A mother and her teenage sons have an agreement: Whenever they find themselves in an uncomfortable situation they no longer want to be a part of, they call home and nonchalantly whistle into the phone. Mom asks them where they are and how long it will take her to get there.

'No questions are asked, so their friends won't realize they're calling Mom. I simply pick them up,' Mom explains. 'The situation is then discussed at home and I congratulate them on their good judgment. This simple plan is based on Jiminy Cricket's saying, 'Give a little whistle, and always let your conscience be your guide.'

(Sharon Kay Edgerly, Better Homes & Gardens, December 1994)

Safety, acceptance, generosity, forgiveness--always available, always in supply. That's what makes a family family. Today, as we recall the Holy Family's flight to Egypt to escape Herod's murderous wrath, we celebrate 'family'--that unique nucleus of society that give us life, nurture and support throughout our journey on earth. Within our families, we experience together the heights of joy and the depths of pain; but always, within our families, the love of God comes alive--love that is totally selfless, limitless and unconditional, both in good times and (especially) in difficult times. As our families gather this Christmas season, may we rediscover our families as harbors of forgiveness, unconditional love, welcome and acceptance.

Monday, December 28
8:30am Eucharist Service
Tuesday, December 29
8:30am Mass
Wednesday, December 30
8:30am Eucharist Service
Thursday, December 31 (New Year's Eve)
8:30am Mass
5:30pm Mass
Friday, January 1 (New Year's Day)
10:00am Mass
Saturday, January 2
4:30pm Mass
Sunday, January 3
8:00am
9:30am
11:00am
ROSARY
8:00am, Monday thru Friday

COMING SOON... St. John's Web Page!

We are currently putting together a web page for St. John's. Watch the Sunday bulletin for more information or listen for announcements from the pulpit. We will keep you updated!

'The divine test of a man's worth is not his
theology but his life.' Morris Joseph in his book
Judaism as
Creed and Life.

Just a few more days and we begin another year in the service of the Lord and to the least among us. Who are we as human beings? Is life simply about making money and being comfortable? We've been taught that we've been created in the image and likeness of God. Are we the people God expects us to be? Are we acting as partners with god in bringing about the reign of God? As we reflect on the past year of 1998, have we advanced the vision of Jesus Christ?

As I write this reflection, the House is considering impeachment against President Clinton. Since January the media had focused on presidential adultery and lies that has sparked a wide debate on U.S. moral values. The Starr investigation and other investigations of alleged wrongdoing by political figures raise questions of relationships of law and moral virtues, public trust and public office.

The gospel calls us to be peacemakers. On Wednesday, December 16, we were all shocked to hear that the U.S. attacked Iraq. Once again, innocent civilians are at risk. U.N. secretary-general calls attack 'sad day for the world.' will it mean more threats of terrorism for US citizens, and citizens around the world?

1998 was the year we were shocked by terrorist attacks on two U.S. embassies in Africa, and U.S. missle attacks on terrorist camps in Afghanistan. Here at home, a a sniper shot and killed a doctor in New York state who performed abortions. The FBI is still looking for the person who set off a bomb at the Olympic Games in Atlanta.

We heard about nuclear weapons tests by India and Pakistan. Now there are more fears of a new nuclear arms race. A peace accord ws reached on good Friday for Northern Ireland. But in July a gasoline bomb killed three young Catholic boys, and an Agusut bombing In Omagh kille 28 people. Even at the Vatican, the dead center of Catholicism, one of the Swiss guards murdered his commander and his commander's wife, then committed suicide.

Recently, TV journalism hit a new low on 60 Minutes as the nation watched euthanasia advocate Dr. Jack Kervorkian kill a client with a lethal injection. States are arguing about the legal and moral issues of assisted suicide. There is a proposal in Congress to permit growing human clones for embryo experiments but ban their growth to maturity.Then it would not be a crime to destroy this class of human beings. Frightening?

There are 3,500 Americans on death row. John Paul II has asked for a moratorium on executions throughout the world in the eyar 2000. This past year, Karla Raye Tucker was executed in Texas. She ahd killed, but tired to turn her life around in prison. Even the Pope portested her execution, but to no avail. Is capital punishment really the right thing for gospel people to advocate?

The weather, especially the affects of El Nino, brought severe storms and floods that kille hundreds and left nearly 200,00 homeless in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. There was a drought in Colombia and Panama, major tornadoes in Florida, and record rainfualls in parts of the U.S. The Huricanes named Geroge and Mitchel left tnes of thousands homeless in some of the poorest countires of the world. Many of these coutnries have a huge debt to the U.S. The Pope asked for debt relief in the year 200, and even now. What's the vision of Jesus Christ for us? And we can't forget what's happening in sudan: drought, famine, and disease compund the problems of a 15 year civil war.

We are God's people, God's creation. We are people who believe inthe gospel and the vision of Jesus. With such world-wide poverty, violence and basic lack of dignity for human beings, I am surprised that we use to much energy to find fault over inconsequential matters as Catholics and American citizens.

Happy New Year, 1999.

A report from the Holy Family's social worker:

First off, this is a clearly dysfunctional family. Perhaps problems were inevitable from the beginning, since Jesus was conceived without the benefit of marriage by a teenager who was herself little more than a child. More problematic and disturbing than the illegitimate teen pregnancy, however is that the parents, Mary and Joseph each show signs of mental illness.

Mary is generally a very submissive type, but she strongly denies that Joseph is the child's father, which may or may not be true. When questioned as to the identity of the child's real father, she exhibits a consistent pattern of delusion, insisting that the real father is the Holy Spirit. This belief has made her overly-solicitous toward and overly-protective of her son, while she is unable to discipline him in any way, because she sincerely believes he can do no wrong.

Joseph, while exhibiting more maturity than his wife, agrees that he is not the child's father. He argues that Mary is telling the truth when she says the real father is the Holy Spirit, but whether he is saying this in order to humor his wife or because he suffers from the same delusion is impossible to determine. There is a strong possibility that he himself does not know the identity of the child's father, but is in denial concerning his wife's apparent indiscretion, which took place shortly before their marriage. When asked what reason he has to believe that he is not the father, he insisted that he has never engaged in intercourse with his wife, but that an angel revealed the real father to him. If he truly believes the child is not his, he nevertheless demonstrates a genuine affection for him and is, if anything, like Mary, overly-protective. This has lately shown itself as a paranoid belief that King Herod is trying to kill Jesus, the child. This too, Joseph claims, was revealed to him by an angel, and he is engaged in a serious attempt to emigrate to Egypt, even though he knows that this will add himself and his family to the growing ranks of the homeless.

Jesus, the child at the center of all this confusion, delusion and paranoia, is a quiet, but cheerful infant. At the moment, he exhibits no ill-affects from his parents' mental instability, but he is a child at risk. Joseph's plans for the family to flee into Egypt will deprive Jesus of a stable home environment, and it is only a matter of time before he will become aware of the uncertainty of his paternity. There is no telling the damage that would ensue should he adopt his parents' delusion that he is the Son of God. Therefore, until such time that Mary and Joseph indicate that they have resolved the many issues the birth of their child seems to have caused, and demonstrate some sort of stability, both in their mental states and in their home life, immediate removal of Jesus from parental custody is recommended.

I hope everyone knows that I'm joking--you don't need to call the Archbishop.