"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you" (Jn. 6:53).

Announcements

Donation envelopes for 2008 - Parishioners who use our weekly donation envelopes are asked to clearly print the amount of their donation in the space provided on the front of the envelope. This is a big help to the volunteers who count the collection.

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

Exposition is held every Friday (Oct. through May) immediately following the 8:30 am Mass. Exposition closes with Benediction at 4:00 pm. The Divine Mercy Chaplet is recited at 3:00 p.m. No exposition/Benediction June to October.

Ministry Meetings

Hurricane Prayer

God our Father, Creator of the Universe and Lord over all creation, we humbly stand before you as your children in thanksgiving for your loving care and protection.  We ask that you keep us safe from all hurricanes which may threaten us in the coming seasons. Protect us from all fear and anxiety of storms and give us an ardent trust and hope in Your love and mercy. You alone have the power to command the sea, the wind and the rain. You alone bring peace, calm, and safety. 

Father, we thank you in advance, for you are our only Refuge.  We ask this through Christ Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen. 

Diocese of Palm Beach, Office of the Bishop

Shepherds of Christ Prayer Chapter

The Shepherds of Christ prayer chapters pray for priests (all their needs, the world over), the Church (the entire community of faith), and the world (all members of the human family). Prayers are held after the Tuesday morning Mass. Terry Spytek and Anne Young are contact persons in the church.

Bingo

Bingo has been discontinued during the summer months. Stay tuned for the start-up in the Fall.

Prayer Shawl Ministry

Calling all knitters!  Would you like to be part of a ministry that knits simple shawls consisting of three knits and three purls (just right to meditate on Father, Son and Holy Spirit while praying your way through the making of the shawl)?  We would then place them by the Pieta in the sanctuary one Friday a month during Adoration.  Father would bless them and we would send them on their way to anyone who needs to be comforted and surrounded by loving prayer – to a relative or friend, to someone from the wellness ministry or to a newly pregnant woman from one of our two crisis pregnancy centers, etc. If you are interested, the directions for creating the shawl are available in the office.  Please provide your name and phone number to the office staff when receiving the information.  If you would prefer to knit, crochet or quilt a similar comforting article, even clothing for babies, we would love to have you join us in spirit as we all work in our own homes. We would then come together to have the work of our hands blessed before given to a recipient. Please call Ginny at 567-6131 if you have any questions.

Don't know how to knit, but would like to learn so you can be part of the team? We'll have a class to teach you. Call Ginny at 567-6131.

Giving of shawls, etc. - Do you know someone who is homebound or someone who is dealing with an extended or difficult illness? Possibly someone in a nursing home? Maybe an out-of-town relative or friend who would appreciate how much you care about them? Perhaps a mom with a difficult pregnancy or one who has made a decision to keep her baby? If so, then get your name on a list in the parish office to get one of these "snuggle wraps", each beautifully handcrafted by a cadre of our parishioners now involved in this ministry. They are provided in a box and include a beautiful card from our St. John of the Cross parish that explains the special blessings that come with it (see above paragraph). These will be suitable for both men and women through a variety of colors that can be selected. Keep in mind that whoever you may be thinking of does not have to be Catholic. First come, first served. We expect a high demand. Think about who you might surprise and then get on the list. Blessings to you!

Food Pantry

The food pantry still needs some helping and food. We need more canned goods and staples for the needy in the area. The pantry has been busy distributing food to the needy over the winter months, but now need your help. A large container is available for your donations in the back of the church near Fr. John's office.

Ushers

They are needed at the 7:30 a.m. & 10:30 a.m. Mass. If you attend either Mass, we would appreciate your volunteering to help take up the collection. Any usher (in white jacket) can direct you to where you are needed.

Adult Altar Servers

We are in need of adult altar servers for the added weekend Masses as well as daily Masses. If you think you might be interested in this ministry, please call Jerry Martin at 772-563-0537. Excellent training provided.

Sacristans

We can always use sacristans to serve at either daily or weekend Masses. If you think you might be interested in this ministry, please contact Fr. John or Jerry Martin. Excellent training provided.

DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD

Planned Parenthood (PP) is the largest provider of abortions in the U.S. and a purveyor of products and programs designed to feed their abortion business. For example, here in Vero Beach Planned Parenthood is pushing hard to get their comprehensive sex education (outrageous content) into our government schools in lieu of abstinence. In 2006, Planned Parenthood performed 289,650 abortions in the U.S., made $112 million in profit, and received $336 million in our tax money to do it. There is a national effort to get this funding stopped and we need to do our part. Please call the following three toll-free numbers and leave a message that as a registered voter, you are asking that the government stop funding Planned Parenthood. This is in keeping with Faithful Citizenship called for by our Catholic faith.

