first communion and confirmation Class of 2020 has been canceled! More information to follow.

The Collaborative of St. James & St. John the Baptist

Two Diverse Roman Catholic Parishes of the Archdiocese of Boston

Dear Parishioners,

Welcome back! Welcome home!

Our parishes will begin the Year of the Eucharist next weekend June 13 & 14. To work together, I ask you to be a Missionary of the Eucharist to promote an awarness and devotion to the Eucharist through our witness. The condition is very simple. We have to be faithful and willing to commit to 15 minutes of prayer each day, participate and support onsite/online activities. For more detail, please click on the links below on the Archdiocese website for the Year of the Eucharist.

Father Anthony Le

https://www.bostoncatholic.org/yearoftheeucharist

https://www.bostoncatholic.org/yearoftheeucharist/coordinators

https://vimeo.com/channels/1520440

https://www.bostoncatholic.org/sites/g/files/zjfyce811/files/2019-12/YearOfTheEucharistIntroLetter_FINAL.pdf

Returning to Mass; we all have a role to play in keeping each other safe and healthy video can be viewed by clicking on the button below.

https://vimeo.com/421142581

WELCOME BACK!

PLEASE REMEMBER MAINTAIN 6’ DISTANCE

WEAR MASK AT ALL TIMES

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Children under 2 should not wear a mask.
Children between 2-5 at parent discretion.
Please, bring your own hand sanitizer with you.
Non congregational singing.

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¡BIENVENIDOS NUEVAMENTE!

POR FAVOR RECUERDE

MANTÉNGA 6’ DE DISTANCIA

SI NO ESTÁ EN LA CASA

USE MÁSCARA EN TODO MOMENTO

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• Los niños menores de 2 años no deben usar una máscara.

• Niños entre 2-5 años es decisión de los padres.

• Por favor, traiga su propio desinfectante para manos.

• No canto de la asamblea.

Weekend Mass Schedule

Saturday:

4:00pm (English) & 7:00pm (Vietnamese) (SJ)

Sunday:

Resuming 8:30am (English) (SJ) on 6/21

10:00am (English) (SJB)

11:30am (Spanish) (SJ)

5:00pm (English) (SJ)

Daily Masses:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday - 9:00am (SJB)

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday - 9:00am (SJ)

For more details, please see the weekly bulletin.

Tuesday and Thursday Adoration (SJ)

Please call the parish office at 978.372.8537 or email stjamesandjohnnews@gmail.com before 4:00pm Friday for confession by appointment or to make a reservation for the weekend masses if you plan to attend. Thank you.

Dear Faith Formation Families:

First and foremost, we at the parish sincerely hope this letter finds you and your families safe, healthy and well. As we all try to navigate these uncharted circumstances it is with sadness that the upcoming sacraments, first communion and confirmation, will need to be cancelled. There are many factors that brought us to this conclusion. The health and safety of our parishioners are always the most important. The situation will be reevaluated in the fall. As always please continue to monitor the website and weekly bulletins for important updates. Please email me if you have any questions. stjamesandjohnfaith.gmail.com.

Joelle Mather, Collaborative Coordinator

Hi Faith Formation Families!

We are so excited to announce that VBS WILL BE HAPPENING this year! With one modification, though. Instead of you bringing your kids to VBS, we’re bringing VBS to your kids.

This summer, beginning Monday, June 22^nd through Thursday, June 25^th, we’ll be using a quarantine-friendly VBS called BOLT. With minimal preparation, easy-to-follow instructions, and a video that leads you and your kids step-by-step through each day, BOLT is designed for you to perform with your family at home. It’s so simple!

During BOLT, your family will participate in fun games that illustrate what it means to listen to, focus on, and follow Jesus. Depending on your pace, you can expect that each day’s experience will last about an hour and a half. It’s great for kids from Kindergarten through 5^th graders.

If you want to get a better idea of what BOLT is, you can watch the Day 2 sample video here. (But don’t let your kiddos see it just yet—we want to save the fun for later.)

There’s something else we’re really excited about—this could also be an amazing outreach opportunity. If you feel comfortable gathering with more people, you can invite as many neighbors, friends, and family to your house for BOLT as you would like. It’s such an easy and fun way to share the good news of Jesus with our community. If it’s helpful, we’ve attached a printable invitation for you to use or you can share our social media posts with anyone you want to invite.

