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The recent U.S. visit by Pope Benedict XVI led to many interesting and important discussions about faith in America.

Reporters noted that New York City area Catholic seminaries used to train hundreds of priests at any one time—and that in 2008 only twenty-two are currently enrolled there. Parish churches are increasingly dependent on immigrant priests and non-clergy deacons for their ongoing ministries. (Vietnamese and Philippino accents are proving to be a challenge for older worshipers.) Some orders of nuns are on the edge of vanishing, which has meant a fundamental change in how Catholic hospitals and schools are staffed.

Some journalists reflected on what they called “cafeteria Catholicism.” More and more of that church’s members are selective about the elements of their faith. They choose to believe some things and not others—or relegate some teachings to the background and do not consider them as defining for their current faith. Some are pro-life when it comes to abortion and pro-choice when it comes to contraception, while Catholic teaching is clear and consistently opposed to both.

One article that caught my eye reported on the dramatic decline in Roman Catholic parochial schools and colleges. (This is paralleled by the secularization of many of our once-Presbyterian colleges, including Occidental in Los Angeles, which Barack Obama attended during his freshman and sophomore years—before transferring to Columbia University in New York City.) Where Catholic young adults were once commonly able to articulate the faith of their church fairly clearly, relatively few of them can do so today.

It’s my educated guess that the same holds true for Presbyterian young adults today. We are not doing a good job of grounding our people in our faith.

I remember an early Tom Hanks movie about an American serving in the British army in World War II, stationed in Palestine, who was becoming acquainted with a lovely young Jewish woman of Spanish background. They did a bit of day touring of Judea, including a visit to Engedi on the shore of the Dead Sea. Tom Hanks’ character immediately recognized the place as the location of a remarkable I Samuel 24 encounter between young David and King Saul. “We’re Presbyterians,” he said, “and we know our Bible.” I loved that line. Yet two years ago when Joan and I were leading a tour to Israel and Jordan, we heard our very competent Israeli guide say just the opposite. He found that Presbyterian tourists had very little biblical knowledge.

We need to know the basics! We, and our young, need serious and solid grounding in the Bible and in the core of our Protestant Christian faith. Occasional attendance in Sunday school will not do it. Only a combination of home instruction and very thoughtfully designed church educational ministry can do it.

I propose the following: A seminar on Christian basics that could meet when most of us could really attend. Would it be later on Sunday? Early on Saturday? A weeknight? What would work for you? There are some splendid resources for such a class or seminar. It would be great for all of us. What do you think? Please let me and discipleship elder Doug Henderson know….

The National Day of Prayer Task Force's mission is to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America and its leadership in the seven centers of power:

Holy Father, in a world where so many are hungry,
You have given us food in abundance;

Our nation is at a crossroads this year;
we look to you to be our strength and shield.

Please give us the guidance to elect one who will honor you
and to respond to the wisdom from above
so that our hope may be renewed and our blessings be treasured.

Church Attendance: The average attendance in the worship service last month was 89.

Session had a special meeting to review the proposed lease change with ODC. After some wordsmithing we voted to accept the changes in the lease. This would allow ODC to have more control of the Fellowship Hall and we would receive a higher rent allowing us to hire a Facilities Manager.

The Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC) and members of the Session will be interviewing a representative group of people looking for their best experiences involving our church family.

We will use those experiences as the basis of the Mission Study, to develop the shape of our envisioned, preferred future.

With this vision, we will describe the qualities we seek in our next installed pastor, that person who can share our vision and lead us to that future.

Interviews will be conducted in May, and we intend to complete the Mission Study in July. We will try to meet with as many people as possible; however, we are limited by time and resource constraints.

The Son Ringers were part of about 200 handbell ringers the middle of April at Valley Church in Cupertino for the annual Spring Ring. We were able to ring with many other ringers, to take part in special classes for our education, and to play in a concert that evening directed by Doug Benton. It was a thrilling experience.

On Mother's Day, May 11th, at our Worship Service, our own Youth Festival Ensemble of wind players will provide the offertory. They will be playing an arrangement by Larry Sue of "This Is My Father's World". This group of six young people will also play also for us at the Spring Fellowship Dinner on Saturday, May 17^th. This group was formed for our Christmas Service last December. You won't want to miss them.

The Chancel Choir is preparing several anthems to sing at one of the services for General Assembly on June 22nd. This will be a "once in a lifetime" to sing in a very large choir, directed by wonderful musicians in the area.

On Sunday, June 8^th, at 10:30 a.m. the service will be full of many beautiful musical pieces. Special music will be presented by the Chancel Choir, the Son Ringers, Living Water, and our own Chinar Merjanian. Another must for your calendar.

There is still time for you to join one or all of these groups before we take a well deserved summer vacation which will begin after June 8^th.. We know you have been thinking about it, why not do something about it?

Living Water News from Larry Sue ♫

We resume the journey on May 18 by singing “A Child of the King” in our service. It is a reminder of the new family and new heritage we receive when we put our trust in Jesus Christ. As the Bible tells us, we pass from death to life, and from darkness to light. But perhaps the greatest transition is that we are changed from children of sin and condemnation to heirs of the kingdom of God and partakers in the heavenly future that awaits us one day. Come and rejoice with us!

FPC Annual Spring Fellowship Dinner NEWS from the Deacons

Come for an evening of fellowship, food, and fun with your church family. We will enjoy listening to the Youth Festival Ensemble led by Katherine Forrester. For younger children and the “young at heart” we’ll have some magic and balloon tricks.