Representative Dave Weldon (R) at 1-800-939-3515

Senator Martinez (R) at 1-866-630-7106

Senator Nelson (D) at 1-888-671-4091

PS. The person in most need of contact is Senator Nelson (D) who is pro-abortion.

SUMMER CHALLENGE

Please take a personal survey of relatives, friends and acquaintances this summer. You’ll be amazed at the answers you get.

a)      Do you know at what point a pregnancy can no longer be terminated by abortion in the U.S.

b)      Do you know why we should vote for the marriage amendment defining marriage
as between a man and a woman? It will be on this November’s ballot in Florida?

Answers:

a)      From 1973 until present, abortion is allowed from the time of conception until the time of delivery for any reason. In other words, all nine months.

b)      The traditional family is the building block of all societies: Male + female = children. If you destroy this building block, society ceases to flourish and even exist. The family is under attack from all angles: divorce, morality (abortion, contraception), financial, co-habitation, etc. Adding and protecting non-building block unions drains time, energy, and resources away from support of the traditional family. When viewed objectively, what is proposed is that any pair who is willing to declare some sort of bond should be given economic concessions by the community. When society permits persons of the same sex to “marry” based simply on their declaration of love and commitment, there is no reason that three committed persons of the same sex cannot marry. Lastly, why would we want to legitimize disordered lifestyles when study after study indicate that male and female homosexuals have much higher rates of interpersonal maladjustment, depression, conduct disorder, childhood abuse (both sexual and violent), domestic violence, alcohol or drug abuse, anxiety and dependency on psychiatric care than heterosexuals.

Questions or challenges? Use the question box on our web site at www.stjotc.org.

FLORIDA MARRIAGE PROTECTION AMENDMENT MAKES NOVEMBER 2008 BALLOT

WE DID IT! The Florida Division of Elections certified the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment on February 1, 2008 to be on the November 4, 2008 General Election ballot.  The amendment was certified with 649,346 petitions or 38,337 more than the 611,009 required petitions. 

The amendment was in jeopardy of not making the ballot just two weeks before the deadline date of February 1, 2008 after the Division of Elections determined it was 22,000 petitions short. 

However, thanks to the urgent email requests from the American Family Association, Family Research Council, Our American Values and Wall Builders, the political committee Florida4marriage.org received close to 92,000 more petitions in the final two weeks.

The Florida Marriage Protection Amendment reads:  "In as much as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."

The Respect Life Office of St. John of the Cross thanks all those who signed the petition. Next, we vote!

AFFIRMS ABORTION/BREAST CANCER LINK

By  THADDEUS M. BAKLINSKI

(From 12/16/07 Bulletin)

CHICAGO (Life Site News) A new study published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons documents the fact that abortion is the "best predictor of breast cancer" in eight European nations.
           While this study was ignored by much of the major media, Dennis Byrne of The Chicago Tribune, wrote a commentary entitled, "Snubbing cancer study will only hurt women: Research showing link to abortion ignored by media."
           Karen Malec of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer said: "The media's behavior is very problematic. When the history, books are written on the abortion-breast cancer link, women are going to be appalled by the major media's behavior on this matter and the media will suffer further loss of credibility."
           "The mainstream media have aggressively promoted abortion and the abortion-breast cancer link would mean that more of their readers are getting breast cancer because they believed what the media were telling them," she added.
           The usual argument used by critics of abortion-breast cancer link studies is "recall bias," which claims flawed research due to its being based on interviews with women who have breast cancer and admit to having had one or more abortions.
           After the study was published, critics attacked the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, saying the research was politically motivated. "It was a shoot -the-messenger approach," explained Karem Malec, "because science really is not on their side, so they argued ideology."
           Furthermore, this research was discussed in the insurance magazine The Actuary. Insurance actuaries were advised to adjust their insurance premiums and reserves accordingly in order to plan for a 50% increase in breast cancer projected out to 2029.
           Malec continued, "The abortion-breast cancer link critics are having a hard time explaining why an insurance magazine would publish a 'politically motivated' article discussing the abortion-breast cancer link: and advising its readers that this epidemic will be costly for the insurance industry and consumers. Insurance companies, after all, are in the business of making money and pleasing their stockholders, not in dealing with politically motivated issues."

            She concluded: "For people who don't know whom to believe, when the insurance industry starts talking about the issue, then we know it's a serious problem."

VOTER SUPPORT INFORMATION - A CATHOLICS GUIDE TO FORMING YOUR CONSCIENCE

The Five Non-Negotiables

The same eyes that read the Bible, also read the ballots. The same hands that pray to God, also cast our votes. As Catholic Christians, we do not leave our faith outside the voting booth. Know that God will hold us accountable for our votes, whether we limit evil or enable evil! It is, therefore, our responsibility as Catholics to be fully informed on where the candidates stand, regardless of party, and to vote as Jesus would vote rather than for personal gain. Supine ignorance, the unwillingness to inform our consciences on Church moral teaching as well as candidate positions on same, is something for which we will be held accountable.

