Faith Renewed, Mission Sustained

Dear Friends of Pastorate of the Visitation,

We have concluded the formal portion of our annual stewardship program. This year, as you are likely now aware, the title of our campaign says it all, “Faith Renewed, Mission Sustained.” As we renew our faith, individually and collectively, we sustain the mission of the pastorate. The words from Paul to the people of Thessalonica seem particularly appropriate: “We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love.” (1 Thessalonians 1:2). Please pray for our renewal efforts to sustain and support our parishes. We hope your renewal cards will serve as a reminder of how you can help, beginning with prayer for our continued success. If we can be of any assistance in setting up online giving, please feel free to contact the parish office. Thank you very much for your ongoing generosity.

In the next month, we will begin to see the beauty of Fall with the changing of the leaves. This month, we will also begin a program entitled “In Full Color.” It is primarily designed for families with young children to assist in more fully understanding the parts of the Mass. What works for kids often is equally helpful for adults. We hope you enjoy the brief explanations throughout the coming months, explaining the parts of our liturgy.

Speaking of the month of October, the archdiocesan-approved campaign for the renovation of the organ at St. Jane comes to a close at the end of this month. If you would like to make a tax-free donation toward the renovation of the organ (which is almost complete), please do so by the end of this month.

Blessings on your week and your Fall!
Fr. Kevin

Working In The Vineyard

Dear Friends of our Pastorate of the Visitation,

This weekend, we celebrate the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time and have another parable about a vineyard. This one is about a father with two sons. He asked one son to go work in the vineyard, and the son says in reply, “I will not” but later changed his mind and went to work. He asks the other son to go work in the vineyard, and he replies, “Yes, sir” but doesn’t go. Jesus asks who did the father’s will? Ultimately, it was the first son, because he eventually went to work in the vineyard. He goes on to chastise the chief priests and the scribes, because they did not believe the teaching of John the Baptist, yet tax collectors and prostitutes did. They initially were saying “no” by the example of their lives, but ultimately came to believe; while the others were “saying: ‘yes’” but never actually believed John.

This weekend is the Renewal weekend for our “Faith Renewed – Mission Sustained” Fall stewardship program. Last weekend, you were asked to reflect upon the ways that faith has sustained you and our parishes while beginning to recall how grateful you are for God’s grace and blessings in your life. This weekend, we will be asking you to help our parishes sustain our mission by making a commitment to support our parishes by praying, increasing your offertory gift (and consider moving to online giving), and volunteering of your time. We have many needs that would benefit by your financial gifts and gifts of time. For example, at St. Jane’s, we have had a difficult time with the trees around the campus. Some were damaged over the summer by storms (as some of you had to deal with at home), and others have succumbed to pine beetles. At OLC, we had to replace part of the entrance road due to a wash out of the soil beneath the asphalt. Both have been unexpected (and therefore unbudgeted) expenses. And we are always in need of additional volunteers to serve at Mass including lectors at SJF and EMs, and altar servers at both Churches. Consider this the Lord’s invitation to come and work in His vineyard at our Pastorate!

We continue to announce that our Pastorate now has a Formed.org account that is available to all of our
parishioners! Formed is an online tool offered by the Augustine Institute that contains a wealth of programs, movies, bible studies, etc. that you can access from home. Create a FORMED account by going to www.formed.org and click on “Find your parish subscription” at the top of the screen. The account is under Our Lady of the Chesapeake but also includes St. Jane Frances.

Wednesday Night Group (WNG) for our Pastorate high schoolers occurs every Wednesday evening from 6:30pm–8:30pm and rotates between OLC and SJF. Both Tim (OLC) and Carrie (SJF) co-sponsor this weekly activity. The schedule for the high school WNG can be found at https://www.olchesapeake.org/grow.

We are in the midst of a Jubilee Year in honor of the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi. The Blessing of Animals in honor of St. Francis will take place at St. Jane Frances on Sunday, October 4th at 5:00pm and at OLC on Monday, October 5th at 6:00pm.

Thank you for keeping our Pastorate of St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake in your daily prayers.

God Bless,
Father Steve

Fair Or Just?

Dear Friends of our Pastorate of the Visitation,

There is nothing more confusing and at times frustrating for a child than when something seems unfair. It’s a phrase that they learn early and pronounce with vigor: “But that’s not fair!” Of course, with the benefit of time and life experience, we learn to evaluate fairness a bit more broadly. That is, until something doesn’t go our way.

Our gospel this weekend reminds us that God does not always look at what is fair but rather what is just and often what is necessary (Mt 20:1-16a). In the parable in Matthew’s gospel, all of the laborers are paid the same amount regardless of the hours worked. God’s generosity knows no limits—and certainly not the limits of human fairness. It is good to regularly remind ourselves of God’s abundant generosity for each of us.

This weekend, we celebrate the Rite of Enrollment at the 10:00 Mass at St. Jane for our Confirmation students preparing to be confirmed by Bishop Parker in November. The liturgical ritual allows the candidates to declare their personal commitment to complete their formation in preparation for full initiation in the Catholic Church. It allows them to speak with their own voice rather than that of their parents or godparents. Please keep all of our candidates in your prayers in these remaining weeks.

