Pastor's Weekly Email
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April 10, 2025
Thursday in the V Week of Lent
Parish Office Hours
The parish office will be closed on
- Wednesday, April1 16
- Holy Thursday, April 17
- Good Friday, April 18
- Easter Monday, April 21
We will resume normal office hours on Tuesday, 22 April.
Final days of Lent
Friday - Tomorrow
Stations of the Cross, 7:00 PM- Led by the members of a ministry within our parish. Please consider this final evening of the Stations of the Cross as we close out our Lenten journey.
Saturdays
Confessions 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
PALM SUNDAY
4:00 pm Vigil
7:30 am • 9:00 am • 11:00 am • 4:00 pm
HOLY THURSDAY
Mass of the Lord’s Supper, 7:00 pm
Adoration in chapel until 9:30 pm
GOOD FRIDAY
Adoration in the chapel, 9:00 am - 1:30 pm
Stations of the Cross, 12:00 Noon
Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion, 3:00 pm
The chapel will remain open until 9:30 pm
HOLY SATURDAY
Decoration of church after Morning Prayer
Easter Vigil, 8:00 pm
EASTER SUNDAY
Mass at 7:30 am • 9:00 am • 11:00 am
No 4:00 pm Easter Sunday evening Mass
Fish Fry
The 4th Annual Lenten Fish Fry/Grilled Cheese dinner was a tremendous success. Thank you to all who helped prepare and serve the meal. The Members of the Knights Council in particular stepped up. Thank you in particular to Laurie Hays, my Brother Knights and all who helped make it a successful evening.
St. John’s Hospice Collection
Once again our parishioners demonstrated their characteristic generosity in the Collection of Toiletries for St. John’s Hospice.
Classical Hybrid Home School
We have formed a committee to examine the potential of a Classical Hybrid Home School option on the campus of Saint Cornelius. If successful, the program would start in the Fall of 2026.
Below is an example of a mission statement from the Regina Caeli Academy.
Our carefully designed home school hybrid model offers support to parents with an accredited classical curriculum for PreK through 12th grade. Students attend classes by grade level at their local campus centers on Mondays and Thursdays and follow the integrated curriculum at home during the remainder of the week. Campus classes are taught by teachers (we call them tutors) trained in the classical curriculum and the Socratic method to lead intentional discussion throughout the material as your child grows through stages of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Our classical curriculum insists that the purpose of education is to cultivate a mind pursuant of truth and includes robust coursework in reading, writing, Latin, mathematics, music, debate, and the visual arts.
Extracted from the Regina Caeli Academy website
Regina Caeli Academy is just one of the potential programs that this committee will investigate over the next few months.
Loaves and Fishes
Thank you all for the support. Please note we will have only one pickup in April.
Our next two pickups are tomorrow April 11th and May 2nd. There will only be one pickup in April.
We meet from 0930 to 1000 at the PLC. Our normal collection of lunches, casseroles, and other needed items. Items that St. John’s could use are bags of apples and oranges, boxes of protein or granola bars, water, and chapstick.
Our collection for YoungMoms in Kennett Square continues. Right now YoungMoms is in need of new born sizes diapers or baby wipes. Any questions contact JoEllen Muntz at Joburns66@gmail.com.
St. Cornelius Literary Society –
The next selection is The Flaming Corsage by Willaim Kennedy. We enjoyed one of his previous works, Ironweed.
Moving back and forth between the 1880s and 1912, this sixth novel in William Kennedy’s acclaimed Albany cycle follows the lives of Edward Daugherty, a first-generation Irish American who will break out beyond Albany as a playwright, and Katrina Taylor, a beautiful, seductive woman with complex attitudes towards life. Their marriage is a passionate one, but a cataclysmic hotel fire changes it into something else altogether. The Flaming Corsage evocatively portrays the seething, contradictory impulses of our humanity, lusts and furies that know no bounds of time or place.
Please plan on attending our next meeting this Sunday, April 27th at 2:00.
Disciple Maker Index
The Disciple Maker Index online survey will close today, April 10. I am not sure of the specific time it will close, but you can try the link below to see if it still works. If that doesn’t work, you are welcome to fill out a hard copy that can be found on the table, in the narthex of the church. Those hard copies are due in our office by Tuesday, April 15, Noon.
You can access the survey at the link below or if you prefer a hard copy is available in the narthex on the table.
https://portal.catholicleaders.org/dmi/survey/x7c4xx
Taco Tuesday
Our Young Adult group is having a Taco Tuesday themed dinner, titled Dinner with Disciples, April 22 @ 7:00 PM in the PLC gym. Dan from JMJ Missions will speak on the topic “The Logical Reason for God’s Existence”. Discussion to follow. This is open to our 18-35 yr olds. Bring a friend and enjoy some tacos.
