Saint Talk: St. John Bosco

St. John Bosco serves us as a great role model for many reasons. First, he was not afraid to use his unusual talents (magic and acrobatics) for the glory and service of our Lord. Additionally, he was a man of prayer. In particular, he called on the intercessory prayers of Our Lady and St. Francis de Sales. Constantly in need of raising money for his projects, he counted on God to provide in all his needs.

I chose this unique picture of St. John Bosco because it relates to a prophecy he had in a dream which may have recently come true.

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2010: The Year in Review - Milestones

As we reign in the new year, I thought it appropriate to reflect on the year we leave behind.   This will be a three part post: Milestones, Statistics and Goals for 2011.

Milestones:

• We celebrated our One Year Anniversary in May by visiting Bishop Vann. The Bishop acknowledged us at the morning Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Afterwards, we were given a tour of the Bishop's residence. We concluded the morning with Bishop Vann by presenting a session for him.  He invited us back for a future visit.
• We successfully negotiated for the rights to purchase the domain name JoeCatholic.org. Tom Jaconette, Ken Wendel and Chuck Gura  have been helping to get the beta version of the site ready for approval. We still need to show the current owner (a Catholic publishing company) of the domain name our new site before we can launch. This was part of the agreement to purchase the rights as the current owner wanted to make sure we are an authentic Catholic organization.
• Our April gathering (Holy Saturday) marked the first time we broke the "twenty ceiling" on attendance. We had twenty-one men gather that weekend. To date, it marks the largest number we have had at one gathering.
• Ken Wendel completed the design of our official Joe Catholic logo. The wooden toolbox, hammer and ruler represent our homage to St. Joseph. The green book is meant to replicate the Catechism of the Catholic Church to demonstrate that we are loyal to the Church's teaching authority. Furthermore, it represents we are dedicated to learning our faith, so we can better share and defend it. The Bible represents we are men of the Word of God. The Rosary represents we are men of prayer and we are not ashamed to have devotion for our Blessed Mother Mary.
• On October 10th our most consistent attendee, Bob Durham died. Prior to his surgery, Bob had not missed a gathering since our inception. He spoke fondly of Joe Catholic to his family and friends. Many of the men of Joe Catholic attended his funeral mass. The men of Joe Catholic have sponsored several mass offerings for the repose of Bob's soul. While we may have lost a member on earth, we know we will have another saint in heaven to intercede for us.
• Ken Wendell  got the logo digitized so we could have shirts made. Those shirts were showcased for the first time at the December gathering.