Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 16, 2025 Bulletin Father De Celles
SPECIAL ELECTION. This year we have a “special election” on September 9th to fill the vacant seat created at the death of Congressman Gerry Connolly. Early voting in person has already started but more local offices will open on August 29th. Most of St. Raymond’s parishioners live in the 11th Cong. District. The Voter Information Table is set up in the Narthex with registration forms, absentee applications, a map of the 11th Congressional District and voting information with a comparison of the two candidates. Remember, as the Catechism teaches: “It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom…Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to …to exercise the right to vote ….” (CCC 2239-2240).
SUMMER WINDING DOWN. The end of summer is approaching, and I, for one am sad to see it go. Oh, well. God’s will.
Parish Picnic. Our annual Parish Picnic is next Sunday, August 24, from 2-5pm here on the Parish grounds, behind the church. There’s lots of food, games, rides (the ponies are back!), music and fellowship—a great way to meet and get to know your fellow parishioners. For new parishioners this is a great opportunity to meet people and learn more about the parish; for the rest of us, this is one of the best chances we will have all year to welcome others into the life and fellowship of our parish—don’t pass it up!
Back to School. For those of you heading back to school this week or in the coming weeks. I hope you have all had a wonderful summer, and are rested and refreshed and ready to take on the new challenges of the coming academic year, and have a blessed year.
For those of you returning to the Fairfax County Public Schools, be on guard against the anti-Christian bigotry growing in the schools. But remember, Catholics don’t hate or degrade others or themselves. We don’t dwell on the offenses of the past, but believe in conversion, forgiveness and the dignity of every human being.
Parents, you cannot simply let the government/public schools take charge of the education of your children. YOU are the primary educators of your children, so monitor and discuss with your children what they are being taught in school. And opt your children out of anything that attempts to teach them secular morals, especially sexual and family morals, i.e., especially relevant sections of “Family Life Education.” And remember to be on guard against the Marxist-secularist-atheist ideologies that will be permeating almost every class, from social sciences to math.
But also keep an eye out for the many good and dedicated teachers and administrators in public schools (many of our parishioners). Seek them out and support them.
Religious Education. With school starting up again remember to enroll your kids in Religious Education, CCD. Virginia Osella and Mary Hansen have been working hard for weeks preparing for the new CCD school year which begins on Sunday, September 7 and Monday September 8.
Remember, parents are morally obliged to not only teach their children to love Jesus but also to teach them what Jesus and His Church teach. It’s very difficult for most parents to do this on their own in any comprehensive way especially if they choose to send their kids to public schools, which often presents an environment and culture that is in many ways antithetical to Christianity.
Which is why most of these parents must send their children to CCD/Religious education. And this obligation doesn’t end after 8th grade: we have a great high school CCD program.
Ask yourself: am I doing everything I can to get my kids to heaven, and keep them out of hell? If you don’t educate them in the faith then the answer is almost certainly “no,” which means you are risking not only the salvation of your children’s souls, but your own soul as well.
So: SIGN YOUR KIDS UP FOR CCD NOW!!! Please. You can call or email the office, or you can register online on our website.
PLANNED GIVING: WILLS. A few weeks back I spoke at all the Masses about increasing our giving to the parish. I spoke about various means to do this, but something I didn’t address, intentionally, was the donations we can give at our deaths: “bequests” given through our Wills. Personally, I’ve found this type of giving the easiest: it’s postponed to the latest possible time, when you don’t need the money, and when you are given gifts to all those important to you. And it’s very simple to do: either in your will, or a “codicil” to your will, just name the donee as recipient of a set amount or percentage or fraction of your will. When you think about it, even a 5% gift would be a huge help to the parish. Talk to your lawyer about this, please.
You may recall we have received several very generous bequests in the last few years, including a whole house in Arlington and a third-share of a house in Alexandria. You don’t have to give a house, but maybe something?
And to be clear: I pray your bequest isn’t paid for many, many years, when you are happily in the home of our Father.
Speaking of FCPS. Did you read about this story reported here by Fox News:
“On a recent morning, Centreville High School teacher Zenaida Perez had a surprise visitor at the northern Virginia school…: a high-powered lawyer investigating allegations that Perez had made public that a school social worker coaxed and funded a student’s 2021 abortion.
“The Clifton school district’s superintendent, Michelle Reid, responded to the allegations the next day, claiming the school system had just ‘learned yesterday’ about the potential scandal….
“….Perez told [lawyer/investigator] how she had blown the whistle seven times about the abortion scandal since May 2022, only to be ignored and then retaliated against.
“….In the spring of 2022, Perez …was blindsided when Lehman asked her if she’d given a pregnancy test to a student. She hadn’t, but she did learn that a teen student from Guatemala told her that the school social worker had made an appointment for the student to get an abortion at a Falls Church, Va., clinic in November 2021, and paid the expenses.
“In a statement written later that fall, the student detailed what allegedly happened when she saw the social worker. ‘She helped me with a pregnancy termination, or abortion,’ she wrote, according to a translation from its original Spanish. ‘[She] made the appointment for me at the abortion clinic in Fairfax. She paid for the procedure and kept quiet about it, not letting my family know. I was worried that my family would react very badly if they knew about my pregnancy and the abortion….’When the abortion was performed, I was only 17 years old’…
“Perez told Fox News Digital the student’s guardian, an uncle, didn’t know about the abortion and was ‘livid.’
“A week after the May 2022 meeting with Lehman, Perez says she sent the then-principal a follow-up email, dated May 13, 2022…”