Our Catechumens

RCIA 2011 ~ 2012

Meet our catechumens

(not pictured Abby Pierce)

 Catechumen is a term used by RCIA to denote those  individuals who are   preparing to receive the sacraments of initiation; Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. 

Dan Boggess

Dreema Neisel

Meghan O'Sullivan

Amanda McDougal

Rodney Estes

Youth Ministry Tubing At Snow Trails!

YOUTH MINISTRY – By Michael A. Barone

We do a lot of things to promote community in the TRUE~LIFE Youth Group. We have Movie nights, we play Rollerchairball in the summer, and we have Coffee-houses and other fun activities. All these are supported by our fundraiser. Please consider asking a parent or parish adult to buy their ticket to the St. Valentine’s Day Dance this February 10th. It’s how we pay for all the fun for the rest of the year.  One example of a community building fun trip is tubing at Snow Trails! Here are some great pictures of the Tubing trip we took. We plan to go again in March if there is  still snow on the ground.

For more information contact me at Herringbone777@live.com

God bless you all!

Michael A. Barone

Director of Youth Ministry

SJOA Church

2nd Round Of Basic Catholicism Classes Set To Begin in February

Our Basic Catholicism classes are off and running. Get ready for the next sessions which will begin at 2pm and 3:45pm Sunday february 12, 4:30pm an 6:15 pm Monday February 13 and 4:30pm and 6:15pm Wednesday February 15. This is a great way to learn about your Catholic faith, whatever your background and knowledge level may be.

We will cover such topics as the Church in the Dark Ages, the Church in the Renaissance, Church Art & Architecture, as well as the rise of Catholic institutions like Catholic hosptials and Catholic universities. In addition, we will also cover the period before, during and after the Protestant Reformation as well as well as the influence of the American and French Revolutions. The final class in April will cover roughly the period from 1800 to the current day.

As you can see we move at a fast pace. We had some great questions in the first session which should set a good tine for our next class. Again this is a great opportunity to learn about your faith. These times coincide with those of the Children's Religious Education classes. This should make it easy for parents to attend. However, we certainly hope to continue to have those from all age groups as we did in our first class. Again all are invited please consider attending and once again you only have to attend one of the various class times.

GIFT Update

Click here to view an update from Romy Riebe.

YOUTH MINISTRY – Michael A. Barone

St. Joan of Arc is getting ready to launch our new website. In anticipation of the new site, Fr. LaRussa has asked us to begin practice postings from some of the departments on Staff. Parishioners will be able to come to this page to see blogs that change daily. Each day’s post will be a different staff member or clergy posting their additions to the parish blog. The blog will also give parishioners the ability to watch video links or listen to audio segments from the various Staff members and clergy. We hope you will enjoy the experience.

This posting is an example of what you might see on this Parish Staff Blog. As the Director of Youth Ministry here at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, I get to see a lot of behind the scenes things that are going on with our youth and young adults. One program I use is called “The Dead Theologians Society” or “DTS” as we are often called. Don’t let the name scare you! DTS is a very holy and Catholic organization, which teaches teens about the Saints. Each week we meet as the DTS chapter here in the parish ands we study a particular saint’s life story. We read quotes by those saints if there are any and we ask the intercession of that saint as we pray for our families, our parish, and ourselves. The neat thing about a blog is that I can share with the average parishioner about what we are doing and how the program works, by blogging about it.
For instance last week our DTS chapter studied the life of St. Florian who is known as the patron saint of Firefighters. We read a brief account of his life and his martyrdom. We then prayed for his intercession to help us and our families in matters of fire safety etc.

To demonstrate to you the effectiveness of this prayerful intercession I will now share the fact that my house almost caught fire two nights ago. I believe it was through the intercession of St. Florian that we were wakened by our smoke detectors and were able to get out of the house and call the fire department all with out major confusion or harm of any kind.

It seems the blower on our furnace stopped working causing the heating elements to over heat and spark off a small fire in our heating vents.

We were very fortunate in that it went out pretty fast and the small amount of smoke set the alarms off in time for us shut the system down and contain the problem.

Now you may ask yourself did it really matter that I had just asked for the intercession of St. Florian at our

DTS meeting or was this just coincidence?

I’ll leave you to answer your own question but through this blog I can at least share that experience with you and hopefully bring you to a deeper appreciation of the Church’s teaching on the “Communion of Saints” which we profess our belief in each week at Mass during the Creed.