Our gospel reminder about the generosity of God is a good reminder that our Fall stewardship program entitle “Faith Renewed, Mission Sustained” begins this weekend. The good work of both parishes in our pastorate is only possible thanks to your generous sacrificial giving, whether by cash, check, parish envelopes, or electronic giving. In these difficult economic times, many of you are giving from your poverty and not from your surplus. In the name of Fr. Steve and the pastorate staff, thank you in advance for your ongoing financial and spiritual support.

Blessings on your week!
Fr. Kevin

Forgiveness

Dear Friends of our Pastorate of the Visitation,

This weekend, we celebrate the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. This weekend’s Gospel speaks to us about the need to forgive others in the same way that the Lord God forgives us. God’s forgiveness is endless. Our merciful God is always ready to welcome us back and forgive us of our sins. Based on today’s parable, the Lord asks us to practice the same level of forgiveness with one another… to forgive not just seven times, but seventy-seven times, meaning endlessly. The debtor in today’s Gospel was forgiven by the king of a huge debt after he fell to his knees and begged for mercy. Although the king forgave him, the debtor did not forgive his fellow servant who owed him a far smaller amount. Obviously, as Jesus is trying to demonstrate by this parable, this is not the way we are supposed to treat each other.

We are reminded of this as well every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Every time we say these words, we are asking the Father to hold us to the same level of forgiveness that we practice with each other. If I forgive generously, I pray the Lord forgives me generously. If I do not forgive, then I am acknowledging that the Lord should not forgive me. Of course, this is not what we want the Father to do to us. We are always hoping and trusting in the Lord’s forgiveness, but we in turn must forgive each other from our hearts (as Jesus says at the end of the Gospel.)

This Sunday, our pastorate is celebrating Catechetical Sunday at the 10am Mass at St. Jane Frances and the 10:45am Mass at OLC. We will take these opportunities to bless our teachers (aka catechists) and aids and all who will be assisting this year in our faith formation programs at our pastorate. If you would like to serve as a catechists this year, please let us know. We can always put your gifts to use at our parishes.

If you would like to broaden your own understanding of the faith, the pastorate—through a generous benefactor—is now offering Formed for your personal use. Formed is an online tool offered by the Augustine Institute that contains a wealth of programs, movies, bible studies, etc that you can access from home at your leisure. To create an account, go to www.formed.org and click on “Find your parish subscription” at the top of the screen. The account is under Our Lady of the Chesapeake but also includes St. Jane Frances. Additional information is included in the bulletin.

Our next O.C.I.A. (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) session is this Monday, September 14th at 7:00pm in the school. If you would like to become Catholic (never been baptized or were baptized in another Christian faith) or are Catholic but were never Confirmed in the Catholic Church, please reach out to Deacon Phil at phil.snyder@archbalt.org.

Finally, Fellowship Sunday is being held at St. Jane Frances next Sunday, September 20th in the parish hall. Donut Sunday at OLC is scheduled for Sunday, September 27th. Please plan to spend a few minutes after Mass for fellowship.

Thank you for keeping our Pastorate of St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake in your daily prayers.

God Bless,
Father Steve

Love One Another

Dear Friends of our Pastorate of the Visitation,

This weekend, we celebrate the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. This weekend, we have a very short second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Romans (13:8-10). The reading may be short, but the message speaks volumes: Love one another. As we know, the greatest commandment is to Love the Lord our God, but Jesus also gave a second greatest commandment, and that is the Love our neighbor as ourselves. Paul tells that all the commandments of the law are summarized in this. The reading ends by saying “Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Sounds pretty simple, right?

Well, as we unfortunately know, it is not as simple as it sounds. One may question who is my neighbor? This question was asked of Jesus as well, and his response was the one who shows mercy to another. Our neighbor is not just the person who lives next door to us, or the people with whom we share the same beliefs, or opinions, or views. Our neighbors are every other human being, for they are the ones we show mercy toward, or as Paul says today, we demonstrate no evil toward. Quite bluntly, our world is lacking clear evidence of this understanding of neighbor, yet Christianity challenges us to love our neighbor, to show mercy to our neighbor, to do no evil to our neighbor. May we pray together for the grace to live out this commandment to love our neighbor, for ultimately, God is love.

Happy Labor Day to everyone as we celebrate the unofficial end to summer. We are thankful for the gift of human labor. This week, on Friday, is also the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorists attacks on our country. We will be celebrating a holy hour for peace at both churches following the 8:30am Masses on Sept. 11th. Please join us as we remember those who lost their lives as we pray for an end to war and terrorism, so that the peace of Christ may reign once again in our hearts and in our world.

Next Sunday our pastorate will celebrate Catechetical Sunday at the 10am Mass at St. Jane Frances and the 10:45am Mass at OLC. We will take these opportunities to bless our teachers (aka catechists) and aids and all who will assisting in our faith formation programs at our pastorate. If you would like to serve as a catechist this year, please let us know.

