St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church

DECEMBER 2013

Issue No.7

In This Issue

Women's Night of Reflection

Pasta & Prayer

Recommended Reading

Save the Date

11/30: Wings -n- Catholic Things

12/1: First Day of Advent

12/7: Morning in Bethlehem

12/7: Women's Night of Reflection & Hour of Grace

12/15: Parish Penance Service

12/25: Merry Christmas!

2013 Christmas Calendar

Fridays during Advent: Prayer & Pasta - Advent Educational Series.

Visit our website for more information & a full calendar of events.

Our Mission

We, the Eucharistic Community of St. Joan of Arc Parish, by the grace of God and throughout our participation in His Word, the church's sacraments, and prayer, seek our eternal salvation.

We live out the doctrines and traditions of our Faith in communion with the holy, catholic and apostolic Church, established by Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

With courage, we follow the example of our patron saint and invoke her intercession as we strive to know God, love God and serve God which moves us to actively promote and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the midst of our every day life.

Phone: (717) 533-7168

Parish Office Hours:
Monday thru Friday
8:00am - 4:00pm*

*Closed 12:00pm - 1:00pm

We strive to keep your information current to better serve you. If there any changes in your contact information, please remember to update our office.

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Parish Life Newsletter

Photo courtesy of Christine Chardo

A Note from Father

Birds are probably smarter than we think. I know they have excellent sight, which is why when you hunt them, you need really good camouflage, if not a blind to remain hidden. Crows are some of the smartest birds around. I wonder if that's why they start yelling early in the morning. Perhaps they're also the most ornery. So why would I talk about birds? Because I believe the turkeys have unionized and worked so hard to convince us that there is no holiday between Halloween and Christmas. And you know what? It's working.

This year in a race to take our money, many retailers have decided, "forget black Friday" let's just start on Thanksgiving. Because no one gives thanks anyway, right? They just want, want, want, and get, get, get. We are like Pavlov's dogs, and retailers know it. The earlier the decorations go up, the more consumers' minds are turned to buying. It's true. Why didn't they decorate for Ashura, or the Mildad un Nabi? Or the Bikrami Samvat (Hindu new year) or others?

So don't be surprised if your Thanksgiving meal gets shorter; if people don't want to sit around and catch up while the kids are playing outside; if they don't want to watch football all afternoon or participate in a Tryptophanic slumber. Don't be surprised if some call and say that plans have changed and they are unable to come to dinner this year, while, if asked why, they would have to say that there's "a sale a Penney's."

Wait a few years and it'll be August. They'll never do away with the minor holidays between Easter and Christmas, but they'll keep allowing their idea of Christmas and the "bottom line" move them closer to the top of our list.

Isn't it ironic that a world that strives to eliminate Christ, spends three months promoting him every year? No, it's not ironic. They don't celebrate the Christ-Mas. We are not so na�ve. They're to P.C. for that. Instead they simply insert an "X" where Christ used to be. And if we're not careful; and we get caught up as one of Pavlov's pets, "X" will mark the spot for us, as well.

Father Rothan

Quotable Saints

The Season of Giving Thanks

November is a season of Giving Thanks. As a parish, we are very thankful for our kind and generous parishioners who go above and beyond the call to support our Church and Church Community. Please share your feelings and let us know what things or programs you are thankful for within our parish. We would also like to hear what we could be doing better, or what we could consider doing to improve our Church Community.

Visit our website to leave your feedback

Holiday Gift Giving

Choose a Gift this Christmas Season that honors the ones your cherish... and Our Lord!

This year we are offering an opportunity to make a bigger impact with your gift giving.

If you have someone on your list that is involved with the Church and can be difficult to shop for, we encourage you to consider a gift to our Church in honor of them. You can personalize the gift by choosing which unique fund best fits the person you are giving the gift to. We have custom cards available for you to hand your family and friends personally to acknowledge your gift to them (or we can mail it for you).

More information is available on our website.

"Ask a Priest" Series

The "Ask a Priest" series has been a great success! Due to an overwhelming number of questions being submitted for this series, there has been a delay in gathering all of the responses. We hope to have them available very soon! Thank you to all who have participated.

You can still submit your questions for next month's series via the "Ask a Priest" page on our website. The second Friday of each month we will feature these questions on our blog along with the responses from one - or more - of the priests here at St. Joan of Arc.

Women's Night of Reflection during Advent

Father Rothan will be presenting a Women's Night of Reflection during Advent on December 7th. The topic of the evening will be "Divine Intimacy" (Into- Me - See). This event is open to the entire Diocese. To read more about this event and to RSVP, click here.

Pasta & Prayer: Adult Education Series

Father Rothan will be hosting an adult education series Fridays during Advent and Lent that will teach about Revelations. The Fridays during Advent are December 6th, 13th and 20th and will be held from 6pm to 7pm. The evenings will begin with prayer in the Church and then move to the school cafeteria for a meal and the presentation. This event is open to the entire Diocese. More information is available here

Christmas schedule now available

The Christmas season calendar and schedule of events is now available on our website. Click here to view the schedule.