St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church 12805 Valleywood Drive, Lake Ridge, Virginia Founded 1976 Third Sunday of Easter April 19, 2015 Page Two Third Sunday of Easter April 19, 2015 “Suffering are the ties, the bands, which fasten and unite us to our Dearest!” Daily Thoughts of Mother Seton Mass Schedule Monday - Saturday: Saturday Vigil: Sunday: Holy Days: 9:00AM 6:00PM 7:30, 9:00, 10:45AM, 12:30PM Vigil - 7:30PM 9:00AM, 6:00PM, 7:30PM Pastoral Staff Rev. David P. Meng Rev. Edwin E. Perez Dcn. Rob Warner Mrs. Jackie Ezersky Mrs. Kathy Lord Pastor Parochial Vicar Deacon Director of Religious Education Director of Religious Education for Middle School & Confirmation Mr. Jon Laird Director of Music & Coordinator of Youth Ministry General Information Office Hours: 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM RCIA: Adults who wish to become Catholic are invited to inquire about the process. Please call the Parish Office. Nursery Service: 10:45 AM Mass Telephone Numbers Parish Offices Parish School, Aquinas School Religious Education Offices Fax Web site Weekend & evening receptionist 703-494-4008 703-491-4447 703-494-3966 703-494-1995 www.seas1.org (703) 494-4008 Sacraments Penance: Friday after 9AM Mass, Monday at 7PM, Saturday, 3:30 PM (till lines run out) or by appointment. PARISH ACTIVITIES FROM APRIL 19TH - 25TH Sunday, Apr 19th T1 9:30am Treble Choir Practice 5pm M.S. RE F,T,Sts.P&P,LFR,Cr-A&B 7:30pm High School Youth Group F Monday, Apr 20th 9am MC Mass 9:30am Icons LFR 10am NO Seton Crafters DH 10am Moms’ Group N 5pm Bread and Wine Day F&MC 6pm M.S. RE F,T,Sts.P&P,LFR,Cr-A&B 7pm Boy Scouts UH 7pm - till lines run out Confessions C Tuesday, Apr 21st 9am MC Mass 9:30am Blue Army Devotion ALL DAY ADORATION UNTIL 5:45 C 2pm Parkinson Support Group St. Peter 4:30pm K-5 RE Sts.P&P,T,LFR,N,F 7:30pm Knights of Columbus UH Wednesday, Apr 22nd 9am MC Mass 9:30am Divine Mercy Cenacle Cr-B 4:30pm K-5 RE Sts. P&P,T,LFR,N,F 6pm Legion of Mary Cr-A 7pm Charismatic Prayer Group UH Thursday, Apr 23rd 9am MC Mass 3pm Divine Mercy Holy Hour C Friday, Apr 24th 9am MC Mass C 9:30pm:30pm Confessions 9:30am Friday AM Faith Sharing T1 10:15 Legion of Mary Cr-A 6pm Silver Foxes Bingo F 6pm Charismatic Prayer Group UH Saturday, Apr 25th 8am Charismatic Prayer Group UH 9am MC Mass 9:30am Silver Foxes F&K C 3:30pm:30pm Confessions Baptism: Registration in parish and preparation is required. Please call Parish Office for an appointment. Marriage: Registration in parish and 6 month preparation is required. Please call the Parish Office for an appointment. First Communion: Administered in 2nd grade upon completion of 1st grade in a Religious Education Program or Catholic School. Confirmation: Administered in 8th grade after completing grades 1-7 in a Religious Education Program or Catholic School. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish Welcomes Our Newly Baptized Logan James Bechtold Mara Celeste Black Declan Nicholas Steward Page Three WEEK OF APRIL 20TH FEAST DAYS & READINGS 20th Mon Acts 6:8-15; Ps 119:23-24, 26-27, 2930; Jn 6:22-29 21st Tues Feast of St. Anselm Acts 7:51 — 8:1a; Ps 31:3cd-4, 6, 7b, 8a, 17, 21ab; Jn 6:30-35 22nd Wed Acts 8:1b-8; Ps 66:1-3a, 4-7a; Jn 6:35-40 23rd Thurs Feast of Sts. George & Adalbert Acts 8:26-40; Ps 66:8-9, 16-17, 20; Jn 6:44-51 24th Fri Feast of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen Acts 9:1-20; Ps 117:1bc, 2; Jn 6:52-59 25th Sat Feast of St. Mark 1 Pt 5:5b-14; Ps 89:2-3, 6-7, 16-17; Mk 16:15-20 26th Sun Acts 4:8-12; Ps 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29; 1 Jn 3:1-2; Jn 10:11-18 MASS INTENTIONS Mon 9:00am Tues 9:00am Wed 9:00am Thurs 9:00am Fri 9:00am Sat 9:00am 6:00pm Sun 7:30am 9:00am 10:45am 12:30pm Mathew Gilbert Wilfredo Guico Sr. Jeanne Devaney Edward Clocek Ann Twardowski Msgr. Francis Castellano Frederick Engels Maria Barabosa Deceased Members of the James Flickinger Family Joe Sparmo For the People of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Please Pray for……. Sick ~ Michael Baker Sr., Evagenalina Cordoviz, Sr. Mary Lou Garner, Ed Glenn, Baby Jaxson, Baby Patrick, Michael Heck, Megan Murray, Ed Stevens & Joseph Troup Deceased ~ Clara Mae Alpaugh, Darlene Farrell, Avery Heino, Gary Helfrecht, Mary Marcolongo & Eleanor Tracy SUNDAY COLLECTION APRIL 5, 2015 Collection w/Faith Direct Capital Campaign - Gold Capital Improvement