Dearly Beloved in Christ,

For four hundred and one years this land, which would become the United States of America, has had to deal with the evil and moral cancer that is racism.

When the word racism is invoked it is often identified in personal terms: someone whose attitudes, convictions and actions target a group of other individuals because of color. This is a valid but only partial meaning of the term. From such people as Fredrick Douglas and Harriet Tubman, to contemporary leaders, thinkers and activists, African Americans have tried consistently to expand the general understanding of racism. In word and deed, they have pointed to the reality of systemic and structural racism.

Racism and slavery find a common nexus in this country, the denial of the humanity and dignity of other persons. As a nation we abolished slavery legally, but we have not dealt with its enduring legacy. If we reject slavery then we must reject and denounce the dehumanizing attitudes that foster discrimination, inequality and violence. Racism can be explicit, but it also can be unrecognized and unacknowledged. Yet, all of its manifestations are deadly and corrosive to civil society. Like COVID-19, racism can infect any person, without regard to region, religion, race or ethnicity. It is highly contagious, easily transmitted to others, and too often unseen and disguised in those seemingly healthy. Racism is a social and spiritual disease that kills people.

The murder of George Floyd, an African American citizen, at the hands of four rogue police officers was tragically all too familiar to the African American community. During our lifetimes there has been the reality of the Negro Travelers Green Book, identifying locations where African Americans stop and stay in our country with less likelihood of being attacked. We have seen the Ku Klux Klan’s brutal lynchings of innocent black people. And we have now again witnessed heinous violence perpetrated by some who were entrusted with the duty to protect. George Floyd’s death makes clear that racist premises and attitudes, often implicit, are woven through basic structures—political, legal, economic, cultural and religious—in the United States.

The earliest days of my priesthood were lived in Washington, D.C. on 16^th St. in the heart of the city. I was there the night Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. was assassinated. The city was set ablaze with 700 fires, tanks lined the streets around the White House and soldiers with bayonets stood on every corner. The killing of Dr. King sparked despair and rage throughout the African American community in the United States. Since then there have been important and meaningful advances of civil rights and the election of an African American President. But to know that fifty years later four police officers would see themselves entitled to murder a black man with impunity makes clear how far we must yet go to achieve racial equality.

In the weeks following Dr. King’s assassination in 1968, during the time of the Poor People’s March on Washington, I joined the individuals and families at Resurrection City at the Lincoln Memorial. Off duty police officers hurled tear gas at our encampment and shouted vile profanities at us. I did not then, and we do not now judge all police officers on the basis of the reprehensible, criminal acts of those few who betray their brothers and sisters in uniform. The vast majority of police officers, very notably in Boston through the leadership of Commissioner Gross, serve as heroic, selfless first responders who take seriously their mission and face danger to protect others.

The antidote to the poison of racism is community and solidarity. The protests in response to George Floyd’s murder, in my view, have been predominantly peaceful and focused on the urgent need to address racism as a systemic, cultural, and legal reality. Some violent protesters and out of town infiltrators, few in number but by intention disproportionately visible, had interest in neither justice nor its achievement. As Governor Baker stated, they should be legally punished and should not be able to tarnish the greater significance of the peaceful marches and demonstrations we have witnessed.

We recognize that the Catholic Church in the United States must contend with our historical complicity in slavery and our need for racial healing. However, an important part of the legacy of the Catholic faith is our social teaching. The Catholic Church is a community of people of all colors, nationalities and ethnicities. Catholic moral teaching is based on the fact that all people – without regard to race, religion, ethnicity or nationality – are created in the image of God. This teaching rejects any form of racism, personal or systemic. Our faith calls us to leadership in breaking down barriers and standing against injustice. To violate human dignity is to dishonor the presence of Christ in each person.

Going forward, the reality of racism in our society and the moral imperative of racial equality and justice must be incorporated in our schools, our teaching and our preaching. We must uphold the commitments to equal dignity and human rights in all institutions of our society, in politics, law, economy, education. Catholic teaching on social justice measures the way a society acts fairly or not. Our work will not be done until African American men, women and children are treated equally in every aspect of life in the United States.

