About Us:

Every Catholic Church throughout the world is dedicated to God under the patronage of Our Divine Saviour, His Blessed Mother, or some particular Saint. St. John's Church has been placed under the guidance and protection of the Apostle and Evangelist, St. John. In writing a history of this parish, we feel it appropriate to reface that history with a brief sketch of the life of the patron of this church - John, "the Apostle whom Jesus loved."

St. John was the last of the four evangelists to write an inspired life of Our Lord. He was also the last survivor among the "Chosen Twelve." Only miraculously was he preserved from a martyr's death when he was submerged in a caldron of boiling oil in the persecution under the Emperor Domitian.

The Church honors him as Apostle and Evangelist, as Doctor, because of the theme of his Gospel, and as martyr, because he withstood the torment of torture even though it did not cause his death.

John is traditionally considered to be younger than his brother, the Apostle James, because his name usually follows that of James in an enumeration of the Apostles. Both followed the trade of their father, Zebedee, and both worked with him to earn their livelihood as fishermen on the Lake of Genesareth. Peter and Andrew likewise belonged to this group of fishermen.

With Peter and James, John completes the triumvirate who received special favors from Our Lord. The trio were the only witnesses of the raising of Jairus' daughter back to life, of the Transfiguration, and of the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemani. John was sent with Peter to arrange for the Last Supper at which his place was next to that of Christ.

Of the Chosen Twelve, John alone dared to stand by his Master openly throughout the Passion. It is generally accepted that the "other disciple" who followed Christ into the palace of the high priest, and who saw to it that Peter was allowed to enter is none other than John. As he stood at to foot of the Cross, he was honored by the dying Saviour to look after the Blessed Mother.

There is no record of the time when John left Jerusalem. Perhaps he stayed in the Holy Land for about twelve years after the death of our Blessed Lord. From the Apocalypse it is known that he spent some time on the island of Patmos, where he had been exiled by the Roman authorities. Tradition holds that he outlived all the other Apostles and died at a very old age of nearly one hundred years about the turn of the first century.

These are a few of the noteworthy facts concerning the life of St. John, the patron of this church.