Easter Catholic Home Missions $24,631.04 6,433.50 1,118.00 9,629.00 1.717.00 APRIL 12, 2015 Collection w/Faith Direct Capital Campaign - Gold Easter $18,671.63 2,820.00 396.00 THANK YOU to all parishioners who support this parish. PARISH NEWS Eucharistic Ministers IS THE LORD ASKING YOU to consider serving as an Extra-ordinary Minister of Holy Communion? To serve in this capacity one must be at least 21 years of age, registered in the Parish, a faithful and practicing Catholic, if married – married in the Church and willing to attend a workshop sponsored by the Diocese so as to obtain a mandate from the Bishop. If you would be willing to serve in this most excellent work, please call the office, 703-494-4008 to register. SEAS DIVINE MERCY CENACLE AND HOLY HOUR The SEAS Divine Mercy Cenacle meets on Wednesdays and Thursdays immediately following 9:00 AM Mass. On Wednesdays, the Cenacle follows a program of study and prayer developed by the Eucharistic Apostles of Divine Mercy. The objectives of the program are to gain a deeper understanding of the Divine Mercy message, the role of St. Faustina in spreading and increasing devotion to the Divine Mercy, and to grow in living the Divine Mercy in our daily lives. On Thursdays, the Cenacle hosts a Holy Hour in the SEAS chapel to pray for the sick and dying, for an end to abortion, for our priests, for an increase in vocations, for the special needs of the parish, for religious freedom and for the intentions of SEAS parishioners. All are welcome to come and participate! For more information about the Cenacle and Holy Hour, please contact Mary Ann Cowden at 703-492-8149. ACTS Two more weeks to bring your non-perishable food items to help the hungry in our county. Don’t forget personal items, such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, and toilet paper. Every little bit helps to alleviate the suffering of our less fortunate and we are helping ACTS with the Feinstein Challenge! Every pound of food earns ACTS $1! Thank you. MOTHER‘S DAY CARDS MOTHER’S DAY SPIRITUAL BOUQUET CARDS are available in the foyer of the church. Please return all envelopes to the Parish Office by Monday, May 4th so we can publish all mothers’ names for Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 10th. Please neatly print and clearly mark deceased/living all names. Thank you! PARKINSON SUPPORT GROUP The Parkinson Disease Support Group will meet in the downstairs Conference Room A on Tuesday, at 2:00 p.m.. This is a faith-based group, and all who have been diagnosed with Parkinson Disease; spouses and caregivers are WOODBRIDGE CATHOLIC welcome. The group meets regularly on the YOUNG ADULTS third Tuesday of each month. For info, call Join local young adults for fellowship, prayer, Becky Richardson at 703-910-6899. speakers and presentations on a variety of topics that will ignite your faith and spark your A Prayer For All Who Are intellect! We meet every Tuesday at 7:00 Serving Our Country p.m. at Our Lady of Angels. Church. Contact [email protected] or search Almighty God and Father, look with love upon for us on Facebook: "Woodbridge Catholic our men and women in uniform and protect them in their time of need. Give them health Young Adults”. and stability and allow them to return to their loved ones whole and unshaken. Be with their HUMAN CONCERNS families and sustain them in these uncertain In the month of May we are honoring our fallen times. soldiers by helping our injured soldiers. We will be collecting gas cards, non-sugared items Sgt. Ryan Accornero, USMC such as nuts, protein/granola bars, etc.. Please Capt. Erin Anderson, US Army bring items to the Fellowship Hall and place in 1Lt Aaron Bradley, USAF the blue bin by the Parish Offices. GM3 Coleman Calhoun, USCGC AIC Daniel P. Callahan, USAF PVT Daniel Cardinale, US Army FEINSTEIN FOUNDATION Col. Dennis Curran, USAF Each year the Feinstein Foundation donates $1 ISC Benjamin Evan, USN million to hunger fighting agencies. Help IS2 Michael Flick, USN ACTS earn this generous award! All donations Sgt. Joseph Frederick, USMC made to the ACTS Food Pantry from March 1 1Lt Christopher Hoffmann, USMC to April 30 will be counted toward the Fein2Lt. Jonathan Likovetz, US Army stein Challenge, including cash, checks and Lt. Col Michael P. Marciniak, US Army food. Check and cash donations should be SrA Taylor McCarthy, USAF marked “ACTS Feinstein Challenge.” Each