Feast of the Holy Family

12-29-2024Pastor's LetterFr. Daniel Cruz

Happy Feast of the Holy Family & Happy New Year!

The parish of Saint Joan of Arc is blessed with many families. This is a tremendous joy to have at the center of life and love for the local church. Today we are reminded that “the future of the world and of the Church passes through the family.” (Familioris consortio, 75) The family we commemorate today is the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

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Fourth Sunday of Advent

12-22-2024Pastor's LetterFr. Daniel Cruz

Merry Christmas!

This is the most wonderful time to celebrate the Christmas Child, Jesus Christ! We have been preparing for this season with the prophets proclaiming that the One who is to come as an infant child will save us and lead us into His glory forever. When we gather at Christmas time, we bring our inner child within us. This can be sorrow, joy, anger, charity, darkness, the possibilities are many.

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Third Sunday of Advent

12-15-2024Pastor's Letter© LPi Fr. John Muir

On a bright Spring morning, a passerby once saw St. Francis of Assisi hoeing a row of beans and asked him, “What would you be doing right now if you knew this was the last day of your earthly life?” The Saint responded, “I’d keep hoeing this row of beans.” Preparing for this world to end — whether by our death or by Jesus’ glorious coming — invites us to live not in the past or the present, but deeply in the present moment.

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Second Sunday of Advent

12-08-2024Pastor's Letter© LPi Fr. John Muir

In the year 1995, in the seventeenth year of my life, when Fife Symington was governor of Arizona, Bill Clinton was president of the United States, Chuck Keiffer was pastor of St. Theresa parish in Phoenix, Arizona, and Ron and Mary were my parents, the word of God came to my youth minister Eric and through him, I started to see the salvation of God. Soon, Christ came into my life never to leave. I’m thankful beyond words.

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First Sunday of Advent

12-01-2024Pastor's LetterFr. Daniel Cruz

Happy Advent!

This season of advent brings a great amount of hope in our preparation for the coming Solemnities of Christmas. Hope is essential to our lives, without hope to live for, without something to look forward to brings about a despair in life that becomes unbearable and an ultimate surrender to death.

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Feast of Christ the King

11-24-2024Pastor's LetterFr. Daniel Cruz

Happy Christ the King!

We give thanks this week for the many blessings upon our church family of faith. Our Solemnity of Christ the King remains important as the ever-growing secularization of our society continues to increase. Since its institution by Pope Pius XI in 1925 the message from his encyclical should penetrate our hearts:

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33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

11-17-2024Pastor's LetterFr. Daniel Cruz

Happy Sunday!

Our liturgical season concludes next week with the Solemnity of Christ the King! During this time we take out Eucharistic King through the streets of St. Joan of Arc. Our Mass schedule remains the same and the procession will begin immediately after the Spanish Mass at around 1:30pm. All are welcome to attend the Spanish Mass by using the Lumen Christi Missals to follow along and then process with us after the Mass.

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32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

11-10-2024Pastor's LetterFr. Daniel Cruz

Happy Sunday!

The month of November has been off to a beautiful and good start. I wanted to place several events at the parish on your calendars. On November 9, 2024, Deacon David Bramer was ordained to the order of the Diaconate. We rejoice and are glad for his new ministry and service to the church. It has been the practice to have an order of decree of appointment of a newly ordained deacon to the parish. All this is happening on November 24, 2024 at the 10:30am Mass.

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31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

11-03-2024Pastor's LetterFr. Daniel Cruz

Happy Sunday!

As we enter into this Election Week, we are reminded in our Gospel regarding the priority of the commandments. When we enter into this week, we can be assured of God’s faithfulness to His sons and daughters awaiting the outcomes of the heads of state. Our Blessed Lord says:

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30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

10-27-2024Pastor's LetterFr. Daniel Cruz

Happy Sunday!

Last week we published our financial report and this week I would like to publish our pastoral report. This particular report offers insights into our sacramental and pastoral life of the parish. As a parish family, the sacramental life is important to produce an abundance of fruits in the parish. These are simply by-products of living in God and are an authentic embrace of the beautiful and rich liturgy that opens our hearts to encounter God, even in the midst of challenges.

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29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

10-20-2024Pastor's LetterFr. Daniel Cruz

Happy Sunday!

This Sunday we are publishing our financial report for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. My heart is still filled with gratitude for the generous love and support you show in being good stewards to our parish family. My first year I wanted to bring good news with numbers in the black and a profit for the parish. However, in all humility we closed in the red at a loss.

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28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

10-13-2024Pastor's Letter© LPi Fr. John Muir

This week we hear of the man who inquires of Jesus how to obtain eternal life. He rejects Jesus’ invitation to sell his goods, give to the poor, and follow Jesus. Mark tells us this devastatingly sad line, “At this saying, his countenance fell and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:22). The man’s heart wasn’t centered on Jesus, but on his possessions. Perhaps Jesus intuited this.

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27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

10-06-2024Pastor's LetterFr. Daniel Cruz

Happy Sunday!

The month of October has its traditions and as I write this letter I am not sure if the Arizona Diamondbacks are in the playoffs? Who knows if baseball will see our hometown team. Regardless of the outcome, it was a fun season and great Catholic night at the ballpark.

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