The killing of George Floyd is painful evidence of what is and has been at stake for African Americans - the failure of society in too many ways to protect their lives and the lives of their children. As Catholics we are taught to nurture protect life from its inception to its natural end and at every moment in-between. The demonstrations and protests of these days have been calls for justice and heart wrenching expressions of deep emotional pain from which we cannot turn away. They call us to affirm the inestimable value of every person’s life. They call us to redouble our commitment to foster respect and justice for all people. They call us to uphold and defend the truth that Black Lives Matter. https://vimeo.com/426365893

With the assurance of my continued prayers, Devotedly yours in Christ,

Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM, Cap.

Archbishop of Boston

My Jesus,

I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar.

I love You above all things,

and I desire to receive You into my soul.

Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally,

come at least spiritually into my heart.

I embrace You as if You were already there

and unite myself wholly to You.

Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.

Eucharistic Adoration

Tuesday & Thursday

9:00am - 12:00pm

Monday / Wednesday / Friday

7:00-8:00pm

Social Distance: 6 feet apart

St. James Lower Church - Haverhill

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The summer months fast approaching we are looking for some specific items for the pantry and hoping our parishioners to help us stock the shelves. St. James and St. John's Parishioners have been so supportive of the pantry and we and the clients appreciate all you do.

12oz size or smaller of: Mayo, Mustard, Ketchup, Salad Dressing, jams, jellies

Individually wrapped snacks: cheese crackers, cookies, fruit snacks, granola bars

Kool-aid, Lemonade, Ice tea mixes, Coffee, Tea, Shelf Milk and Juice boxes,

Canned Fruit: peaches, pears, mandarin oranges, pineapple

Thank you!!

St. James & St. John the Baptist Collaborative Parish Office will be closed

starting on 3/24. Due to the Coronavirus. If you need assistance, please call:

978.372.8537 or email: stjamesandjohnnews@gmail.com

Thank you

Viewers can watch these Masses on demand at any time at www.WatchtheMass.com.

For more information about CatholicTV and where you can watch it, visit http://www.catholictv.org

Ways to Watch the CatholicTV Network:

Cable: Comcast Ch 268, Verizon Ch 296, RCN Ch 85

Livestream: CatholicTVLIVE.com

Daily Masses: WatchtheMass.com

Confirmation stays on September 12,2020 without any changes. The retreat will most likely be in June as well and when things eventually return to some sense of normalcy, I will plan those dates out and attempt to give as much notification as possible.

Please don’t hesitate to email at with any questions/concerns , please check the bulletins online at www.stjamesandjohnhaverhill.org for further important information on rehearsals and mandatory preparation for sacraments. These times are all new to us all, we will get thru them with faith, time and following the suggested guidelines of staying at home and social distancing.

This letter will be emailed to all addresses I have as well as mailed to home addresses I have on file, please pass the message with friends via safe practices. Thank you for your assistance and understanding. Many blessings to you and your family.

Joelle Mather

Collaborative Coordinator

Catholic Collaborative of St. James & St. John the Baptist Parishes

Virtual Evangelization link:

https://www.bostoncatholic.org/virtual-evangelization

Catholic TV (click here)

Catholic TV Facebook page (click here)

Archdiocese of Boston’s Facebook page (click here)

Bostoncatholic.org (click here)

Rosary Rally 2/21/20

SNOW STORM POLICY AND YOUR SAFETY FIRST:

If Haverhill Public School is delayed or canceled, no daily Mass at 9:00am and no parish activities. For weekend Masses: please see announcements on the tv news stations. Thank you

2019 - 2020 Faith Formation Registration Forms

Registration Forms for the upcoming Faith Formation year are now available. For those families that attended last year, pre-filled registration forms have been mailed. New families are able to pick up blank packets at each parish, or by clicking on the links below! The Registration Form and Medical Release Forms be be completed and returned in order for your child(ren) to be registered.

/documents/2019-2020-welcome-letter

/documents/2019-2020-registration-form

/documents/2019-2020-medical-release-form

/documents/2019-2020-guidelines-booklet

/documents/2019-2020-yearly-calendar

Happy 4th of July!

A huge Thank you! to all who made the fireworks cookout such a success! The parish parking lot was filled and the hamburgers and hotdogs were flying off the grill! A great time was had by all and the fireworks were amazing!