St. John Vianney Catholic Church | Father Troy’s Weekly Letter

Bazaar: Bringing Together our Parish Community

Oct 12, 2019 In Father Troy's Weekly Letter

Dear Friends in Christ: This Sunday we host our annual Parish Bazaar. The history of bazaars, festivals, feasts, fiestas, etc., is actually quite interesting. While many may consider these types of celebrations as merely fundraisers, the actual history is quite different. The idea of a festival extends back to harvest festivals and they actually predate Christianity. These celebrations were practiced in many ancient religions and cultures. The celebrations in Judaism were eventually absorbed and appropriated by the Church. We see the antecedents of our Christian feasts in the various harvest feasts that evolved into religious feasts celebrated in Judaism. There are...

Your Participation is Needed!

Oct 5, 2019 In Father Troy's Weekly Letter

Dear Friends in Christ: As you have read in the bulletin, heard in church and received information in the mail, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston is in the midst of the IGNITE Capital Campaign to raise $150 million in needed funds to address current and future needs of our archdiocese. This effort initiated by Cardinal DiNardo was planned and actually begun prior to Hurricane Harvey. But with the hurricane and floods, the campaign was suspended and the priorities of the campaign were realigned. As we all know, many of our archdiocesan parishes, like so many people in our area suffered greatly from...

Making Outreach Our Priority

Sep 28, 2019 In Father Troy's Weekly Letter

Dear Friends in Christ: On a recent Saturday morning, nearly 150 of our parish leaders met for the annual State of the Parish presentation. At the gathering the 2019 Annual Report for the parish was presented. You can read it here. This report contains the facts and figures of the parish including our financial report for the fiscal year 2018-19. It also highlights several important events and accomplishments of the past year. The bottom line is this – while our parish has been impacted over the last few years by the downturn in the energy industry, our construction project, the road...

Important Reminders

Sep 21, 2019 In Father Troy's Weekly Letter

Dear Friends in Christ: At my desk, I keep a running list of topics that I would like to write about in these weekly letters. Sadly, the lists only gets longer as I never seem to have enough time to get to everything. With that being said, I will take this opportunity to use this week’s letter as a reminder of some important topics in a lighting round fashion. Each of these topics could easily be an entire letter. Buckle up because here we go! Spiritual Life. Keep up with your spiritual life. Pray every day, come to Mass every Sunday and...

The Truth of the Eucharist

Sep 14, 2019 In Father Troy's Weekly Letter

Dear Friends in Christ: In the news this summer was a recent study by the Pew Research Center. One of the findings in their report was how few Catholics understand the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist. Indeed over the last fifty years, for lots and lots of reasons, there has been a growing confusion among Catholics about this truth and central teaching of our faith. Simply put, we believe Jesus when he says “My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink! (Jn 6) and “This is My Body …This is My Blood.” (Mt 26, Mk 14, Lk 22,...

Answering the Call

Sep 7, 2019 In Father Troy's Weekly Letter

Dear Friends in Christ: This is the first weekend of our Religious Education for Youth. We have kicked off our Adult Formation sessions as well. Additionally, we have started off another year of the St. Anne Society for Mothers of Young Children, St. Monica’s Society, The Women’s Club, The Joyful Women, That Man Is You, Prayer Groups, Dinners for 8, Young Adults, Mission Teams, Bridge, Community Garden, Knights of Columbus, Cana Experience, Youth Ministry, First Friday Breakfasts, Boy Scouts, Liturgical Ministries, Parish Pilgrimages, ESL, tutoring, Ministry to the Sick, Parish Life outings, Monthly Parish Dinners and tons of other happenings around...

The Blessings Exceeded the Waters

Aug 30, 2019 In Father Troy's Weekly Letter

Dear Friends in Christ: This week marked the two year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey and the flooding that followed. For most Houstonians, this is but a memory of a terrible event that affected our city. For others it was a horrible time when they saw their homes flooded, the possessions of a lifetime lost, followed by a test of patience (and sanity) and the trial of rebuilding. There are many, however, including many in this parish, for whom the nightmare has yet to end. After two years they have not yet been able to return to their homes, they are still...

How You can Make a Difference

Aug 24, 2019 In Father Troy's Weekly Letter

Dear Friends in Christ: Even though the heat is going to be around for a bit longer, summertime is coming to an end. That means things are really picking up around the parish. Obviously, the program that touches the most parish families is our Religious Education for Youth (CCE). We are blessed to have over 1300 children involved in our Religious Education program, each child learning and growing in the love of God. We are also blessed with hundreds of great and devoted catechists and helpers in addition to our dedicated staff. Yet with all of these wonderful servant disciples, did...

The Importance of Forming Disciples

Aug 17, 2019 In Father Troy's Weekly Letter

Dear Friends in Christ: This weekend after each of our Masses we will have registration for our Religious Education program for our school children and youth. This is vital and absolutely essential to our Church and to the youth. Jesus commanded us in his last moment before ascending to the Father to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you!” (Mt 28:19-20) This obligation is indeed a serious one that cannot be taken lightly....

Be 100% Catholic

Aug 10, 2019 In Father Troy's Weekly Letter

Dear Friends in Christ: I certainly hope that you enjoyed the wonderful feast day celebrations. My sincere thanks to all who helped make it a wonderful success; those involved with the liturgies and those involved in the festivities, (cooking, serving, entertainment, cleaning, etc.). To all of you my sincere thanks and appreciation. Yet the feast has not ended as we are still in the midst of offering our 5000 hours of adoration and 10,000 rosaries for the intentions of our parish. Please come and be part of our offering of prayer. In last week’s bulletin, I mentioned four actions we are embarking...

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