St John the Beloved Roman Catholic Church

Please join the St. John the Beloved Parish Community in celebrating the Feast of Corpus Christi on Sunday, June 23, 2019. Mass will be celebrated at 4:00 p.m. followed by a solemn procession of the Holy Eucharist at 5:15. A dinner featuring the famous St. John BBQ will follow at 6:00 p.m.

All are welcome!

"For more large families from which will spring priestly and religions vocations," let us pray to the Lord?

With a brother and sister-in-law who suffered infertility during the first ten years of their marriage I am quite sensitive to the impossibility of drawing conclusions about a couple from the mere number of children that they happen to have. If I can find a better way to word the intention I certainly am happy to do so. Encouraging large families, however, will not change.

Although I do know a few priests and religious who come from average size families, the data which The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate tracks each year reveal that family size plays a large role in vocations.

Of those who last year made religious profession in the US, "nearly eight in ten responding religious (79 percent) of the Profession Class of 2018 have more than one sibling. One in five (18 percent) has one brother or sister. A third (34 percent) report having two or three. Nearly half (45 percent) have four or more siblings."

Read Fr. Pollard's article