July
24, 2005
Wedding
Bells
Painting
Progress
Upon my return from vacation I was happy to see the progress of the
painters in the church. The sanctuary was completed and during this
past week, the ceiling of the main body of the church was getting a
cleaning and the painting is progressing nicely. I want to thank all
on our staff who have worked to hard to make sure the church is in “wedding
condition” each weekend and I thank all who have been making our
weekday celebrations in the chapel in the school work out so well --
despite the humidity.
Ministries
Update
Thanks to all who recently made pledges to the Catholic Ministries Appeal.
We still have a ways to go to reach our goal and get $19,000 back. The
goal is $96,800 and parishioners have donated $76,000 so far. (That
means that all subsequent pledges really will fund our rebate!)
Weekends
All weekend masses (including weddings) will follow the usual schedule
in the church and school. In another week, some of the pews will be
taken out to be refinished and temporarily replaced by chairs. Thank
you for your patience as we refinish the interior of our church. By
the fall all will be lovely again. (Actually, even lovelier!)
e-mail Father Ralph:
Past Columns:
July 17: Summer Weeding
July 10: Ministry to Seniors
July 3: The Painters are
Coming!
June 26: The Last 25%
June19: Sommer in the
Summer
June 12: Great News Anoying
News
June 5: What's Essential
May 29: Setting Priorities
May 22: Painting Project
May 15: We are the Church
May 8:Mother of the Church
May 1: On Life and Death
April 24: Habemus Papam
April 17: The Spirit Abounds
April 10: Two men on a journey
April 3: He's baaack!
March 27th: Not the best
news...yet
March 20th: What are You
Doing For Easter?
March 13th: The Stench
March 6: To Tell or Not
To Tell
February 27: Dry Mouth Dry
Soul
February 20: Good to Be
Here
February 13: And he was
hungry?
Ash Wednesday '05
February 6: Ashes Already?
January 23: Catholic Schools
Week
January 16: Continued Charity
January 9: Migration
January 2:All is bright?
Columns from 2004
Columns from 2003
Columns from 2002
Vinny
and Heather...Elizabeth and Chris...Carmine and Mary...Deborah and James....Erin
and James...Danielle and Andre...Jennifer and Michael...Myra and Rob...Danielle
and Joe...Jacklyn & William... Laura and Dan... I heard from all of
them and have met with most of them since I got back from vacation last
Monday. What do they have in common? They’re getting married!
Those are just the couples I’m
meeting with -- the other priests and deacons here are also meeting with
couples to prepare for their weddings. It’s something we love to
do -- each wedding is one of the most special celebrations in the life
of a family, so you can only imagine what it’s like for priests
and deacons to be invited to celebrate these beginning of a life-long
sacrament. It’s a honor, a privilege, a moment of great grace.
Yet the road to marriage doesn’t
just involve the priests and deacons. The parish community gets involved
as well: we have an outstanding group of Pre-Cana couples who help our
engaged couples consider the family background issues, the communication
styles, the expectations and concerns of their marriages. Others from
our parish lead the couples through FOCCUS -- a written inventory that
helps couples see what values they share in common, and where they may
need to communicate in different ways.
Then Susan Porteus, our music director,
meets with each couple to plan the music, Adrianna Miller schedules the
rehearsals and helps with all the papers (baptismal certificates. licenses,
etc.) Adella Conlin leads the couples through their rehearsals, and there
are lots of others who contribute in many different ways to help couples
prepare for their marriage.
I’m very proud of the way
our parish celebrates the couples who come to get married here. I continually
hope and pray that our couples will come and pray with us each week so
God will strengthen them on their journey to and through marriage.
