Reflections On St. John Vianney Parish - Paperback

by Peter E. Abresch (Author)

At eight PM, on the dark and stormy night of December 9, 1966, a small group gathered in the upper room, around a coal-burning stove, at the invitation of Father Joseph Naughton, the first pastor of the new parish of Saint John Vianney in Prince Frederick, Maryland. The reason for the gathering was to enjoy some libations and small talk and a bit of parish business, to whit, I was informed I had been elected parish council president. Thus began my fifty-one year association with the parish, witnessing some of the remarkable events that moved this small parish to extend the Word of God to foreign shores. These are my reflections over this journey with St. John Vianney Parish. Hopefully they convey the flavor of the happenings and the grace of God witnessed to the best of the author's memory and of those with whom he has consulted. And as best of implies, it is not necessarily the facts that actually took place nor the exact time they happened. Also it is not the complete story. At the end of John's gospel he says, if all the things Jesus did was to be written down, the world could not contain all the books that would be written. Well, if all the events and happenings of SJV were to be written down, it would take a shelf full of books to contain it. But the essence of the truth is these pages. It has been said of St. John Vianney, in jest, 'there's entirely too much hugging in this parish.' It is my fervent wish it will always be so

Author Biography

Peter Abresch is the author of: Spyglass House 2, Up In The Air; Spyglass House, the Jewels of Norpur; Recycling Jesus; Me and Snack McGhee; Capitol Coven; The Faltese Malcom; If They Ask for a Hand, Only Give Them a Finger; and the Jim Dandy ELDERHOSTEL Mystery series. He is also the author of a non-fiction book on writing, Easy Reading Writing, easy reading about writing easy reading, published in August, 2001, and is the author of BookMarc, a continuing on-line newsletter on fiction writing techniques. He has also written writing columns for Futures Magazine and articles on e-publishing for Sister-In-Crime, taught fiction writing at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington Independent Writers, and Maryland Writers Association, plus various seminars in the Washington/Baltimore area. He has written a one act play, Headquarters, which was produced NTP for the Maryland One Act Play Festival in January 2012 and was chosen to compete at the ESTA Original Works Festival in Wilkes-Berre Pennsylvania in April, 2012. Peter was a professional dancer in the far past, a Geodesist which took him all over the world, and a computer systems programmer before retiring from the National Weather Service. He has built three sailboats and, with his wife and five sons, hammered and nailed together a thirty-four hundred square foot house. His email address is Peter@Sidewalkbooks.com