Sunday, April 17, 2016

Fourth Sunday of Easter - April 17, 2016

This weekend is our final session of CCD classes, which brings up the question we ask so frequently, “Where does the time go?” I do remember an old Calvin & Hobbes comic strip when Calvin asked that question, and Hobbes suggested, “Cleveland?” But while our school year still has a way to go, the end of CCD reminds us that summer is coming. And that means we can look forward to some of the projects that will happen over the summer.

Thanks to the diocesan capital campaign that we have all been taking part in, Our Campaign for the Church Alive, we have been able to take care of some important maintenance in our parish. If you have made a pledge to the campaign, I hope that the projects you see will inspire you to continue fulfilling the pledge. One of the projects we will be doing this summer is a completion of the job we started last year. We have a company coming to clean and paint the window frames of the church. With all the glass we have in our church, those frames are very important. This job will prevent rust and keep our church beautiful. It’s a case of maintenance that is much more affordable than the repairs that would be necessary if we do not keep the frames in good shape.

Another job for this summer is to resurface the parking lot. This is another job we are funding through the diocesan campaign, and it will be more than just a patch job. Some time ago I wrote about the paper recycling bins that we have in the back and how the market for recycled paper has crashed, meaning that we are getting very little benefit out of those bins. Our Finance Council agreed that we would do much better to go without them and to repave that area for extra parking. The company that will do the job for us assures us that we can get an extra twenty-some parking spaces, which should help us during the festival and the fish fry as well as for Masses. And of course this whole job will include fresh lines in the parking lot so that people no longer have to guess where the parking spaces are.

There is a job that is not on our list of projects for the diocesan campaign, but I would like to see it get done. The current sound system in our church was not well designed for our space. We have an application in for a grant from a company that wants to help parishes improve their liturgies. We will not hear about that grant until August. If we get it, we can get a system designed to eliminate the “dead spots” in our church. In the meantime, if you cannot hear well, consider trying a different part of the church.

Those are the upcoming projects that we are working on (or hoping to work on if we get funding). Let me also remind you of a couple of dates coming up in the summer. Vacation Bible School runs June 20-24, and the annual Parish Picnic is scheduled for July 24. Save the dates.
                                               
                                                                                                   Father H