Lt Casey Smith, USN pound of food donated to ACTS in March and CPT Rob Stark, US Army April will count for $1. Since April is the Cpl Robert Talbert, USMC ACTS Food Drive month at SEAS, please WO2 Dave Tomlinson, USMC donate generously! EN1 Jeffrey Lee Vitols, USN Page Four K - 5 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Monday, April 20th: Bread & Wine Day for all 2nd graders in our program, including Family Catechesis & Aquinas; 5:00-6:00pm in the Fellowship Hall (downstairs in the church building). Monday, April 27th: 1st Communion Practice; 5:30-7:30pm in the main church and chapel; for all 2nd graders in our program and one parent. Babysitting is available for siblings. Call the RE Office at ext. 135 to reserve a babysitting slot. MIDDLE SCHOOL NEWS CONTINUED ~ ADULT CONFIRMATION: The first Adult Confirmation class will meet at 2:30PM on April 26 in Conference Room A downstairs in the main church. The remaining classes will be held on the following Sundays: May 3, May 10 and May 17. Adult Confirmation will take place on Sun, May 24 at 2:30PM at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington. Adult practicing Catholics who have not yet been confirmed, please contact Kathy Lord at [email protected] for information and requirements and to sign up. All candidates are encouraged to attend the 12:30PM Mass preceding the classes. HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH MINISTRY Date: Monday/Tuesday, May 11/12, 2015 Time: 6:00-7:00pm Place: Fellowship Hall (in church building) Cost: $25.00 per child VBS is opened to all children ages 4-10, and will take place July 13-17, 2015 from 9am-12:00pm. Many volunteers are needed to make our VBS happen. Adults and middle school through high school students are invited to sign up! Training for all volunteers will take place on Tuesday, June 2nd @ 7:00pm. Registration for next year’s middle school classes will be held on Sun, May 3, at 5:00pm and Mon, May 4, at 6:00pm. MIDDLE SCHOOL MIDDLE SCHOOL RE 2014-15 REGISTRATION IMPORTANT CONFIRMATION DATES 1. Due ASAP Service hours 2. Due ASAP Letter to Father Meng due to the Middle School RE office. 3. May 3 Mandatory Confirmation practice from 3:00-5:00PM. 4. May 8 Confirmation 7:30PM – Confirmandi should be in the chapel with their robes at 6:30PM. Diocesan Youth Bash: All middle school students are invited to a celebration of our Catholic faith and love of the Lord at the Diocesan Youth Bash on Sat, April 25, 2015 at Paul VI High School. The cost is $10.00 per student which includes a pizza dinner, music, games, inspirational speakers, comedians, confessions and Sunday Vigil Mass. We will have more specific information in upcoming bulletins as it is released from the Diocese. Chaperones and drivers are needed for this event. Please contact Kathy Lord at [email protected] to sign up or chaperone. HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH GROUP: The High School Youth Group will meet on Sun, April 19 at 7:30PM in Seton Hall. CONFIRMATION 1. 2. Due ASAP Due ASAP 3. May 3 4. May 8 Service hours. Letter to Father Meng due to the Middle School RE office. Mandatory Confirmation practice from 3:00-5:00PM Confirmation 7:30PM – Confirmandi should be in the chapel with their robes at 6:30PM. CATHOLIC SCHOOLS ST. THOMAS AQUINAS REGIONAL SCHOOL St. Thomas Aquinas Regional School, a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, is accepting applications for the 20152016 school year. Aquinas is a PK4 through Eighth Grade regional Catholic school. The school is administered and staffed by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. Daily faith formation and the instilling of virtues through our Virtues in Practice Program are the focus of our mission. Aquinas was named a Top 100 Virginia School by Johns Hopkins University and we have a unique Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) partnership with the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. We have a middle school sports program, an award-winning band and chorus, and an Extended Day Program that operates from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on school days. Visit us at www.aquinastars.org for additional information or email us at [email protected] to schedule a tour. SAINT JOHN PAUL THE GREAT Saint John Paul the Great Gala ~ The Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School Family Association invites