August
6 ,2006
Mixed
news...
Father
Anthony Farewell
Father Anthony Bonsu has been living at St. Brigid’s for the past
two years and working full time as the hospital chaplain at Nassau University
Medical Center. Even in the midst of his job, he has often celebrated
the sacraments with us at St. Brigid’s and over the past two months
he covered us while the regular priests were away on vacation.
Now Father Anthony will be returning to Ghana. His last weekend here
will be Sunday, August 20th. He will celebrate the 11:30am mass and
we’ll bless him as he heads for home. We’ll also have a
reception on St. Brigid’s Green following the mass. All are invited
to come and bid farewell to Fr. Anthony.
Census
Continues
Of the approximate 6,000 families we usually send mail to, we’ve
received completed Census booklets from over 4,000. So we’ve got
a ways to go.
Is your booklet in?
e-mail Father Ralph:
Past Columns:
July 30: Impossibly Little
July 23: Come away!
July 16: Got a Mission?
July 9:Missing God
July 2: Jesus Interrupted
June 25: One Here, One to
Come
June 18: A Father's Gift
June 11: Charity Begins
At Home
June 4: Turning Silver
May 28: Eight Years •
Eight Months
May 21: If Any
May14: Celebrating Mothers
May 6: Celebrating Priests
April30: Baked Fish
April 23: What we hear
April 16: Out of the Tomb
April 9: Jesus, Our Source
of Peace
April 2: NOW, Can you Hear
Me?
Mar 26: Can You Hear Me
Again?
Mar 19: Can You Hear Me
Now?
Mar 12: Now Take 4Steps
March 5: Take A Step
Feb 26:Coming Home
Feb19: Visiting Heros
Feb 12: Passing Pastor
Feb 4: Annual Appeal
Jan 22: Abandoned Nets
Jan 15: Everlasting Life
Jan 8: I'm not going to
jail..
Jan 1: Happy New Year
Columns
from 2005
Columns
from 2004
Columns from
2003
Columns from 2002
This
week there are an assortment of things to write about -- some sad, some
joyful, some challenging.
As you may have heard at the masses last weekend, Father Augustine’s
father, Savarimuthu, died unexpectedly on Friday, July 28th. It was impossible
for Father Augustine to return home to India in time for the funeral.
He has decided to finish his summer time with us before he returns. I
offered him the chance to celebrate a Funeral Mass for his father here
and so I’d like to invite our parishioners and friends of Father
Augustine to mass on Tuesday, August 8th at 8pm in the church. Together
we can pray with Father Augustine for his father and his family.
The Millennium Fund Committee met two weeks ago to consider declaring a “dividend” from the fund that the parish can use for improvements to buildings and grounds and ministries. I’m happy to announce that the fund’s value has grown over the past year and that the Committee has announced a dividend of $103,142.50 for the upcoming fiscal year starting September 1st. We are earmarking some of this year’s dividends for boiler replacement in two of our oldest buildings. We will be continuing an evaluation of the properties and ministries with the parish Building Committee and parish staff to look at other needs that can be met with these funds. Thank you to Ed Moritz and the committee for being such good stewards of the Millennium Fund.
The Parish Finance Council met this past week and has approved a balanced budget for the coming year. This is possible because of the increase in the collections each week. Thank you to all of the parishioners who took a step in giving. One challenging note is that due to this past year’s increases in insurance, utilities, and personnel, we will end this year with a projected deficit of $130,000 (down from $170,000 projected deficit a few months ago). Our new budget takes the increases into consideration and we expect to be able to finish next year without additional debt. In the meantime we discussed ways to raise funds to cover the $130,000 in unpaid bills that we’ll face at the end of the month. More info to come in the weeks ahead.
