January 1, 2008
All Saints New Worship Space Dedicated
Renovation of Saint John’s Worship Space
San Francisco de Asis Parish Established
Saints Francis and Clair Parish to be Established
Our Commitment to Christian Growth
Chancery
Catholic Church of
America
3900 Cleveland Avenue
San Diego, CA 92103
Phone: 619-295-1489
Message from the Bishop
My dear friends in Christ;
I write to you today full of hope and excitement for what awaits us as a church born in the Spirit of Christ our Lord.
The Catholic Church of America as you know is an independent jurisdiction of the church universal: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church founded by Christ Himself. We continue the mission of the church by proclaiming the gospel of Christ to the world as we minister to the people of God with full Apostolic Succession.
The Catholic Church of America has always expressed itself as a full member of the church universal. Though we are not in communion with the Roman Catholic, the Old Catholic, or the Orthodox Church; we are nevertheless equal in the expression of our catholicity and our validity. Over the course of time, we have further developed our vision of closer ties with other church bodies of similar theology and activity in social awareness and have formed intercommunion agreements with these church bodies. Now we are embarked on a new level of collaboration. The past year, great effort has been spent on becoming closer with our sisters and brothers in the American Catholic Church Diocese of California. Many of you may know our Acting Rector, Father Martin De Porres Griffin at Saint John the Beloved Cathedral is a member of the American Catholic Church Diocese of California. This exemplifies our close relationship with the ACC.
Based on our mutual understand of mission the Catholic Church of America and the American Catholic Church Diocese of California are in the final stages of merging our two ministries. I point out this is a merger of our ministries because we come together as equals in faith, tradition and expression of our faith in Christ our Lord. Both the bishops of the ACC and I firmly agree this is a natural blending of ministries. Through our merging of our church bodies we will emerge as a stronger body and enable us to answer even more readily the call to service to God.
I ask for your prayers as we join the upcoming Synod of the ACC, that the Holy Spirit in her power will lead us to ascend to what God calls all of us to do in ministry.
This blending of our ministries is the beginning of even greater things to come in answering that call to preach and live the Gospel of Christ. The mystical body of Christ, the church, is ever developing and transforming itself in living as God has created us to do. There are many other independent catholic church bodies here in the US that, like us, seek true expressions of faith in our catholicity; a tradition of Apostolic expression of the faith given to the church by Christ for the world that we would like to reach out with open hands and arms in welcome, knowing the diversity of expression of our faith is one hallmark of the church.
The Old Catholic Church defines an authentic Catholic Church as one where the people of God are gathered around their deacons, priests and bishop: “There can not be a church without a bishop. Conversely, there can not be a bishop without a church.” That we are. That we will remain. The combination of our shared tradition; Roman (Western) Catholic, Old Catholic, and Orthodox Churches; strengthens us through living our diversity in worship. Come join us on the path of acceptance and love. I will keep you updated with developments of our efforts.
On another note, we will shortly begin classes at Saint John’s for those interested in being baptized, confirmed and received into the church at the Easter Vigil. More information will be forthcoming.
Let us rejoice in the new year of the Lord by what the Feasts of Christmas and Epiphany represent. God be with us!
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Bishop Tom
All Saints New Worship Space Dedicated
Ringing in the New Year at All Saints Parish;
In July of last year, we were very excited about purchasing our own little worship space in an office condo development. Finally we would be able to offer a variety of times and workshops anytime during the week. Needless to say, when we received the disappointing news that the developer decided to cancel building the project, our hearts fell.
But, as with all things, God had better prospects in mind for us. In December, we received the news about an affordable space for lease just 1 block from where we were originally going to be located. Much bigger than the original space and with a more affordable monthly rent, we set our hearts to open the new location in time to ring in the New Year.
Despite a variety of obstacles, the vision of delivering a worthy dedicated worship space kept us moving along toward our four day renovation goal. Yes, I did just say 4 (count ‘em…just 4) days. It also proved to be a wonderful opportunity to work together as a Church family, sharing prayer, hard work, food, and lots of love and laughs. St. Benedict would be proud (except maybe for the laughs part...)…
Our brothers from St. John’s Cathedral, as well as our dear bishop, The Most Rev. Thomas Abel, graced us with their presence and helped to dedicate the altar and bless the new space. We also decided as a parish to dedicate the space to the memory of our dearly departed Elena Stock, whose endowment made it possible for us to have and renovate the space. It was, needless to say, a very glorious and moving morning for our little parish.
Currently, we have plans to offer the community with a variety of workshops and services. Right now, the High Mass will be offered at 9 a.m. on Sundays and we are planning on adding a more solemn chant Mass on Saturday evenings at 6:30pm beginning the second week of February. Future plans also include the adding of a bible class in the middle of the week and a bilingual mass added either on Saturday or Sunday depending on the need expressed by the community. If you are interested in bible study or in bilingual services, please contact me at
If you would like to join us for Mass on Sunday at 9 a.m., we are located at 1487 Poinsettia Ave., #130 Vista, CA. If you come to visit us, please park on Poinsettia and walk into the complex.
A Blessed New year to all.
Reverend Janine
Sacrament of Reconciliation
We wish all of you a most blessed and loving New Year and hope that you will join us. Out of his great love, Jesus instituted this sacrament of reconciliation through which those who fall short and sin and who are sorry (contrite) receive pardon and peace and are restored to the fullness of grace with God. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Jesus provides us with a way of being reconciled to God and to those we've hurt, and to be strengthened in our connection to God's entire family. This is more than symbolic; it is spiritual reality expressed through ritual.
