From the Desk of Father Chas Canoy, 10/16/2025
Dear Parish Family,
With all the tragic and yes evil events that have been happening in our world, the people of Jackson’s need for the Good News of Jesus Christ is all the more urgent! Maybe those recent occurrences or personal struggles have negatively impacted us. It has been tough societally and for families. If so, we ourselves need to lean into Jesus and the Catholic faith he has given us to heal our hearts, so that we can be his instruments to draw others into God’s house of healing.
As the Mother Church of Jackson, God has entrusted to us the proclamation of that Gospel that brings peace to hearts in the way that only Jesus can to us, the members of Christ’s body here in Jackson. I write this letter to you on the feast day of St. Teresa of Avila, October 15. She was a spiritual giant during her time and remains so today as the first female doctor of the Church. A poem attributed to her reminds us of our calling the Body of Christ:
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
As we become what we consume at Holy Mass, we are thus called to be Christ to the community around us. As Jesus reminds us, “The harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few.” That work necessitates that we dedicate both our human and material resources towards that noble cause.
We celebrate that we were on budget this past fiscal year, thanks to your generosity! Please find more information in this “State of the Parish” bulletin. While we are spending within our means, we also have had to make significant cuts in the last three years to make that happen. Inflation has really caused havoc on the cost of doing ministry. Moreover, our parish ministry team members, who are already spread too thin, have become even more underpaid as well. We really want to retain the awesome team we have! So to meet this need, let us respond as the psalmist does, “Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.”
As our new rally cry reminds us, we desire to “joyfully accompany our young families” who face unprecedented challenges in keeping the sacramental life of the Church alive in themselves and their children. We need to replenish the souls of our parishioners who have gone before us in this past generation and have joined the Church Triumphant in heaven with new parishioners to join the Church Militant on earth, here in Jackson to ensure not just the survival, but the flourishing of St. John Parish!
This is a blessed and exciting time to be Catholic! It is always when the Church is undergoing rough times and even persecuted that God raises up saints to take up the mission of building up God’s Kingdom anew. Joyfully join me in rededicating not only our resources but our lives to the healing, salvation, and eternal happiness of the people God has placed in our parish and in our lives!
Yours in Christ,
Father Chas