Remember to sign up your middle school (and high school) aged children for Confirmation preparation this year. Confirmation Family Team meetings are beginning this month (check the bulletin for dates and times.)

Our O.C.I.A. (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) program kicked off last week, but there is still plenty of time to join us. If you would like to become Catholic (never been baptized or baptized in another Christian faith) or were never Confirmed in the Catholic Church, please reach out to Deacon Phil at phil.snyder@archbalt.org.

Finally, there is still time to sign up for Walking With Purpose this Fall. There are various times and programs being offered, and day care will be provided at some of the sessions. For more information, please reach out to Laurie at Pasadenawwp@gmail.com.

Thank you for keeping our Pastorate of St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake in your daily prayers.

God Bless,
Fr. Steve

God’s Ways

Dear Friends of our Pastorate of the Visitation,

This weekend, we celebrate the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. What a change in Jesus’ response to Peter this week compared to last week. You may recall that Peter acknowledges Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. And in response to his proclamation of faith, Jesus proclaims Peter to be the rock on which His Church is to be built. Things are looking good for Peter! But now this week, Peter is rebuked by Jesus for stating that Jesus much not be allowed to suffer and die at the hands of the elders, the chief priest, and the scribes (Matthew 16:21-27). In reply, Jesus says “Get behind me Satan!” Quite the reversal of fortune for Peter.

But what Peter does not understand is that Jesus must do this in order to accomplish his mission. That is why he has come in the first place. Our human thinking naturally would be to rescue someone from having to suffer and die, but as we know, God’s ways are not like our ways. Jesus must take up His cross, and not only Jesus, but we too must be willing to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus as well. That can be difficult to do, for it sounds so alien to what our world tells us is the way we should be living our lives. But the world’s ways are not God’s ways, no matter how hard we want to believe it. The journey of a Christian disciple is to surrender oneself to the will of God and trust that God’s way will lead us to perfect happiness. There will be challenges and difficulties along the way (such as the crosses we bear), but there is no resurrection without the crucifixion.

This past week, we celebrated Gina Bujanowski’s retirement after many years of service at St. Jane Frances and within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. We wish her well as she begins this new chapter in her life. Thank you Gina for all you have done for our pastorate!

As the new school year has begun for most of our young parishioners, we want to remind you to enroll your school aged kids in our Religious Education and Youth Ministry programs at the Pastorate. Classes will begin in September. Also this year, the 2027 cohort for Confirmation preparation will be all students in 6th to 8th grade (and older). Please be sure to sign up for Confirmation and plan to attend the 2027 Confirmation Family Team Meeting in September.

Finally, we are continuing to accept inquiries for our O.C.I.A. (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) program. Deacon Phil is leading our Pastorate program this year, so if you would like to become Catholic (never been baptized or baptized in another Christian faith or never Confirmed), please reach out to Deacon Phil at phil.snyder@archbalt.org. The first meeting is this Monday, August 31st at 7:00pm in St. Jane Frances School, and will be held on subsequent Mondays throughout the year.

Thank you for keeping our Pastorate of St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake in your daily prayers.

God Bless,
Father Steve 

The Rock

Dear Parishioners,

I have a friend who is in the process of becoming Catholic. Like many from other faith traditions, he had a number of concerns/questions about some of our teachings, including our beliefs about the pope. Fortunately, like many in non-denominational churches, he had a strong belief in scripture.

When we took some time to discuss this weekend's gospel (Matthew 16:13-20), things slowly began to make sense. It is Jesus himself who declares Peter the “rock” upon whom He will build His church One of countless instances of God at work in the most surprising ways throughout the history of salvation.

The papal conclave to select a new pope is still filled with mystery and intrigue, so much so that even Hollywood has taken an interest. For we who are believers are very aware that while the College of Cardinals chooses the new pope, it is the Holy Spirit at work through them. The Holy Spirit gives the Church what is necessary at particular times in history. In my brief lifetime, I have seen the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

John XXIII, who was supposed to be an interim pope, convened the Second Vatican Council. Paul VI had the courage to continue the work of the Council, seeing it to completion. John Paul I, pope for 33 days, sought to distance himself from some of the trappings of the papacy. His humanity and gentle spirit had a deep impact even in his short pontificate. John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope, bringing the presence of Peter to the People of God rather than the other way around. Benedict XVI possessed a wise intellect and the ability to clarify complicated teachings in an understandable way, all at the time he was ready to retire. Francis, the first Jesuit pope, brought a fresh face to the humanity of the papacy and the importance of care for all, most especially the poor and those with no voice. And now Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born pope, something everyone thought to be impossible, is fearlessly embracing his role as rock in this digital age. Thank goodness, the Holy Spirit provides whatever we need at all times in history.

As summer comes to an end over the next few weeks, I want to offer prayers and Blessings to our students and teachers, of all ages, as they begin a new school year. I will be on vacation for the next two weekends. I look forward to seeing you in September.

Blessings on your week!
Fr. Kevin