM on Saturdays. We have excellent music groups at each liturgy. The Communication Team is running an informal survey asking people why they attend a particular liturgy.

The Vision of the Parish Pastoral Council is to help the parish:

1. Create a Gospel-inspired vision for the future of the parish
2. Prioritize objectives.
3. Take action to realize its vision.

Objectives for This Year: Communication

At the Town Hall Meeting on June 12th, we discussed objectives for the next year. We will report here on the objectives for Communication. In following weeks, we will report on objectives for other areas.

The Communication Team is working on the following objectives for the next year:

1. Add new features to the parish website and continue to keep information current. Visit our website at www.sjvnews.net.
2. Continue the weekly email newsletter while adding new subscribers.
3. Support the new monthly discipleship newsletter.
4. Add volunteers (time and talent) so we can...
       Take on more projects
       Support multi-lingual journalism
       Facilitate bi-directional communication
       ( parishioner <--> parish )
5. Seek parishioner input to the Parish Pastoral Council via a new email address: council@sjvnews.net
6. Seek to answer questions from parishioners via a new email address: questions@sjvnews.net

The Communication Team also has these ideas for hearing from parishioners:

1. To have a box in the front of the church for people to make comments or provide input to the Parish Pastoral Council.
2. Have monthly or bi-monthly meetings open to the community to voice concerns and provide comments.
3. To communicate with the Parish Pastoral Council or the Communication Team via email. ( council@sjvnews.net or questions@sjvnews.net ) to contact a member of the Parish Pastoral Council and ask to come to a meeting to express a concern.
4. Simply to provide a concern in writing to a member.

Next week we will report on the objectives and plans for Lay Leadership, Youth Ministry, and Young Adult Ministry.

New Ideas from the Town Hall Meeting

The following ideas were brought us at the Town Hall Meeting on June 12:

1. Have more Town Hall meetings like this one.
2. Survey to determine when to hold Town Hall meetings
3. Parish could have a personal contact within each neighborhood, who can help us communicate with the neighborhood door-to-door or by phone.
4. Ask parishioners to stay after Mass to communicate and meet.
5. Specifically ask for feedback in the newsletter(s)
6. Increase visibility and accessibility to Parish Pastoral Council members by telling/showing us who belongs to the Parish Pastoral Council. What Mass times do they normally attend (so we can talk to them)? Maybe each Council member becomes a contact person. Let's put a picture of the Council members in the vestibule.
7. Enhance communication with Spanish speakers. (Why not include Spanish speech in Town Hall meetings, for example? How about in written communication?)
8. Our kids (Who know English very well) know what's happening, but we parents (Spanish speaking) don't hear about it. We need to find services and information in Spanish.

Some of the comments, suggestions and statements from parishioners at the Town Hall Meeting:

• Ellen Turner (editor of the email newsletter and also the new printed monthly newsletter) will be able to rely on Rudy Tenes for the Spanish pages. The monthly newsletter will be completely bi-lingual English/Spanish.
• Regi Guitierrez will be doing a Spanish version of the email newsletter as a Master's degree project.
• Our Hispanic Coordinating Committee is well run, can continue to encourage us, and prove us with communication in Spanish.
• The Parish Pastoral Council governing/foundational documents for SJV Parish have become a model for the Diocese to use in other parishes.
• The Parish Pastoral Council is up and running, proficient and talented. The council can start with an idea and run with it independently.
• How about having more retreats that are spiritual, for social justice, etc., themed retreats.
• Do we want a billboard (scrolling, lighted marquee) that has information posted on it? We would put it outside the church somewhere.
• Let's work harder on hospitality, smile. Hospitality is often the key to making us be involved.
• Several members of the council are specifically devoted to the inclusion and involvement of all communities.
• What is the vision of the parish? Can we see it posted somewhere so we can align ourselves to it?
• Suggestion that council members might attend different Masses, rather than the same one each time. This way they may be more available to the parishioners.
• How about having two Fiestas in a year?
• Another suggestion was to make that rather a couple of smaller cultural events in addition to the annual Fiesta.

We are moving forward !

New Heroes

The New Heroes, narrated by Robert Redford, is a television show that will fill you with hope and possibilities. The series premieres on Tuesday, June 28, on PBS. The Communication Team editor was able to acquire a pre-release copy and watched the first half last night. It is an excellent program!

We certainly could use some new heroes these days. The series highlights a variety of individuals making real progress toward solutions for people who are at the margins of society, the folks Jesus told us we must help. These new heroes called "social entrepreneurs" are people who measure their bottom line in lives, not dollars. Several of the stories have direct ties to the Bay Area. One featured story is about Delancy Street in San Francisco, a group that trained ex-cons in social skills, trade skills, and general life skills so they can become productive members of society.

Another segment details the struggle of one Indian man to end slavery, especially child slavery. He risks his life to make a difference in the lives of families who have never known freedom, then he gives their children an education so the next generation will not be sucked back into slavery.

We urge you to watch this important series. We are also looking for a few volunteers who would work with us to make the program available to others in the parish. Perhaps we could gather after a Sunday liturgy, watch a twenty-minute segment, discuss it and pray together? We would need a couple of volunteers to make that happen. You can be a new hero too. If you would like to help, email newsletter@sjvnews.net to volunteer.

For more information, visit www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes .

Announcements

Please join together in the Main Hall on Sunday, June 26 , after all the Masses to bid a fond farewell to Fr. Andy. Bring a favorite finger food to share. There will be live music from 1:00 PM -3:00 PM.

Family Faith Formation is offered by St. John Vianney Parish. Registration will be taking place in June, with priority given to our own parishioners. Click here to see the Class Schedule & Registration Information for the upcoming catechetical year.

* HELP NEEDED! * Family Faith Formation is seeking individuals who are interested in becoming a Catechist or Catechist aide for grades 1-6. Classes are held on Tuesday evenings, 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM (grades 3, 4 & 5) or Sunday mornings, 9:00 AM - 10:15 AM (grades 1-6). TRAINING WILL BE PROVIDED. Please contact 258-7832 x18 for more information. We look forward to hearing from you!

St. John Vianney School is still accepting applications for the 2005-06 school year for Kindergarten and First Grade. Applications can be picked up in the school office Monday-Friday from 8 AM to 4 PM or on-line at our school website www.sjvsj.org.  For more information you can email mwood@sjvsj.org or contact Co-Principal, Martha Wood at (408) 258-7677.

Weekly Readings

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