To the People of God Gathered at St. Mary’s, Annapolis,

This year the Redemptorists are celebrating two major anniversaries for St. John Neumann, C.Ss.R. It is the 200th anniversary of his birth and the 150th anniversary of his death. What makes these events even more special is that St. John Neumann also is part of our history as a parish. It was St. John Neumann who blessed our Church’s cornerstone and bell. He was also supposed to bless our Church at its dedication but he died just days before the event. You can find even more information about St. John Neumann on the plaque we installed about a year ago in the back of the Church at St. Mary’s.

In light of this special year the Spirituality Committee has chosen St. John Neumann’s favorite spiritual saying as our parish theme: For God Alone! This theme points to the fact that St. John Neumann lived his life as a constant gift to God. I was already able to celebrate our beginning of the year Mass with our Elementary School and introduce them to our parish theme. It was an outdoor Mass that had nice cloud cover and a wonderful breeze so I could not have been happier!

To help our Church Staff further understand the meaning of this theme we recently had a special Retreat Day for them. We listened to a presentation by our parish historian Robert Worden who gave a history of St. John Neumann with a special emphasis on his connection with our parish – fun facts like he was the first signer of the deed of our property here it St. Mary’s! Then Fr. Daniel Francis, C.Ss.R. gave a talk highlighting some of the major spiritual themes that had a major influence on St. John Neumann’s life. Reading this, you may wish that you could have heard this talk. Well, this coming Lent we will have a Parish Mission given by Fr. Daniel Francis, C.Ss.R. going into further depth on the favorite spiritual themes of St. John Neumann!!! You will hear more about this as Lent approaches.

Your Brother in the Redeemer,
Father John Kingsbury, C.Ss.R.