Dear Fellow Parishioners, What comes to mind when you hear “When it rains it pours?” Some folks will immediately shout Morton’s Salt! Unfortunately, salt has nothing to do with it. We have had water, water everywhere, and have submitted several insurance claims for the Father Reilly Center, the sacristy, the dining room of the parish house and the boiler room. Bill Parent and Kevin Maldarelli of our Buildings and Grounds team are overseeing all the work that needs to be done. Our insurance is covering some of our expenses and due to your generosity and continued support, we are able to cover these expenses between the funds you have continued to donate to the Sacred Heart Endowment fund, and with what we have been able to add to our Parish savings reserve. These repairs will significantly reduce the balances in both of these accounts, which could impact our parish moving forward if we face another major repair.
Dress warm when at church during the month of November. Both boilers need to be replaced and insurance will not cover the damage done to them partially by the hard water in Hopedale. For the past several years we have been patching the boilers together. We are now at the point of facing the replacement of both boilers. The cost will be approximately $60,000.00.
For the third time in the 20 years, we had a leak in the sacristy ceiling. In the past we thought it was due to the flat roof above the sacristy. However, when the dry wall came down this time, we discovered that there was a second ceiling! Both ceilings were taken down and a leak in the drainpipe for the flat roof was identified as the culprit - not the roof itself. The good news is that this project is partially covered by insurance!
The carpeting in four of the classrooms were damaged. We have removed the current carpet and will be replacing it with laminate, to prevent future problems. Insurance does not cover this, so we will need to pay this expense of approximately $4,000.00. Meanwhile, in the Parish House, the ceiling in the dining room started leaking. After tearing it down, we found that we must replace a pipe extending from the second-floor bathroom to the cellar. The good news is this partially covered by insurance.
Our first priority is getting heat in the church and then addressing the other problems. When all is corrected, I am sure that we will all be able to look back at what seems to be one disaster after another and laugh. Personally, I am happy this is happening on my watch, and that we have a team of parishioners working together to address the problems and the finances to do so. It is stewardship renewal time, please do what you can!