Dear Friends,
You may have noticed a lot of activity around the new parish center this past week. The new windows
and doors for the parish center have arrived and are being installed! The windows and doors
presently in the building are the originals from 50 years ago. They are not very energy efficient
and have some basic problems with opening and closing.
At the same time the windows are being installed, Hawkins Construction will be repairing parts of
the roof and they will fill in the swimming pool. Those projects are being paid for with money from
the sale of the land at St. Patrick’s. If you noticed large blocks of foam sitting around the
building, that is what is being used to fill in the pool. It is called geofoam and concrete can be
poured over the foam without additional bracing needed.
There is still a dream that we can turn the pool area into a nice hall for parish use. However, we
will need to raise another $500,000 to make that happen. We have to put in a heating and
air-conditioning system, lights, ceiling and floor, tear out the locker rooms and replace them with
bathrooms, build a catering kitchen – just to name a few. Before we embark on such a project, we
will have many discussions with lots of parishioners to figure out how we are going to afford such
a project. Several friends of mine have already donated money as a challenge to the parish to see
if we can match those funds to kick off the project.
One other special project in the works is the design and creation of a baptismal font for the
parish. It will be installed at the base of the crucifix in the church. A local artist, John Lajba,
is working on the design, which the Pastoral Council will look at during their next meeting. Since
baptism is such an important sacrament, a parish should have a beautiful and substantial font. We
have asked Mr. Lajba to design a font that looks like it was always in the church incorporating
elements of the back altar and the ambo.
The Spaghetti Dinner will take place on April 9; one week earlier than normal because Easter falls
on the third Sunday in April this year. We need everyone’s help to make the dinner a success.
Signups start this Sunday to help with different aspects of the dinner preparation and the dinner
itself. Please offer some of your time and talent to make this dinner as successful as the ones in
the past. The first work is next Saturday when we will be making cookies for the dinner.
I want to express my thanks to our wonderful parishioners who offer their time to answer the phone
and the door at the parish offices. It is probably not the most exciting job in the world, but it
is an essential service to our community. When people are looking for a friendly face or a
welcoming voice coming to a Catholic Church, those folks provide it to all who call or come to our
doors.
Thanks, too, to our small, but mighty, group that cleans the church on the second Saturday of the
month. They make the church look great. A clean church is so much more welcoming than a dirty one.
It shows that we love our church and care about it. Join us on April 8th at 9:00 to clean the
church for Easter.
Peace,
Fr. Damian