Are you able to bring something to share? Here's what you can bring based on alphabetical groupings of your last name:

A BIG thank you to the Congregation for all your support at the Town Hall meeting for the Facilities Committee. We appreciate all the volunteers who have put in so many hours of faithful work around the church campus. We still need that help. By hiring a Facilities Manager it will make the job easier for everyone. We will be able to see more things get done on a regular basis and it will allow small problems to be fixed sooner before they become major problems. Obviously, having a Facilities Manager will not take care of everything as we have an aging facility but hopefully it will make it more manageable. Thanks again for every one who has supported and helped over the many, many years!

· The 218^th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is coming to San Jose from June 21-June 28. The price is $20.00 per ticket unless you volunteer. 1500 volunteers are needed. Shifts for volunteering are four hours each. If you volunteer you are eligible to attend everything for

· FREE: all worship services, exhibition halls, and some meetings. We learned you need to sign-up yourself because each area of volunteering also has an earlier “training” session. For information: www.pcusa-ga08.org (this is complete list of the volunteer job descriptions etc.) If you are unable to sign-up on web, please call the Committee on Local Arrangements at 408/286-0927. Some of the volunteer positions: serving communion at the Sunday worship service, serving as an ‘ask me’ person, giving out information packets, working in a booth, etc. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event so we hope you will be able to attend.

“Blessings and greetings from Ken and Ruth Gammons!”

“All is well in Apple Valley.”

Where is Harry?

He is taking the picture as Nancy sits with Ken & Ruth.

“Home, home, on the range.”

View from the front door of their home.

Family, Friends, Faith by Pat Henderson

After visiting their family on vacation in San Diego Nancy and Harry Wilson were looking forward to their next vacation destination at the home of Pastor Ken and Ruth in Apple Valley. Ken thought he would meet them down the road and escort them back to their home. Unfortunately, Ken was looking for them to be traveling in their c Prius, and on this trip, they drove their truck /. Needless to say, they missed each other on the road! They did finally rendezvous back at the Gammons’ home and enjoyed a delicious lunch and a long visit on their lovely patio. Harry showed the pictures all around upon their return to FPC. When Pastor Dick viewed the pictures of Ken, he commented on his long beard, stating it was worthy of a Jewish Rabbi!

Jack and Lynda James went away for a few days in April and the break seemed to do them good. It is hard to tell though, because both of them always display great smiles and look so relaxed and happy when we see them. J J

J We now can say that we know someone personally who ran in the Boston Marathon. Bob Dunkle, Shane’s husband, did the actual running, and Shane was there to cheer him on! Congratulations Bob!

Mary Smith has officially sold her house and still has a ton of details to accomplish before she can leave on her trip around the USA. It looks like Mary and Tiffany’s \ actual traveling won’t begin until the beginning of June.

It is great to see Sandy J Wright attending service again. She was out with bronchitis and it took quite a while to gain her strength back. Welcome back!

Two of the Leonard girls are at it again. Jesse and Jenny are both playing softball this season. Jenny is on Varsity and Jesse is J.V. 6

ï Update on Sharon Suri: Senegal celebrated Independence Day on April 4^th . To celebrate, Sharon biked about 130 Km over 3 days from her village, Lewe, to Kedougou, in the South Eastern corner of the country, where she and other volunteers enjoyed fresh honey comb and a parade including dancers dressed in straw looking like scarecrows and kung fu demonstrations. Through sales from their own established businesses, the women’s group is close to getting a millet grinder and a pump for the well. Good news! L Sharon will be home for a visit in June!

Kathy Suri recently returned from the trip of a life time to South America n She fished for Piranha in the Amazon River, took the canopy walk above the trees of the rain forest, hiked up and down at least 1000 steps of Machu Picchu , and then went on to The Galapagos! 3 She walked among Blue Footed Boobies and Magnificent Frigate Birds, snorkeled with Galapagos Penguins and Sea Lions, octopus, and marine iguanas, hiked up volcanoes among the lava lizards and land iguanas and giant tortoises. Life is good.

Michigan was the destination for Mary Anne Plano during her Spring Break. Î Her family had to be tickled that she would come back at that season of the year. Did we hear that there was still snow and cold weather during this trip?

J.S. Sue traveled with his school band to Disneyland. Here again, Kathy Suri and Pat Henderson missed out on the Mickey Mouse visit. Well, Kathy one of these days…….

G REMEMBER to mark Saturday, May 17 at 5:00 p.m. on your calendar for our Annual Spring Fellowship Dinner. ä See you there!

V Some of our church members have attended a Pray-ers class. What this means is that we will be able to offer to pray with you on an individual basis. At this point, we are working out the logistics with Pastor Dick and the Worship Ministry Team (before Sunday Service? after Sunday Service?). We will keep you informed as soon as this is finalized.

Happy Mother’s Day to all as we bless our mothers still with us and honor our mothers who have passed.

Our Church family and friends are always in need of your prayers…especially Charlotte Guymon and the Guymon family, Lydia Martinez and David Etter during this month.

THE LAST WORD

Try Jesus!

If you don’t like him, the devil will always take you back.

Registrations available in the narthex or email the church office and we will email a registration to you. Or sign-up on the web: Tohttps://www.groupvbs.com/webtoybox/myvbs/FPCMV

An elderly woman just returned to her home from an evening at church when she was startled by an intruder. She caught the man in the act of robbing her home.

She yelled, “STOP! Acts 2:38” The burglar stopped in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police. As the office was cuffing the man he asked him, “Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yell a scripture verse to you.” “Scripture?!” replied the burglar. “She said she has an axe and two 38’s.”

Our Vision: Christ calls us to be a caring, praying community, demonstrating His love through transformed lives.

Our Mission: To invite people into a life-changing relationship with the living Jesus Christ and to equip them Biblically to extend God’s love into the world.