you to attend their 3rd Annual Gala and Auction on May 16, 2015. It will be a fun-filled evening for adults, in support of Catholic education! Ticket and sponsorship information may be found at www.jpthegreat.org or [email protected] or 703.45.0300. Page Five PARISH NEWS CONTINUED ~ CAR RAFFLE UPDATE PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS THE LAST OPPORTUNITY TO PURCHASE/RETURN TICKETS ! ALL SOLD AND UNSOLD TICKETS MUST BE RETURNED NO LATER THAN THIS MONDAY, 4/20. There are a variety of ways to return your sold/unsold tickets: via U.S. Mail, in the offering baskets during weekend Masses, or drop them off at the Parish Office. Tickets returned after 4/20, unfortunately, cannot be accepted. As this year's All Saints 5 Car Raffle draws to a close, please know how much your support means for the High School Youth Group Work Camp, Religious Education, and Respect Life/Human Concerns! Your efforts will make a difference in all of these awesome ministries - so thank you! This year's raffle drawings will be held on Saturday, 4/25 at the All Saints Parish Festival at All Saints Catholic Church (9300 Stonewall Road, Manassas, VA 20110). FALL GALA Save the Date - Saturday, November 21st, 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., for our 1st Annual SEAS Fall Gala which includes a silent and live auction. All money raised will be used to send our youth delegation to World Youth Day in Krakow Poland in 2016. Our first planning meeting will be on Thursday, April 30th at 7:00 p.m. in Conference Room B. We invite you to come and meet the planning committee members and get more information about the auction. The first drawing is at 1pm, with the last drawing at 9pm. Best of luck If interested in donating, please call Saskia to all of those who participated! Hoping for more winners from SEAS this Majchrowitz at 703-497-4837. year! In 2014 we had a $500 winner! As soon as the list of winners is provided, it will be printed in the bulletin or you can check the All Saints webpage for updates: http://www.allsaintsvachurch.org/news-and-events/ KOVAR CHARITY COLLECTION parish-festivalraffle/car-raffle/raffle-schedule-and-winners/ Thank you After all Masses on Saturday, May 2nd, and Sunday, May 3rd, our again for all of your support! Knights of Columbus members will be collecting donations for their state-wide charity “Adults with Intellectual Disabilities,” or “KOVAR.” LIVING ROSARY Your contributions will assist citizens with intellectual disabilities and Sunday, May 3rd, the Knights of Columbus and Legion of Mary will host fund projects that include: home loans; vehicles needed to transport a Living Rosary. We will pray the Rosary in front of the Parish Hall at persons with intellectual disabilities; group home furnishings; grants to 2:00 p.m. This is an event that is open to all parishioners of the parish and establish early detection programs to identify infants with or at risk of we invite the entire family to come pray the Rosary together. In these times where the church is under attack for religious freedom, we need to intellectual disabilities; funding for organizations to train persons with pray together to ask the assistance of Our Blessed Mother to save the free- intellectual disabilities; and the Special Olympics programs. Our Knights of Columbus Council sincerely appreciates your support of this doms we have come to take for granted. most worthwhile charitable cause. Put this date and time on your calendar and let us pray together. Stir into Flame: April 24,25 “For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.” 2 Tim 1:6 You know ABOUT God, but do you know that you can personally experience His love and power to transform your life? You can learn to present Jesus and His Church in a renewed way that can enrich the lives of others and challenge and change our culture, just like in the days of the early Church. When: Fri. April 24, 7:30-9:30pm and Sat. April 25, 10 am- 4 pm Where: St Elizabeth Ann Seton, Parish Hall 12805 Valleywood Drive, Lake Ridge VA 22192 Hosted by: The Mother of Joy Charismatic Prayer Group This life changing opportunity consists of contemporary praise and worship, motivating talks, personal testimonies and enlightening small group discussion designed to help you learn what it means to live a fully authentic Catholic Christian life. The talks, by Deacon Marques Silva, Permanent Deacon at