Help A Teen Come FullCircle

10-30-2022Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,

In 2010, I started the FullCircle Youth at Risk Ministry. Since that time, we have been able to assist hundreds of families and their children who are affected by substance misuse, eating or cutting and other self-destructive behaviors. Our goal is to help heal the family by bringing them FullCircle: back to wholeness and holiness.

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What Type of Voter Are You?

10-23-2022Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,
We are coming up on an Election, time to vote. As usual the campaigners and their sycophants are giving you reasons to vote.

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They're Back!

10-16-2022Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,

It’s happening! I admit, I had serious doubts that it would. In case you’re wondering, I am speaking about the return of our part-time, some-times, halftime parishioners, aka snowbirds! I confess I had never seen such a mass exodus from a Parish before.

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Reviled and Belittled But Not Defeated

10-09-2022Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends, Once again, October is Respect Life Month. Since the overturning of Roe and returning the issue to the states, new strategies are need but our same witness to the dignity of all human life remains unchanged. Still, things have taken a pernicious turn. I am amazed at how viciously some will fight to abort an unborn child.

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St. Anonymous Parish

10-02-2022Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,

One of the reasons the bishop sent me to this area was to, among other things, begin the formation of a new Parish in fast developing Vistancia/N. Peoria/Lake Pleasant area. So how is that coming along and what I have learned?

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Reefer Madness: For Real

09-25-2022Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,

Since around the 1980’s we have been fighting a “War on Drugs”. And as a friend of mine reminds me, “Drugs are winning the War on Drugs”. Despite our best efforts and intentions, drug use, drug related crime, enrichment of the drug cartel’s wealth and power and drug related deaths are off the charts. And all this got a big assist from Arizona voters.

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Wholly Men

09-18-2022Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,

During the 90’s I was mostly in a time warp. That’s because I was in jail. Actually, I was a Prison Chaplain, served that sentence for about 12 years. But when I went back into Parish ministry, I started hearing something that confounded me. Namely, the amount of pornography use that men were engaged in.

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Suicide: Prevent or Assist?

09-11-2022Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,

If you are not an Opera fan but would like to venture into this wonderful musical genre, a good place to start is with the Opera Pagliacci by Leoncavallo. It is a simple, easy to follow work in two acts. It starts out with a Prologue that reminds the audience that actors have feelings too and that this story is about real people.

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There is a Solution

09-04-2022Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,

September is National Recovery Month; bringing awareness that there is a solution to the problem of addiction/alcoholism. Alcoholics Anonymous, the granddaddy of recovery, puts it this way, when describing how to deal with the problem: “without help it is too much for us. But there is one who has all power-that one is God. May you find him now!”

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Guns and Rosaries

08-28-2022Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,

It’s de rigueur, right around the time of any major Christian holy day, to read stories in the Media that are anti-Christian, anti-God and especially ones that attack organized religions (never Islam but the rest are considered fair game).

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Our Mother's Day

08-14-2022Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree, There will be an answer, Let It Be….

-“Let it Be” by the Beatles”

We are the broken hearted who have found the answer. Most of us have had the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” pointed at us, and yet rather than remaining as victims we find the answer in faith. What we agree on even amid so much disagreement is that Jesus is the answer to our broken hearts and wounded souls.

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Teen Killers and Us

08-07-2022NewsFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,

Most young people in their late teens and early twenties are looking forward to and planning their future. Whether its finishing up college, moving into a career, saving up for a new car or planning to be married, it’s an exciting time in life. But not for all. Why do some young people lose the hope and the excitement of a future? Why is the suicide rate among young people skyrocketing, and why do some young men decide to blow up their future and the future of dozens and dozens of others? It’s easy to point the finger of blame at this or that but as we have found out, it’s much harder to find effective solutions that could stop the metamorphosis of a bright young teenager into a cold-blooded killer.

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