Bulletins

November 30, 2014

Download the Bulletin as a PDF

Have you ever been scared of something for which you felt unprepared and then realized afterwards that there had been no good reason to be afraid? Piano lessons? SATs?

Inside this bulletin you have already found a lovely, colorful door knob hanger. Have no fear. I shall explain.

When you hear the phrase “Door-to-Door Evangelization” do you ask yourself “How long do I have to pretend to be not home for the two Mormons with black plastic name tags to ride away on their sensible bicycles?”

When I suggest that you join your priests and fellow parishioners for Door-to-Door Evangelization do you think “I would rather be audited” or “Boy, root canal sounds really good right about now”?

Rest assured that my goal is not to aggravate your neighbors and ruin your friendships. Since September we have once again embarked on visiting each home within the parish. The responses have been nothing but positive. Our approach is simple: 1) pray as you walk up the driveway, 2) ring the door bell, 3) pray as you wait for the door to open, 4) smile, either 5A) say “Hi. I am from St. John’s. We thought you might like to know about our upcoming events. You are more than welcome to come.” and give them the door hanger or 5b) leave a door hanger on the door knob and 6) pray after you leave. Sometimes the gentle invitation sparks a conversation, sometimes not. It goes without saying that you may edit #5A since you know your neighbors better than I. If arthritis makes walking to your mailbox something akin to the Way of the Cross, you could invert the steps above and call a neighbor, invite them over to your house and give them the invitation and maybe also a cup of hot chocolate.

Instead of feeling guilty for being an intrusion we should apologize to our neighbors whenever there is a great party here and we fail to invite them. Let us be resolved: we shall never again leave our friends in the dark when there are food and music to be enjoyed!

Either way, the lovely door hangers are not meant for you to keep but to give away. We can use them for the next month and I hope that we run out quickly and have to order more. There are over 13,000 homes inside our boundaries. That is a lot of door bells. So please join us this coming Saturday or at least participate by passing along your personal paper post promoting the parish. Do not be afraid. You probably will enjoy it.

God bless you.

Fr. Christopher J. Pollard