Bulletins

November 3, 2019

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Last weekend we sent home with you in the bulletin a flyer sent to us from the Vicar General of the Diocese of Arlington detailing concerns about the Family Life Education curriculum in Fairfax County Public Schools. FLE is shorthand for “Sex Ed”. The Vicar General has been urging parents for years to be vigilant and to exercise the right to opt out of exposing young Christians to the government’s indoctrination in alternative lifestyles, fornication, contraception and abortion.

This past week Bishop Burbidge asked us to join him in a Novena leading up to election day: “We have power that begins with getting on our knees in prayer. That's where it begins. And then, as faithful citizens, we should carry our faith in the gospel of life to the voting booth.”

Next Tuesday, November 5 every registered voter in Fairfax County has the opportunity to elect a new Fairfax County Public School Board, which spends $3.0 billion annually. The Family Life Education curriculum is one of many critical issues that the School Board has mishandled.

In 2015, when the current School Board At-Large members were elected, all three who had 80,000 votes won and in our Dranesville District the winner needed only 14,000 votes to get 54% of the ballots. Two years ago the population in this district topped 123,000. Compare that to the number of parishioners in the other Catholic parishes in the district: St. Luke (4662), Holy Transfiguration (350), and St. Catherine of Siena (3423). In addition to St. John’s 5500 church-goers, our collective population is 13,935, of whom some are too young to vote... and our young brothers and sisters are precisely the ones whom our votes can help. Dranesville Catholics also go to Christ the Redeemer, Our Lady of Hope, St. Athanasius, St. Joseph, St. Mark, and St. Thomas a Becket. There are enough of us that we should be able to decide who sits on our School Board.

When so much that is wrong in the world is out of our direct control, it will be welcome to take advantage of what has been put in our hands. Each vote should count but one vote admittedly does not count for much, yet there is no other election in which our votes count more. Getting all your good friends to vote could count for everything. Email them. Call them. Drive them to the polls. And then our prayers will be joined to action.

God bless you.

Fr. Christopher J. Pollard

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Heb 13,8)