The 5 Non-Negotiables are: Abortion, Euthanasia, Human Cloning, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, and Same Sex Unions. Some say that most moral issues are of equal concern, a seamless garment if you will. That is NOT true; there is a seam. The five non-negotiables are on one side of the seam. The other moral issues are of lesser moral importance and on the other side of the seam. Why? Because if a candidate is not on the side of life, the other moral issues don’t matter.

“Working for the growth of the Kingdom in every sector of society…means rejecting a false dichotomy between faith and political life, since, as the Second Vatican Council put it, ‘there is no human activity - even in secular affairs - which can be withdrawn from God's dominion’ (Lumen Gentium, 36).” Pope Benedict XVI Homily, Mass at Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY, April 20, 2008

Why PRO-LIFE Presidents Matter

What if someone told you that the only significant influence the President has on the economy is in selecting the Chairman of the Federal Reserve? Most serious voters would rightly dismiss such a narrow claim as absurd. Yet how often do we hear the daft assertion that the only significant role the president plays in advancing the pro-life agenda is in nominating Supreme Court justices (important as that is)? Well, the president has a substantial and broad-based role in protecting life. Here are a few examples of why it matters:

1. Preserving the Pro-Life Riders – Each year pro-life “riders” are attached to the annual appropriations bills which prevent public funds from supporting abortions, abortion providers, or abortion promoters. They include the Dickey-Wicker provision which prohibits federal funding of human embryo research. The Kemp-Kasten Amendment which prevents funding to participants in coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization. The Hyde-Weldon provision which offers conscience protections for health care entities that refuse to provide or encourage abortions and does so by withholding federal funds from states that discriminate against entities or individual people. The Mexico City Policy which prohibits foreign aid money from going to all organizations that perform or promote abortions.
2. Filing of amicus briefs before the judiciary: prevents broad legal effects of court decisions going beyond the parties directly involved in a case.
3. Issuance of executive orders: They direct the operation of officers within the executive branch.
4. Selection of political appointments: They have a significant impact on the pro-life cause.
5. Using the power of the veto which can force legislators to eliminate the inclusion of any pro-death content such as abortion (including born alive killing after abortion), euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and same sex marriage in legislation
6. Using the “bully pulpit” by persuasively advocating a Pro-life agenda.

 Christians have an obligation to the most vulnerable members of our society to elect politicians with a robust view of human dignity and the temerity to govern. We betray this duty when we downplay the role of the executive branch in advancing the pro-life cause.

 

The Scriptures point out the importance of tithing for blessings. While we as Catholics are not bound by the tithing laws of the Bible, we are called to give according to how we feel God has blessed us. Scriptural quotes for tithing are found in Genesis 14:18-20; Gen. 28:22; Lev. 27-30; Mt. 23:23; Lk. 11:42; Heb. 7:1-11.

Examples of tithing are as follows (Annual Gross Household Income/Amount of Weekly Gift @ 10%/5%/3%/1%):

$30,000/$58/$29/$17/$6
$50,000/$86/$48/$29/$10
$70,000/$135/$67/$40/$14
$100,000/$192/$96/$58/$19

For those who are unable to meet the financial dimension of tithing, one may fulfill tithing by offering up one's talent (ie. Ushering, Knights of Columbus, CCW, etc.) or time to the parish (ie. attending the Bible class or Catechism class). In whatever manner you choose to build the Kingdom of God, we love you!

Boy Scout Troop #513

The Knights of Columbus #13153 of St. John of the Cross Church have sponsored Boy Scout Troop #513 for the past 4 years. We meet weekly on Tuesdays at 7:00 pm in the Rev. John A. Crowley Center. Dave Smith (an EM) is the Scoutmaster. There are 5 Assistant Scoutmasters and a Troop Committee of 10-12 members. We have 23 scouts who are members of 4 patrols.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Scoutmaster Dave Smith at 778-0242 or Ken Rozelsky, K of C at 567-9481.

Priority:

Parish Multipurpose Hall/Ministry Building ______ 283
Chapel__________________________________ 29

The above vote count was ended in mid-December 2007. Six months of voting went by and the preference of the parishioners who voted is clear.

Plan:

The current plan (Jan. '08) is to begin construction only when the project is fully funded through the Building Fund. Our intention is to take on NO debt service for this project.

Bear in mind that the Diocese has the final say in what is done.

Status:

Fr. Pasquini and our archetect, John Dean, have met and Mr. Dean is working on the first set of plans for review. We expect a review by Father and the Building Committee in May.