Photos

Rising fourth grader MyChi Haan and the gift Bible from St. Pat's, June 26:   

Fr. Tinh tells MyChi, "When you open the Bible at the middle you get the Psalms." Other rising fourth graders are Savannah Frizzell, Kylie Clark, John Cascella and Aaron Tingley.  

Mary Isibel and Pat Gardner -- June 26th -- behind them are Ann Nelson, Kathy Oliver, Tuyet Diep, Nghia Dao, Le Cao, Margaret Mills and Alice King

Nam-Tran Mai and his friends at graduation -- St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School, Alexandria, VA -- Commencement was held at the Virginia Seminary on June 11 Jennifer Moya with family and friends at her graduation from Freedom High School, South Riding, VA -- Commencement was held at Patriot Center, George Mason University, June 17

From the Senior Warden 

Dear Saint Patricks family and friends:  

           Dear Saint Patricks family and friends:  I want to give you an update on two important undertakings in the life of our congregation.  In 2009, the Vestry committed to a process to bring our church back into full parish status within the Diocese.  We successfully supported ourselves as a congregation for two years without any financial assistance from the Diocese.  During that time, we also continued to contribute a portion of our budget to the Diocese and generously supported other missions in our community.  Recently, the Vestry submitted a petition for formalization of our status as a free-standing parish.  Region Eight supported us, and we are waiting for notification that an executive committee of the Diocese concurred.  All indications are that the Diocese will support our petition.  The next step will be formal "re-acceptance" into full parish status during the 2012 Diocesan Council that will take place in Reston.  We hope to have a great turn-out from our congregation for that celebration in January. 

          As part of our preparations, the Vestry would like make updates to the Saint Patricks history pamphlet produced for our 50^th anniversary celebration.   I'd like to invite everybody to send in short remembrances about experiences at Saint Patricks.   Photos would be great, and we will make sure to get them back to the owners after scanning them.  If you do want to drop off a note at the church or to email an item, please remember to let us know approximate dates, names of people and places involved.  If you happen to have any old church records at your home, we'd appreciate a chance to take a look at them.  Our objective is to give our members and friends a sense of the beginnings of Saint Patricks and how the life of our congregation has evolved over the decades.  Each of you is a part of that story.

          The second thing I want to tell you about is an initiative to revive the Saint Patricks youth ministry.  Our congregation has been blessed in past years with talented youth ministers who had great, Christ-centered impact in the lives of our young people.  We all remember the work of the Reverend Mark Waldo and Doan Huynh, and we are painfully aware of the gaping hole left by their departures for other responsibilities.  For several months, the Vestry has discussed what steps to take to remedy this vital need.  Part of the response was to try out a parent-based Sunday School program this Spring.  Every indication is that the education program was a hit and filled a big need.  We expect to continue the Sunday School program in the fall.  Working with our youth, though, requires a different level of effort, experience and engagement.  The Vestry decided we need to hire a youth minister for this work.  If you have not already heard news of this, please consider joining a team of church members who will devise a set of qualifications and begin a search for a youth minister.  We hope to have that person on board when school begins in the Fall.  The Vestry arrived at this course of action after long deliberations about our options and the future of our congregation.  In short, the Vestry believes that the surest way to grow our congregation, connect with our surrounding community and equip our young people for committed Christian lives is to invest in this ministry.  Families will join us if we have something to offer their children.  Young people can successfully navigate life's hard spiritual choices if they have spiritual training and positive Christian experiences.   Given Saint Patricks' modest financial situation, this is truly an act of faith.  We will pay the youth minister on a month-by-month basis, but plan to make a commitment to a term of service.  You may want to give directly to this project, so just specify it on your check or envelope.

         Saint Patricks is approaching its 60^th birthday in just a few years.  What we are doing today will be part of the story we tell when that anniversary rolls around. 

         On behalf of your Vestry,

         Tom Auld

          Senior Warden

Parish Notes

- Our Cate Johnson is living and working in Islamabad, Pakistan.  Recently, she visited a girls' orphanage in Lahore, Pakistan, which is exclusively for Christian girls (the orphanage is not allowed to take in Muslim girls).  There are 25 girls who reside in the orphanage.  She has asked the church she attends in Islamabad to assist the orphanage, and she wonder if our church can.  "Some school supplies and simple art goods - including yarn (they creatively make and sell MANY things for additional funds) would be most appreciated."  She is coming to Falls Church this month, and will visit St. Patrick's in a couple of weeks.  If you wish to help the orphanage with school supplies, please bring the items to the church, and Cate will take them to Pakistan.  To see the pictures of Cate and the Christian orphans click here.   To see the brochure of the orphanage  please click here.

