Vocations at SJB

Dear Friends in Christ,

Recently I received an invitation to the religious profession of a young man whom I had trained as an altar server 15 years ago. He and his best friend are both seminarians in different religious orders today. I keep their photo on my bulletin board. For me it is a great sign of hope for the Church that fine young men are offering their lives to the Lord to serve His people. I am very happy for them and pray that they will persevere in their vocation. Both of these young men come from a Catholic parish like ours and benefited from parish religious education and formation programs that helped them discern the call to the priesthood.

Next month Fr. Cirilo Flores, who was chosen by the Holy Father to become auxiliary bishop of Orange, will be ordained a bishop. Before he became a priest, he used to teach religious education here at St. John’s. Who knows? Maybe he thought of the priesthood when he was teaching here! Now God is calling him to become a bishop! Teaching religious education at St. John’s has prepared him to accomplish one of the primary tasks of a bishop, that of teacher of God’s Word.

Preparing young people to be active members of the Church, reaching out to those in need, evangelizing the community, this fairly describes the purpose of the Pastoral Services Appeal. Next weekend you will hear more about how the Pastoral Services Appeal works to bring the Gospel to the people of Orange County. You can be confident, based on our own experience, that your participation in PSA will make a difference in the lives of fellow Catholics. In this time of economic challenge, you want to be sure that funds are used for good purposes. Please check out the “pie chart” for PSA on the pledge envelope, and you will understand that your money is used wisely.

On another topic, see below if you live in the neighborhood of our FIRST parish home visit!

Kind regards in Christ,

Fr. Hildebrand

Parish Home Visitation Project

Our first home visit will be in the neighborhood just southeast of our church. If you live on the following streets, please contact the rectory, or call 714-540-2214, and you will be told the address, date, and time where we will meet:

• Saint Clair
  
• St. Junipero Dr.
  
• Loreto Av.
• Santiago Rd.
  
• Sutter Way
  
• Portola Dr.
• Velasco Ln.
  
• Serra Way
  
• Drake Dr.
• Sonora Rd.
  
• Eastern Presidio
  
• San Lucas Ln.
• Magellan St.
  
• Francis Ln.
  
• Cortez St.