St. Mary of Sorrows Catholic Church and Director of OPCYP, Catholic Diocese of Arlington, will cover: The Call: Learning to Respond to the Love of God The Cost: Where the Spirit of the Lord is; there is Freedom & Life The Commitment: A Personal Pentecost The Commission: Equipping for the Journey REGISTRATION: Veronica O’Brien/ [email protected] 703-897-7752 ATTENTION ADULT PRACTICING CATHOLICS WHO HAVE NOT YET BEEN CONFIRMED Please be sure to contact Kathy Lord at 703-494-3966 to register to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Participants must provide a recently obtained certificate of baptism WITH NOTATIONS or reception into full communion with the Catholic Church. In addition, kindly furnish proof of valid marriage – a copy of a marriage certificate issued by a Catholic Church. There will be four mandatory preparation classes: Sun, April 26; Sun, May 3; Sun, May 10; Sun, May 17. All Candidates are encouraged to attend the 12:30pm Mass preceding the classes which begin at 2:00pm. The Adult Confirmation Mass for the Arlington Diocese will be held at St. Thomas Moore Cathedral on Pentecost Sunday, May 24, 2015 at 2:30PM. COMMUNITY NEWS From the Chancellor’s Desk Catholic Home Missions ~ The Catholic Home Missions Appeal will take place next week. One way that this appeal works to strengthen home mission dioceses in the United States is by funding seminarian formation in poor dioceses. The blessing of seminarians places a financial burden on these dioceses, where educating each seminarian costs $35-40,000 per year. Your support is needed for these young men so that they might go back and serve their parishes. Please strengthen the Church at home by making a generous gift to next week’s appeal. Page Six Charity in Truth Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan The following is an extract from the USCCB Pastoral Letter of the same name dated Nov 17, 2009: While marriage is a special blessing for Christians because of the grace of Christ, marriage is also a natural blessing and gift for everyone in all times and cultures. It is a source of blessing to the couple, to their families, and to society and includes the wondrous gift of co -creating human life. Indeed, as Pope John Paul II never tired of reminding us, the future of humanity depends on marriage and the family. It is just such a conviction that has led us, the Catholic bishops of the United States, to write this pastoral letter. We rejoice that so many couples are living in fidelity to their marital commitment. We thank them for proclaiming in their daily lives the beauty, goodness, and truth of marriage. In countless ways, both ordinary and heroic, through good times and bad, they bear witness to the gift and blessing they have received from the hand of their Creator. We are grateful, too, for all those who work with young people and engaged couples to establish good marriages, who help married couples to grow in love and strengthen their union, and who help those in crisis to resolve their problems and bring healing to their lives. At the same time we are troubled by the fact that far too many people do not understand what it means to say that marriage—both as a natural institution and a Christian sacrament—is a blessing and gift from God. We observe, for example, that some people esteem marriage as an ideal but can be reluctant to make the actual commitment necessary to enter and sustain it. Some choose instead to live in cohabiting relationships that may or may not lead to marriage and can be detrimental to the well-being of themselves and any children. In addition, the incidence of divorce remains high. The social sanctions and legal barriers to ending one‘s marriage have all but disappeared, and the negative effects of divorce on children, families, and the community have become more apparent in recent decades. We are alarmed that a couple‘s responsibility to serve life by being open to children is being denied and abandoned more frequently today. Couples too often reflect a lack of understanding of the purposes of marriage. There is a loss of belief in the value of those purposes when couples readily treat, as separate choices, the decisions to get married and to have children. This indicates a mentality in which children are seen not as integral to a marriage but as optional. When children are viewed in this way, there can be damaging consequences not