St. John Neumann
Catholic Church

This weekend, a Jesuit priest will be with us at all the Masses (in English). The Jesuit will suggest to us that taking time for prayer, for reflection, for quiet... these are blessings for the kind of hectic pace most of us keep. On the 13th through the 15th of November, I hope that some of you will join me at the Jesuit Retreat House, for three days of prayer. Please contact Paul Scibona at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   or me, if you have an interest in joining a group of us on the 13th. The three days of silence are a joy!

And speaking of joy, our Fall Festival is right around the corner. Come and join me for the Friday evening dinner dance, Viva Amore, under the big tent (behind the school), from 6 to 10 PM. Dancing and dining and great fun! Tickets are available for the 23 October Dinner & Dance at the parish office. Come and dance up a storm. I'll be there for moral support!

After dancing the night away, make sure you join all of our families and children at Saturday's all day Fall Festival (24 October). There will be lots of "children" activities. The teens will have a rock wall to scale & conquer. Lots of good eats, lots of shows. Come and see how much fun it is to be part of SJN. What a great way to put the flood memories behind us!

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I (we) learned many lessons during the great flood of 2009. One thing for sure: clear and consistent communication is essential for our parish family. I would urge each of you that have internet access to make it a habit of checking our SJN web-site (www.sjnlilburn.com).  We try and keep it current with all that is happening at the parish. So, please make it a part of your daily routine to check www.sjnlilburn.com, and see what's going on at our parish.

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Padre Armando will be away this weekend, traveling to Chicago. He will assist at the marriage of one of his close friends. By the way, Padre Armando is coordinating the purchase of a large image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This image, with a nice frame holding it in place, will reside in the devotional niche in the new worship space.

And speaking of the new worship space and lower level (with much needed meeting space), all is moving ahead according to plan. Our construction team has lost a bit of time due to weather; but all is moving along.  We need everyone that has pledged to our Building a Legacy of Faith project to keep up those redemption payments. We truly need 100% of all pledges redeemed... .and more. But I'll talk about that in a bit.

The blessing is that we have a chance to do a great work for God and for our children and their children: to re-make the facilities at SJN... so that this Christ-centered Roman Catholic parish may continue to be a beacon of Light and a place of fellowship... for years and years to come! We are to be fruitful branches, connected to the Vine of life. May it be so Lord!

AMDG

Msgr. David Talley