With this blog I can also post a link so you can learn more about St. Florian simply by clicking on the link and reading posted information from another source. For instance please CLICK HERE and you will be taken to a posting about St. Florian on another Catholic website. But please come right back so I can show you something else.

Ok hopefully you are now back on this posting and I will show you how I can post a video about an event we are holding for the adult and married couples of the parish. Please CLICK HERE to see a 2-minute video about our St. Valentine’s Day Dance. But come right back!

Another example of how this can interactive for you as a parishioner is that you can directly communicate with the staff about our blogging because we can add an email link like this simply click on the following:

herringbone777@live.com

and you will be able to write and send an email directly to me! You can share your thoughts with me.
Ok, hopefully this example of our parish staff blog is exciting and informative to you. I hope you can see the benefit of being able to communicate in this manner. We will be able to share events, thoughts, prayers, videos, and all kinds of other things through this blog. We, as the parish staff and clergy, hope that you as a parishioner can see the many exciting opportunities this blog will present to you to make your experience as a St. Joan of Arc parishioner a very full and blessed one!

Our hope is that you will check in on this blog daily to see what new and wonderful things we have to share with you.

God bless us all in this new endeavor!

Yours in Christ,
Michael A. Barone ~ Director of Youth Ministry ~ SJOA

Music Update

Today was the start of a new event being offered monthly by St. Joan of Arc Parish in Powell, Ohio.  On the fourth Wednesday of each month a priest from St. Joan of Arc will celebrate Holy Mass at the Inn at Olentangy Trail Senior Assisted Residence and our music program will be involved with providing music for the Mass.  Today, Father Jeffrey Tigyer and I, along with two parishioners, went and prayed the Mass along with several residents.

In the future, it is our hope that we can form a small choir to bring with us to sing at these Masses.  If you know anyone who is available during the day and might be interested in praying with these seniors and leading them in song, please contact me for further information.

Catholics are called to be Pro Life and to respect all life.  I can think of no better way to show our seniors that we respect and care for them than offering Holy Mass for those who cannot make the trip to St. Joan of Arc.  In addition, music can lift our hearts and minds to God and edify us – so the gift of music being offered at these Masses is essential.  I thank our Pastor, Father Raymond Larussa, for starting this ministry that will bring the Word of God and the Body of Christ to our friends at the Inn at Olentangy Trail.  Keep their residents, and all senior citizens, in your prayers.

God bless,
Matthew J. Meloche

RCIA Update

As we begin a blog for St. Joan of Arc, Tuesday has been reserved for RCIA.  As the director of RCIA I, will be sharing with you the many facets of RCIA, the people involved and the process.

Midstream . . . is where we currently find ourselves.  The catechumens and candidates (13) have taken the first step during the Advent season and were accepted into the Order of the Catechumens.  During this time they have spent many sessions coming to understand and appreciate the sacraments they will be receiving at the Easter Vigil (Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist) as well as the remaining sacraments of the church (Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony.)

As they move towards the season of Lent please keep them in your prayers.  Next week we will post their pictures.  Please take a moment to introduce yourself when you see them and to share a word of encouragement as the continue on their journey towards full initiation.

What is Stewardship? – By David Hartline

We have all heard the term Stewardship, but what does it mean in a Catholic setting? Does it mean giving our fair share to the parish, does it mean giving of our time and talent to the parish? The answer is yes to all of these. The parish is an extension of your faith family. It is the gathering place for the faithful in a particular geographic area. It has been this way since the early days of the Catholic faith in the Roman Empire when the faith was by and large still illegal.

We are called to grow in our Catholic faith and help others do the same. We are called to help those in need. We are also called to help those who don’t share our faith but of whom we are to help grow and understand the message of Christ and His earthly universal Catholic Church. By doing so, we are answering Christ’s final earthy message to go out in the world and preach the Gospel wherever we may be.

Welcome to the St. Joan of Arc Staff Blog!

The staff of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Parish in Powell, Ohio have begun writing a blog that will be updated daily in this our 25th Anniversary year!  We thank our Pastor, Father Raymond Larussa, for encouraging us to continue to find new ways to reach our parishioners.

Approximate update schedule will be:
Mondays - David Hartline, Stewardship
Tuesdays - Eloise Carlet, RCIA
Wednesdays - Matthew J. Meloche, Music Program
Thursdays - Michael Barone, Youth Ministry
Fridays - Romy Riebe, GIFT
Saturday - Guest posters (clergy, parishioners, other staff)

We hope you visit often!