July
31, 2005
Welcoming
Rob
Father
Giuseppe
For
the past 20 years Father Giuseppe has been visiting St. Brigid’s
Parish during the summer and before he leaves this year, we wish to
recognize his fidelity and ministry to us in a special way. At the end
of the 8:30 Italian Mass next Sunday, August 7, we will have a special
blessing and presentation for Fr. Giuseppe, followed by refreshments
on St. Brigid’s Green.
All who know Father Giuseppe are invited to come by as we thank him
him for his presence here and ask God to bless him as a new chapter
of his life unfolds in the year ahead.
Ministries
Appeal
I was pleasantly surprised this week when I received a rebate check
for $5,929.15 from the Catholic Ministries Appeal Office for the donations
already made. Any additional donations will be shared with our parish.
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 24:Wedding Bells
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
Over
the past four years there are number of administrative projects that I’ve
been meaning to get to. But as you all know, life at St. Brigid’s
is rather busy and I’d much rather spend my time on working with
people than with the administration things. We have a wonderful staff
that works to capacity -- often putting in late hours and weekend hours
and still everything doesn’t get done.
So
when I heard that Robert Cammarata, who coordinated the Stewardship Office
in the Diocese of Rockville Centre was moving on from that position, I
knew he was the right person to add to our staff to help in accomplishing
a lot of what we’re hoping to do. (Primarily, I’ve been wanting
to do a census...now there are over 1,500 new housing units being built
in our parish area and we need to reach out to the new residents; I’d
like to better coordinate the volunteer talents that people can share
with our parish, etc.)
Robert is not from Westbury --
he has been married to his wife Tina for nearly 22 years. Their daughter,
Christina, is ten years old. They live in Glen Cove and are members of
St. Patrick's parish.
Robert first began in full-time ministry as a parish youth minister 25
years ago. He taught religion in a Catholic high school and was director
of religious education in two catholic parishes in our diocese, while
working part-time in banking. That led to a full-time career in banking
until he started working in the diocese in 1998. Rob taught continuing
education courses in personal computing, the internet, and keyboarding.
Rob has been a workshop presenter
throughout the country and Canada on topics such as stewardship, catechesis,
and spiritual gift discovery.
Rob will be filling the role of
Coordinator of Pastoral Development and help us toward many of our parish
goals in the years ahead.
