Visit the Parish Website for detailed information about Mass schedules, special events, and the Parish e-newsletter. The following are highlights:
Community Dinners Update: Beginning in October 2021, St. John Parish joined six other North Deanery parishes committed to working together to serve a weekly meal to so many who live on the margins in North Seattle. It started with great success; approximately 55 people were served each week, many from a homeless encampment. Then came the clearing out of the Bitter Lake encampment, which resulted in a decline to 7-9 meals served in person, with the other 45 meals boxed up and dropped off at other areas in the vicinity. This has led to limited interaction between volunteers and the guests, shifting the focus to see and feel the impact of this ministry when serving in person. With that said, guests who still come for dinner are benefiting in a variety of ways – they see “church on the street” by our willingness to keep showing up and providing social interaction and a listening ear along with a meal.
Moving forward, there seems to be a glimmer of hope! There is a desire to move the meals inside at the Bitter Lake Community Center when COVID variants wane and a longer-term vision of having more guests join us in person, resulting in more interaction for volunteers. St. John continues to fully support the mission and goals of this program.
Thank you to the dedicated group of St. John volunteers who continue to work in the trenches preparing and serving meals. Braving the wind, rain, snow and darkness, these hearty souls show up to offer meals and encouragement to others. Please contact Kim Burkhardt, St. John Faith Formation Assistant, at kburkhardt@stjohnsea.org, with any questions you may have.
Knights of Columbus Annual Fish Fry, March 1! Please join St. John’s Knights of Columbus for a socially distanced version of their fourth annual fish fry at Egan Hall on March 1. To decrease the impact on our neighbors, please park in the parking lot and walk over to Egan Hall to pick up your dinners. Distribution will be available on a staggered schedule according to last name. Please see the flyer for all the details.
Please sign up online at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdip-6r_ALEAgtmTZpKVB07d99PJzxs7iPQUFyrgyhLE_k8Tg/viewform
While the Knights are not charging anything for the fish dinners, they encourage everyone celebrating Fat Tuesday and the start of Lent to make a free will donation (in any amount – acceptable in the form of cash or check) to help donate to various charities, Catholic services, and rosaries for St. John’s First Communicants.
National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month: Since 2010, January has been declared National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month by presidential proclamation. The Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking (CCOAHT) reminds us that this is an excellent opportunity for all of us to raise awareness about human trafficking, particularly how this crime can be prevented. In the upcoming weeks, CCOAHT encourages you to undertake efforts to educate communities on human trafficking. In doing so, you can also promote promising practices to help advance anti-trafficking initiatives in your own neighborhood, town, or city. For CCOAHT’s National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Monday and Day of Prayer Toolkit, click here.
Racial Justice with Fr. Dan Horan, OFM: In this workshop Fr. Dan, author of A White Catholic’s Guide to Racism and Privilege, invites us to actively address racism and become collaborators with our Black sisters and brothers as we work for racial justice in our society and Church. Grounded in the Gospel, the wisdom of Catholic tradition and Catholic Social Teaching, he offers practical ways to educate ourselves and advocate for racial justice. Please join us via Zoo on Saturday, February 12, 2022, 9am-1pm. Register here.
