It was wonderful to see the excitement and learning going on among the children participating in “Treats with the Saints.” Making the connection that Halloween is “All-hallows-eve” is important for all of us to know. It was even more impressive to know that the whole project was organized by 13-year-old Rory Goyette! As part of her Girl Scout Silver Award, she organized the whole project from start to finish and invited the people to take responsibility for each of the pieces. It was great to see adults and teens willing to work together to make the whole program such a success. This was a learning experience for us all, a great lesson in stewardship for the parish. Thank you to Rory for her organizational skills, and the many people who joined in making it happen.
When you are on the campus next time and the sacristy (where we get vested for Mass) is open, please come in and take a look. Major repairs have been completed. The drain from the flat roof has been replaced, the roof repaired, the ceiling and new lighting installed. It is a suspended ceiling, so if there are further problems, we can remove tiles and get at the difficulties. Again, the Buildings and grounds team members under the direction of Bill Parent and Kevin Maldarelli have spearheaded this project.
The major plumbing problems in the Parish House have also been addressed. The bathroom on the second floor that has never worked since I have been your pastor is now repaired. The ceiling in the dining room had to be removed to get at the old plumbing and is now replaced. Bill Parent and Todd Miller are taking care of the painting. While everything was a mess, we refinished the wood floors. Thank you to all who helped move furniture so that work could be done. NOW we need people to come forward and clean the rooms and furniture. We are hoping that individuals or families may “adopt” a room over the next week or two and get us back up and running. You can access the sign-up genius here.
On another note, regarding stewardship. Someone asked me about the financial piece. Their concern was if circumstances in their finances change after they made their commitment what would happen. We are very understanding with every commitment people make. This is not a legal document, but a pledge of support so that we can plan as a parish, pay our bills, and meet our ministry needs as a Catholic Parish in the Diocese of Worcester.
Please take the time to fill out your commitment card and get it into us so we can begin training for Ministry and walk together in faith.