The Pastoral Council of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church is an advisory and consultative body to the pastor. The council represents the parishioners and discerns the direction of the parish. The council creates and articulates the parish’s vision and mission and formulates long term planning.
The pastoral council members operate in a discerning, collaborative and faith-sharing style and are concerned about the spiritual and pastoral issues of the whole parish.
Small Christian Communities bring people together to ponder on the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit working in their lives. Members reach out to friends and neighbors by listening to their stories, their cares and concerns. They find out what they really value and care about, as they apply the Word to their daily lives and work to bring about the Reign of God. Members of S.C.C. are partners in prayer and companions in mission.
St. John’s Athletic Association sponsors sports programs for boys, grades 2-8 and girls, grades 3-8. The purpose of a Catholic youth sports program is to provide a healthy social and recreational experience through athletic sports. It hopes to instill sportsmanship, a sense of fair play, cooperation, fellowship, and a growth in Christ by working with others. It also helps teach skills in an enjoyable manner which the participants can use the rest of their lives to enjoy sports. Association membership is open to anyone wishing to participate in supporting St. John’s youth sports programs as well as parents, coaches and moderators of the sports participants themselves.
Perhaps one of the oldest organizations and great contributors in our parish is the St. Gerard Women’s Club named after St. Gerard Majella, the patron saint of mothers and mothers-to-be. It is a women’s group open to all women of the parish. The members get together for spirituality, socialization, and to participate in fund-raisers which include boutiques, cake sales, bus trips and card parties.
FR. WALTER O’BRIEN COUNCIL 3518
The main purposes of the Knights of Columbus are to foster unity, fraternity, service and patriotism through the promotion of vocations and prayer, religious education and parish activities, participation in the Family Life movement and work in the community for those who are in need.
A mass in Spanish is held every Sunday at 2:00p.m. Other activities by the Hispanic Community include Baptisms, by appointment; religious education classes on Saturday mornings; a prayer group meeting every Monday at 7:00pm and festivities for Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.
The Columbian Ladies is an organization started in 1963 for the wives of the Knight’s of Columbus. They support the goals and activities of the Knights. Any woman is eligible for membership provided that a member of her immediate family is a member of the Father Walter O’Brien Council of the Knights of Columbus. Any woman whose husband is a deceased knight is also eligible.
Membership in the Altar Society is open to anyone who wishes to volunteer their services and talents to help maintain the Altar and the Sanctuary. Services include laundering and mending altar cloths and linens, cleaning and filling holy water fonts in the entrances of the church, arranging for flowers at the altar and statues and cleaning and dusting sanctuary and statues.
The St. Vincent de Paul Society was formed to aid and assist, on a temporary basis, members in the parish or community who are in need of food, clothing, shelter, or spiritual guidance. Fifth Sunday collections provide the Society with its main source of income. Other donations from the parishioners and the community such as food, clothing, shelter and cash donations help the society to meet the needs of the people they assist. During the holidays they provide needy families with large Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets. Members give their time and services on a voluntary basis when needed.
The goal and objectives of our Pastoral Care Program at St. John’s is to integrate elderly people into our parish community, regarding them as our parishioners, to be sensitive to their needs, and to insure a quality of life that befits human dignity. We have Eucharistic Ministers who work with this program and take communion to our homebound parishioners on a weekly basis. They also do communion services at rest homes within our parish boundaries. We want our homebound to know that they are very much a part of St. John’s Community and that they are not alone in their suffering and loneliness.
Congregations Organizing for Renewal (COR), strives to bring congregations and neighborhoods together in the common pursuit of improving communities. COR is a faith-based, grassroots organization of twelve active congregations and two neighborhood groups representing 25,000 families in South Alameda County. St. John’s Local Organizing Committee (LOC) is a sub-division of COR and meets once a month in our local area.
COR is a member of PICO – Pacific Institute for Community Organization. In California, the PICO California project is the strongest grassroots community organizing effort in our state. PICO California Project consists of 17 organizations similar to COR and represents 350,000 families statewide.
The Maintenance Committee is a group who maintains St. John’s Church, grounds and rectory. The Maintenance Committee is always looking for persons willing to share their skills.