- Joe Dubas will be away for the next six weeks at a summer music camp in Brevard, North Carolina, just south of Asheville.  While we will miss Joe and his trombone up in the Choir Loft, he will be studying and performing in seven different concerts throughout the summer.  Please keep Joe in your prayers while he is away. 

Certificate designed by Jennifer

- On Sunday, June 26th, we celebrated our Sunday School program, and each of our children received a beautiful certificate  designed by our Jennifer Phan.  Thank you so much, Jennifer!!!  Many thanks also to our Sunday School teachers, and to those who assisted them.  Special thanks to Catherine Dubas, who took care of Children's Chapel time following Doan Huynh's departure,  and to Maggie Spinelli, whose work helped Sunday School to restart this year. 

A Letter from our Cate Johnson -- Islamabad, Pakistan 

                                                                      June 11, 2011  

Greetings, Dear Friends!

             I hope this finds you well.  I think of each of you so very often, and hope that all is well.

              We are fine here in Pakistan.  It has been a VERY rocky several months.  The rocky road seems to have begun with the dreadful incident of the American in Lahore who killed two Pakistanis-then immediately after the shooting a third was tragically killed in a motor accident caused by the Consulate car that came to rescue the American.  For two months, Pakistan debated about whether he was protected under diplomatic immunity.  Crowds were furious.  We all laid low and at one point were in lockdown.  This seemed to pass, although terse memories on both sides remain.

               Then came the OBL killing.  You've no doubt heard the news about how Pakistan feels that its soverignty has been violated.  Americans feel as though trust has been betrayed.  Tempers flair.  High-level visits are held to try to mend the relationship.   Because the truth is that we need one another-Pakistan needs help with the ever-growing extremist problem, and we need Pakistan as a strategic Islamic ally in South Asia.

               When I talk with friends and family, I'm asked, "How do you fare?  Do you notice any real differences in your daily life?"

                The answer: I'm really quite well.  My life is rich and full and lovely.  I miss family and friends a great deal-sometimes its as though I feel that pleasures are somehow hollow because loved ones are so very far away.  Yet I'm making friends-good, lasting friends!-and am enjoying myself a great deal.  I do not sense anything remarkably different-we are urged to be alert and careful-which I am!-and there is sometimes more diligent scrutiny of passports at certain checkpoints, which is to be expected.  But when I go out and about (which I do quite often!),  I see people simply trying to get on with their lives.  They greet me with nods of recognition and even smiles.  It's true that America is certainly unpopular at the moment, but the behavior of ordinary people doesn't mirror that fact.

Erin Dubas, Gisela Johnson-Harbers, KimAnh Huynh and Cate Johnson --    Falls Church, Virginia -- Aug 1, 2010

            Perhaps a description of a weekly walk which I take from my home to my yoga teacher's house will describe it best of all.  (We're cautioned not to walk about, but the area where I walk is quite safe and filled with barricades and barbed wire, so it's probably OK to venture out.)  During the late afternoon, I carefully don my shalwar kameez and cover my head with a scarf, then with yoga mat slung over my shoulder, set out at a brisk pace to cover the four blocks to Joan's house (a sort of peaceful sanctuary here in Islamabad).

               My first steps take me to a small alleyway behind my house which is covered by a canopy of trees-it is lovely, and here the bicycle vendors ride along and call out their wares in a sing-song Urdu chant.  The hidden path brings me to a residential cul-de-sac where guards sit about chatting peacefully with one another.  Some are uniformed in blue suits with black belts and boots; others wear white or sky-blue shalwar kameez.  A few keep crocheted caps on their heads as a sign of their devout faith.  After all these months of walking about, they know me well.  "Asalam Akeikum, Madam!" they call call out with genuine smiles.  "Peace be with you!" I answer them back, "Wa-alaikum asalam!"  Then they ask how I fare.  I tell them in Urdu that I am quite fine.  They laugh jovially-already this is more Urdu than the vast majority of foreigners have bothered to learn.

               As I walk along the small street, I admire the abundance of flowers.  Bouganvilla is a favorite-bright pink, purple, and white blossoms spill over high walls and even climb trees.  The air fragrant with roses and lillies-I believe that Islamabad has the highest density of roses of any city on earth!  Even flowered groundcovers are lovelingly cultivated.  Everywhere I look, I see beauty.

                The people all dress in shalwar kameez-men and women alike.  Women's clothing is bright and colorful, with long trailing silken veils that billow about in the breeze.  They look like lovely butterflie floating through the neighborhood.  The men are proud and slim, with cotton clothes of white, blue, or tan, and sandles.  Very few people wear Western dress.

