St. John Neumann
Catholic Church

Prayin' Praisin' and Playin' Saturday, 23 June 2007 While away on holiday two weeks ago, I had the chance to visit the St. John Neumann Prayer Center, located a few miles south of Norwalk, Ohio.  The Prayer Center consists of a large log cabin, donated by long-time residents of the Catholic parish in that area, the Joseph Carabin family. The log cabin was moved from the family farm to its present location, so to serve as a center for prayer and renewal. Why was this log cabin refurbished and made available for prayer? It seems that our Patron often visited this cabin, during his stay in Ohio (1841), using it as a stopover on his pastoral visits. Imagine this extraordinary servant of the Lord: born in Bohemia and educated in the classics and languages; told that he would need to travel to “mission country” if he wanted to serve as a priest; being ordained in New York, and afterwards, traveling by horse and by foot to the “west”... present-day Ohio. This unassuming saint was later consecrated Bishop of Philadelphia and is known as the “father of Catholic education” in our country, after the work he did to build schools and parishes in Philadelphia. What a Patron we have been given. What a model of service we have to emulate. A few notes of news, old and new: We are in the midst of asking the Lord to direct us on our own mission, much as the saint did during his brief life. We are asking the Lord about our parish, and how we are called to expand our physical plant. .in the name of ministry and worship, fellowship and service. This question of “building for our future” was here when I arrived in March. This parish has thought through these questions for years now. I need to hear from every household, so that I might know the collected wisdom of the parish. Please, take the time to complete the parish survey. I need to hear from you. The survey may be completed “on-line” or on paper. Information for the on-line survey is in the bulletin. Please ask one of our deacons or priests for a copy of the survey. At the date of the writing of this column (the 16th of June), about 400 of our households have completed the survey. Have you taken a few minutes of your time, and assisted me in this effort? The staff members of the parish have worked with our Business Manager (Bill Marten) and the Finance Council of the parish, to complete next year’s budget. Because of the unexpected and abrupt change of Pastors a few months ago (and a decline in specific offertory goals, especially the Annual Appeal and the Georgia Bulletin collections), we have had to construct an extremely lean parish budget. Still, I am hopeful that the Lord’s life in our midst will inspire a renewed sense of joy at St. John Neumann, and allow us to see a growth in offertory and in the ministries of the parish. Let us rejoice together, and allow hope to blossom! I hear that our Vacation Bible School was a great success. Many thanks to Laura Todd and all the volunteers and staff that assisted in caring for God’s little ones. Our new receptionist ministry is going very well. If you might want to join in caring for the front office, please call us at the office. On their last day of school, I told the children at school the three P’s: pray, praise and play every day of summer. So, have you been prayin’ and praisin’ and playin’? Blessings in the work of love, all for the greater glory of God (AMDG).   Msgr. David   < Prev   Next > [ Back ]