Camp Cornelius
We are excited to offer once again a summer camp experience for our PreK3 to 2nd grade. Check out the schedule on the attached flyer for more information.
Go, Make Disciples: An introductory training in Missionary Discipleship.
Please check the attached NEW flyer for information on the effort by our Archbishop and join us for a powerful and practical training in the habits and skills of Missionary Discipleship. If you were not able to make the January and February dates, attached is a new listing of dates in April and May. The first session begins April 26.
Thursday Morning Gospel Reflection & Prayer
Why not consider attending the Thursday morning men’s Gospel reflection (Holy Thursday we will not meet). We begin at 6:30 AM and enter into a discussion based on the readings of the upcoming Sunday. We begin the session in the chapel, lasts for approximately 45 minutes and then we enter the church to prepare for the 7:30 Mass.
Think about making this your Spring and Summer Spiritual practice.
Pilgrimage to the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal - Monday, May 12, 2025
On Monday, May 12th, the parish is planning a pilgrimage to the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, located in the Germantown section of the city of Philadelphia. The Basilica has been designated as a site where pilgrims can gather to celebrate the Year of the Jubilee. The history of the Miraculous Medal will be shared, along with a Tour of the Basilica. An optional tour of the Marian Art Museum is available and we will have an opportunity to spend time at the Outdoor Rosary Walk. The Novena Prayers to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal will take place at 11:55am, followed by Mass. More details will follow and if you are interested, please contact Agnes Arkus at agnesa324@verizon.net or 302-290-3486.
Monthly Coffee
The Monthly Coffee on the first Sunday of the month was a success. Thank you to all who stepped in to help serve and clean up.
An Invitation From Archbishop Pérez
On January 5, the Feast of St. John Neumann, Fourth Bishop of Philadelphia, Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez released a pastoral letter, at the core of which is a call to a pastoral change of heart, a conversion to the lifestyle and mindset of a missionary disciple. The letter also shares with us the Archbishop's vision for the future of the Church of Philadelphia and invitation to all Catholics to be a part of the conversation about what that will look like. To read the letter, watch the Archbishop’s video and sign up for a consultation session, visit
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The Holy Year of Hope –
Spes non Confundit
(Hope does not disappoint)
Check out these web sites for locations, local and national, where you are able to observe this Holy Year. The emphasis throughout this Year of Hope is on Penance and Reconciliation. I know a Diocesan Pilgrimage is being planned. Perhaps we could plan a parish pilgrimage to one of the sites identified with in the Archdiocese.
NATIONAL SHRINES
St. John Neumann at St. Peter Church, Philadelphia
Our Lady of Czestochowa, Doylestown
St. Rita, Philadelphia
DIOCESAN SHRINES
St. Anne in St. Anne (upper) Church, Philadelphia
Bl. Carlo Acutis at Malvern Retreat House, Malvern
St. Gianna Beretta Molla at Nativity of Our Lord Church, Warminster St. Jude at St. Jude Church, Chalfont
St. Katharine Drexel at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Philadelphia
Miraculous Medal Basilica, Philadelphia
Padre Pio at St. Bede Church, Holland
WEBSITES FOR THE JUBILEE YEAR
For the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, https://archphila.org/holyyear/
For the Vatican, https://www.iubilaeum2025.va/it.html
For the United States, https://www.usccb.org/committees/jubilee-2025
Faces of Hope
“Faces of Hope” is an outgrowth of the Trust and Hope initiative launched by Archbishop Pérez earlier this year. The Faces of Hope series seeks to illustrate the impact that Catholics make throughout the five counties of the Philadelphia region by linking faith and good works. Listen to the stories of Janada Carter, Manager of Star Harbor Catholic Senior Community Center in Southwest Philadelphia; Sal LaMantia and Justin Sturkey, members of the Bucks County Sheriff’s Community Outreach & Public Engagement (SCOPE) Unit; and Dan Tarrant, Founder of Personally Catholic and a documentary filmmaker. Listen to the first of these three Faces of Hope by clicking on the link below.
For Janada Carter, True Meaning Comes in Being Present to Seniors – CatholicPhilly
MATTHEW XXV Garden
It’s almost time to plant in the Matthew XXV Garden. This year we are expanding by about 30 feet under the leadership and work effort of Matthew Hays who is in pursuit of his Eagle Scout Rank.
The new fencing will go in on April 12th beginning at 10:00 AM with the scouts and whoever else can lend a hand.
Garden cleanup May 5th begins at 9:00. (Come celebrate Cinco de Mayo Sombreros and Cerveza are optional.)
Planting on May 12th beginning at 9:00 AM. I regularly request help from people with weak minds and strong backs. As I am of a certain age and manner of decrepitude, I only have the weak back, the mind being somewhat stable. So if you are able and can join us on the 12th, please lend a hand putting in this year’s crop.
Faithfully,
Msgr. Diamond
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