             My walk takes me to one major street.  As I cross, I cover my face with my pashmina scarf.  This movement has become instinctive-after living here for these months, I now understand that women don't want to bare their faces to strangers.  And besides, it's a good disguise-so few Westerners wear traditional garb that passerbys may not recognize me as a foreigner.  (In fact, one of the Embassy drivers didn't recognize me when I wore my Pakistani national dress, thinking I was from the north of the country, where people are tall and fair-skinned!)

             After crossing the street, I pass an Army mini-encampment.  The next few roads are blocked off at the beginning and end with barricades, barbed wire, and guards who live in tents strategically stationed at the corner.  They all greet me politely as I make my way, round the barricades.  Once I saw a man perched on top of the barricade -- it was amazing to admire his balance on the small concrete slab.  Last week, I was told that the road was closed and I was not allowed to walk there.  We'll see what happens this week. 

              But what I notice most about this stretch of the walk is the birds.  There are so very many-and the gardens behind the high walls seem to be vast, making a safe haven for them.  They call to one another in the sunset as they begin to settle down for the night.  I can't even begin to tell you their names-I must purchase a bird book to learn more about them!

              Two blocks remaining.  Small children play in front of one of the houses.  Boys ride their bicycles and a shy girl watches.  Sometimes a nanny comes carrying a babe in arms.  I smile and greet them-they look at me warily.   I must bring them a puppet sometime-perhaps that would help break the ice!

                I round the corner and walk the last stretch to Joan's house.  Here I am most careful.  This road is not blocked off, and there are few guards about.  I watch for escape routes in case something dasterdly may arise.  Then I'm nearly there-I pass the group of men (and sometimes an adorable little girl) who always sit outside next to Joan's house.  They, too, greet me with smiles of recognition.  Finally to our little house which is always cool, always welcoming, with three bounding dogs to greet us and make us laugh at their anctics.

              This is one of the most special times of my week.  We're not allowed to be out with ordinary people-this is the closest I can get.  And it's wonderful.

                I continue to follow the news of  our St. Pat's family, and look forward to seeing you in a few weeks' time.  May peace remain with you.

                Big hugs!

                 ~C.

On Last Sunday's Sermon  

On Sunday, June 26th, we celebrated our Sunday School program, and I gave a children's sermon.  Apparently, both the First Lesson and the Gospel of the day posed a challenge to anyone who speaks with the young minds.   While Genesis 22:1-14 was about Abraham's near sacrifice of his son Isaac, Matthew 10:34-42 came with Jesus' fiery statement: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword."  Fortunately, during the sermon none of the kids raised the question, "Why did God tell Abraham to kill his son?"  The young listeners seemed to like the ending of the story, in which a ram that God provided was sacrificed instead of Isaac.  The main point was that Abraham was blessed because he trusted and obeyed God.  In the story, Abraham keeps saying, "The Lord will provide."  The children nodded when I asked them, "So would you trust in the Lord?" 

        The homily with drawn pictures seemed to work for the children, and yet many of the adults who listened in might have wondered about the issue of human sacrifice.  Was child sacrifice common among the peoples of the Old Testament times?  It was.  Most likely, the story was written so that the children of Israel  understand that while existing among the polytheistic cults who offer human sacrifices to idols, Israel worships and trusts only its one and true God, who does not require the sacrifice of a child  -- the sacrifice of a ram will be sufficient.  Genesis tells the story of the formation of Israel, a peculiar nation that is at odds with the tribes that surround it: set aside for God -- in the world and yet not of the world. 

          Interestingly, the idea in Matthew 10:34-42 connects well with that in the Genesis story:  Jesus warns his followers about unavoidable conflicts with the world, sometimes even with family members, and  Jesus mentions the cross that a disciple must bear.  How will we live in the world as followers of Christ?  In a world of corruption, with evil abounding, how would a Christian behave according to his or her baptismal covenant?  Imagine you are told by your employer to do something that you do not feel is right. 

         A child hearing the Abraham story may easily nod and accept that one should trust in God, but soon in the future he or she will learn that trusting God is not a simple matter.  Trusting God and obeying God's commandments go together.  There is a price to pay if one wishes to follow Jesus.  There is a challenge in Paul's admonition, "Walk in newness of life."  This is why Christian formation is so very important for the young; moreover, the formation can be a life-long process, for all of us. Tests and failures may happen as we tread our journeys, and yet we trust that our God has power to raise us up and to liberate us, if we obey His commandments.

        The Collect (or prayer) for June 26th becomes appropriate as we think of Christian formation: "Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone:  Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you;  through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen."   Tinh+  

Upcoming Sunday's Readings:

Zechariah 9:9-12

PSALM 145: 8-14

Romans 7:15-25a

Matthew 11:16-19; 25-30

A Prayer For This Week  

For the Poor and the Neglected 

Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us to forget:  the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them.  Help us to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy.  Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.  

(BCP, Page 826)