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

Two Diverse Roman Catholic Parishes of the Archdiocese of Boston

Dear Faith Formation Families, September 4, 2020

I wanted to advise you all on the upcoming modified religious education for the 2020-2021 year grades K-8. The year will be remote using our Pfaulm Gospel Weekly teachings. These pamphlets detail each week’s gospel and are filled with wonderful activities. The booklets come in sessions so at the end of each session new booklets will be available and the old completed ones will be collected. It was felt that having this year remote learning would take some stress away from families that are already struggling in this uncertain time. My hope is to keep in close contact with you all and if circumstances change maybe we could meet once a month in person, but I will give you all proper notice if that is the case. Grades 9 & 10 will use a different book by Dynamic Catholic in order to prepare for confirmation. The enclosed registration form will need to be returned by October 2 at the very latest in order to know how many books to order. Books are available in bilingual Spanish/English. There will be a onetime yearly registration fee to cover materials and resource planning.

$50.00 for first child If received after October 2 fee will be $75.00

$75.00 for two children If received after October 2 fee will be $100.00

$100.00 for three or more If received after October 2 fee will be $125.00

Once registration forms are received back and books ordered, another email will go out about pick up dates and times per grade maintaining the proper social distancing and mask protocols set forth by the Archdiocese of Boston and the CDC.

As far as sacraments go the Confirmation Class of 2019-2020 will be making confirmation on Sept 12, 2020. Bishop Hennessey has set forth proper guidelines and all members and families should have been notified. If anyone has any questions please feel free to contact me anytime, email is best and is included at the bottom.

The sacrament of first communion has been a difficult decision to make, whereas the 2019-2020 class is much larger and the size and time limits are still in effect. There are two choices and these choices would most likely be for the 2020-2021 class as well:

A ceremony to complete sacrament where just the child and parents only can attend, the class would be broken up and scheduled on numerous Saturday morning /afternoon.
A mass at a later date when more family members could attend, more traditional manner when restrictions are lifted.

Please let me know your feedback asap and please note which class year if your child has already attended the second grade and is awaiting to make first communion or if your child will be entering the second grade this September.

Again, we all appreciate your patience and understanding in these uncertain times and wish you and your family all the best.

Joelle Mather

Collaborative Coordinator

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

6 Cottage Street

Haverhill, MA 01830 978-372-8537 (Office)

Catholic Parishes of Haverhill

Annual Raffle

Grand Prize: $5,000 CASH!

Second Prize: $500 cash

Third Prize: $250 cash

BONUS PRIZE: $250 cash to seller of Grand Prize ticket

Drawing date: September 27, 2020

All Saints Parish - Immediately following the 12:00pm Mass

Plus, 10 $50 Gift Cards to Haverhill Restaurants. 10 Winners! Start selling your tickets today! Cost is $5 per ticket or $25 for a book of six…Get one ticket free! Every ticket you sell will benefit your parish! Increase your opportunities for winning the bonus prize by including co-workers, neighbors and out-of-town friends and relatives. If you need additional tickets, please call your parish office.

Checks can be made payable to the Parish that mailed you the tickets. In addition, please return any unsold tickets to your parish office. Deadline for returning tickets is Thursday, September 24, 2020 By 3:00pm.

New office hours Starting the week of 9/13 at this time, our Collaborative Parish Office hours will be 8:30am - 3:00pm

Dear Faith Formation families,

It is with great happiness I am writing to let you know that many details have been worked out and specific guidelines are in place from the Archdiocese of Boston to proceed with the sacrament of Confirmation.

Date: September 12, 2020 2pm Saint James Parish Please arrive at 1:45-1:50pm so the service can start promptly at 2pm enter thru front door and I will seat you in designated pews.

Guidelines from Bishop Hennessey:

There should be no rehearsal for the ceremony.
To limit the number of people, present in the Church, only the Confirmation Candidate, Sponsor, and parents are allowed to attend.
As the candidate approaches, he or she will be handed a disinfectant wipe to sanitize their forehead. This way I will not need to disinfect my hands after each anointing. The candidate and sponsor should wear masks.
Since there will be no photos after Mass, I will allow that photos be taken while the candidate is confirmed only one person may take photos.
Every year I have asked for letters from the candidate and have referred to them in the homily. This year the homily is restricted to about 4 minutes. Letters are not required this year but will be required next year.
Please remind the candidates that the choice of the name of a patron saint is important. The choice should reflect something about the saint’s life that they wish to emulate.
The candidates may choose the name of a deceased relative to honor their memory.
The sacrament of reconciliation is not required this year as a class but candidates are reminded and encouraged to seek the sacrament on their own.

If there are any questions or concerns please contact me as soon as possible to discuss. I will need confirmation of attendance to keep track of numbers. Thank you all again for your continued support and patience.

Joelle Mather

Collaborative Coordinator

Dear Parishioners,

As announced last weekend, starting from July 19, 2020, the 5:00pm Sunday Mass will be suspended until further notice in order to consolidate our weekend Masses due to attendance. We look forward to seeing you at one of our Collaborative Masses: Saturday: 4:00pm (English-SJ), 7:00pm (Vietnamese-SJ); Sunday: 8:30am (English-SJ), 10:00am (English-SJB), 11:30am (Spanish-SJ). Thank you.

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)

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 are here! 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

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!