only for them but also for the marriage itself. We note a disturbing trend today to view marriage as a mostly private matter, an individualistic project not related to the common good but oriented mostly to achieving personal satisfaction. Finally, we bishops feel compelled to speak out against all attempts to redefine marriage so that it would no longer be exclusively the union of a man and a woman as God established and blessed it in the natural created order. … We address the pastoral letter first and foremost to the Catholic faithful in the United States. We call upon them to stand against all attacks on marriage and to stand up for the meaning, dignity, and sanctity of marriage and the family. In a spirit of witness and service we also offer our message to all men and women in the hope of inspiring them to embrace this teaching. Our pastoral letter presents those beliefs and teachings of the Catholic Church—informed by human reason and enlightened by Divine Revelation—that summarize and express God‘s plan for marriage. This divine plan, like the gift of marriage itself, is something we receive, not something we construct or change to fit our purposes. It is a firm foundation, a truthful guide, a trustworthy light for the way. For all who seek to find meaning in their marriage will do so when they are open to accepting the transcendent meaning of marriage according to God‘s plan. Our pastoral letter is an invitation to discover, or perhaps rediscover, the blessing given when God first established marriage as a natural institution and when Christ restored and elevated it as a sacramental sign of salvation. The entire Pastoral Letter can be found at http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/marriage/love-and-life/upload/pastoralletter-marriage-love-and-life-in-the-divine-plan.pdf The Saints Corner St. Mark Feast Day: 25 April Patronage: against impenitence, against struma, attorneys, lawyers, captives, imprisoned people, lions, notaries, stained glass workers, Venice Like the gospel writer, Luke, Mark was not one of the 12 apostles. We don’t know for certain whether he knew Jesus personally, but some scholars feel that Mark was speaking of himself describing the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane: “Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.” (Mark, 14:51-52) Most of what we do know about Mark comes from what is written in the New Testament. Mark’s mother, Mary, was also a prominent Christian and her home was a meeting place for Christians in Jerusalem. (In Acts 12:12 it says Peter escaped from prison and went to the home of Mark’s mother.) Mark was baptized and instructed by St. Peter around 42 A.D. Paul and Barnabus (who was Mark’s cousin) took him on their first missionary journey through the island of Cyprus. He also did missionary work with St. Barnabus alone. We know that when he was in Rome with St. Peter and St. Paul, he’d had a short falling out with St. Paul. We know the disagreement didn’t last too long because Paul asks for Mark to visit him in prison. While St. Mark was in Rome, sometime between 50-60 A.D., the Roman faithful requested that he write his Gospel, generally considered to be written for the Gentile converts. Mark’s Gospel is the second gospel, as well as the oldest and the shortest. He rarely quotes the Old Testament, and focuses primarily on recording the life of Jesus as seen through the eyes of St. Peter. St. Mark emphasizes Jesus’ rejection by humanity, the crucified Messiah, while also being God’s triumphant envoy. St. Mark was careful to explain Jewish customs, rites, and words. He excels at portraying the emotions and affections of both Christ and His hearers. There is also evidence that St. Peter wasn’t his only source as he spent time in the Church of Jerusalem (Jewish roots) and the Church of Antioch (mostly gentile). Some believe that Mark was the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Venice’s famous Piazza San Marco, claims Mark as it’s Patron Saint, and the large basilica there is believed to contain his remains. A winged lion is Mark’s symbol. The lion derives from Mark’s description of John the Baptist as the “voice of one crying out in the desert” (Mark 1:3) – like a roaring lion. The wings come from Ezekiel’s vision (in chapter 1) of four winged creatures to the evangelists. Page Seven
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