The priests are available for individual reconciliation / confession before and after each Mass and as arranged by calling. All are encouraged to participate in this sacrament of grace.
Bible Study
Recently Father Dermot, the Pastor of San Francisco de Asis Parish and Rev Janine at All Saints Parish have agreed to lead our upcoming Bible Study Classes, at both All Saints Parish and Saint John the Beloved Cathedral. If you are interested in participation in these programs, please contact Fr. Dermot or Rev Janine for details of when the classes will be meeting. This is a great opportunity to review your understanding of the Word of God as handed down to the Church and gain insight and deeper understanding of how the Word lives in us today.
Catechism Classes Offered
Saint John the Beloved Cathedral will be offering a Catechism Class as we did last year for anyone who would like to participate in learning more about the faith either in preparation for Baptism, Confirmation or reception in the church at this year’s Easter Vigil or just to reconnect and learn more about our faith.
Many of us have been brought up in the Roman Catholic tradition, others come to us from various religious traditions; Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, etc., as well and other non-Christian traditions including Native American religious. All are welcome to join us to gain a more compensative understand of our faith and traditions and how this is lived in the world today.
If you are interested in signing up for this class, please contact Fr. Martin for details.
Renovation of Saint John’s Worship Space
As you know, Saint John’s uses the facilities of the Chapel at University Christian Church Disciples of Christ (UCC). Through their generosity, we have been able to say this is our home for the last year and a half. We committed to provide an offering to UCC for the use of this wonderful worship space. At the present time, we are responding to a recommendation from UCC to increase the amount we are allocating for the facilities we use, expecting there will be an increase of our payment to UCC beginning in January.
At the same time, we are also coordinating with the facility committee of UCC to seek at how the Chapel can become an even more welcoming worship space for our use. This is being headed, on behalf of St John’s, by Fr. Mark Earl, Associate Rector of the Cathedral. Your input is important to make this the most appropriate for our worship. Please contact Fr. Mark with any suggestions for modifications to our worship space. We also expect the renovations will have a cost associated changes, and being good neighbors of UCC we will be expected to help with the costs of these renovations. We will keep you posted as to the expected costs as we prepare our 2008 parish budget. This is your parish; be involved and help in these efforts.
We are lucky to be able to work so closely with our host parish and their willingness to support our ministry and their sensitivity to the environment in which we worship We likewise are sensitive to the fact the Chapel is a multi-use facility. In working together, we will insure both secular ministries and religious usages will be enhanced through the renovations.
San Francisco de Asis Parish Established
We are happy to announce our parish, San Francisco de Asis which we established by their founding pastor Father Dermot Rodgers will be holding their first Mass in their new location at the facilities of Bienestar, 3020 North Park Way, San Diego, CA 92104. Masses will be held at 10:30 am every Sunday and on Holy Days as announced. San Francisco de Asis ministers to the Spanish speaking peoples of the greater metro area of San Diego. Masses are held in Spanish to reach out to the community. Fr. Dermot plans on the parish being the center of many outreach services to the community. Please take a few moments and review Fr. Dermot's biography on our website: www.catholicchurchofamerica.com for further details.
Saints Francis and Clair Parish to be Established
We are excited to announce the plans to establish yet another new parish. Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Kenney who has been inactive for the last year due to illness has be recovering and is now in the process of establishing a new parish of the Church located in New Port Richie, Florida. Bishop Kenney has indicated there are a number of the faithful who are very interested in beginning this new ministry. You may want to visit our website: www.catholicchurchofamerica.com, currently under construction, to learn more about Bishop Kenny.
As we receive more information, we will keep you posted. Please pray for Bishop Kenney and our newest parish of Saints Francis and Clair.
Our Commitment to Christian Growth
Our parishes consist of a kaleidoscope of Christian Growth programs offered with many different avenues to explore our Christian faith. With an emphasis on Scripture, Tradition and Reason in the understanding and expression of our beliefs. As we enter the third millennium of Christianity, we do well to remember that an extremely wise person once said that ‘traditionalism is the dead faith of the living, but tradition is the living faith of the dead.' In order to be effective and mature as faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ in today's world, we need constantly to nurture our faith. Studying the Bible, learning about our traditions and identity as Christians, and using our God-given intelligence to apply Scripture and Tradition to our contemporary life are not mere 'academic' theological pursuits. Rather, just as we exercise our bodies to be fit and healthy, so also practical training in our Christian life should be an essential part of our daily walk with God.
Our mission is to be an Open and Affirming community of faith with open arms and to celebrate Christ's transforming power in our midst. Our parishes are ones of prayer, worship, and music founded on Scripture, tradition, and reason, with personal responsibility. We are committed to reaching out, welcoming and serving others, and teaching and inspiring all ages of our diverse church family.
Our parishes will be seen as spiritual homes to a growing diverse community. We will provide an array of programs to include: Christian growth for all ages, fellowship opportunities, and a rich variety of outreach, in a welcoming and comfortable environment.
Our Purpose
The church reaches out to believers in Christ and those who are searching for the truth through knowing Christ. We actively seek out and are open to people called by God to be part of his church. There are no limits placed on the members of our church except to accept Christ and follow the beliefs of our church found in the Creed and as explained in the church councils through the ages. Revealed truths are found in Cannon law as well and the great writers of theology.
We stress the personal responsibility of each person in knowing God and acting according to God's will as has been revealed to the church through the ages. Our members are to understand it is their personal responsibility to know God and for their own action throughout life.
We know we are all sinners but we also know that Jesus came to earth and became one like us, except for sin, to save us from our sins and give us the promise of heaven.
If any or all of this appeals to you, please come and visit us at your convenience, or call us with any questions at (619) 295-1489.