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Fr. Maina's MuseBack to school week! Not really, back to work! SUMMER IS ALL OVER!Last Monday morning a stream of cars snaking their way to St. Catherine Laboure was clear evidence of a new school year and an end to the beautiful season of summer. We want to welcome our children back to school and most especially new families that have joined our school. We have over 300 students attending our school. I am always grateful to our faculty for their dedication. As a team our faculty makes our school have a character of its own. I am particularly grateful to Mrs. Laurie Konicek who was present during the entire summer as she ensured that everything is ready for the start of a new school year. In addition, I am grateful to our religious coordinator, Ms. Pat Klein, for her continued effort in working with our Religious Education program. I know that she worked hard during the summer. As you all know, we depend on volunteer catechists to run our Religious Education program. I am therefore grateful to Pat Klein and all catechists. We would never have such a program if it were not for love and dedication from many individuals. It is sheer love and dedication that I cherish in this parish. I know that many of you love St. Catherine Laboure. I was even brought to tears of love after my grandmother passed away and had to travel to Kenya for her funeral Mass. The love and care that you showed to me through your prayers and words of condolences were beyond my estimation. I want to thank you all! I also want to thank you all for the kind love and support you extended to Fr. Mair upon the death of his mother. The care and love you showed to Fr. Anthony during his one-month stay affirmed the fact that we are a loving and a caring community of dedicated parishioners. When Fr. Anthony goes back to Togo, West Africa, he goes with our blessings and our love. We hold him in our prayers as he continues with his vocation as a missionary priest in West Africa. As we bid goodbye to the summer and welcome to the school year, new beginnings are evident. In particular, I am grateful for the new officers of both the Parish Council and the School Board. Mr. Guy Di Spigno has agreed to be the chairperson of our Parish Council. We also welcome the new members of the Parish Council: Shirley Dias, Sonia Antony, Cleo Scott and Hilda Garcia. At the same time, I am grateful to Madelynn Macur-Brousil, the outgoing chairperson of the Parish Council. Similarly, we welcome new members to the School Board: Maritoni Kane, Bill McGowan, Rita Nowak and Gladys Vasquez. I am grateful to Julie Jenkins who has agreed to be the School Board president. Chuck Quinn, the outgoing School Board president, was a very dedicated individual and I am glad I was able to work with him this past year. In fact, I can’t believe that it has been a little over a year since I took over the responsibility of this parish as the pastor. During my first year, I had the good fortune of celebrating our parish’s 50th anniversary with you. In addition, during the same year, the parish’s pastoral council, finance, and facility committees made me aware of many of the needs in the parish. For example, during the early weeks of summer, we all experienced one area that needed attention – the church’s air conditioning. In collaboration with both the finance and facility committees, I made the decision to install a new and more efficient air conditioning system. We can now worship in comfort! Furthermore, during the summer, on the advice of the facilities committee and finance council, we asked an architect to visit our premises and advise us what we may need to do. The report lists many things, including the roofs (now approaching 50 years old), a sinking foundation, inefficient windows, unsatisfactory air circulation, driveways, etc., etc. The list outlines about six million dollars of repairs that will be needed in the next ten years. As a result, I have been working with the finance council to prioritize what work needs to be done soon. We categorized the needs into urgent, required, and recommended. The bill for the urgent items is approximately two million dollars. Because of these needs, we are organizing a capital development campaign in which we pray every family in the Parish will become involved. I will share the details of the campaign next weekend. My hope and goal is to fully inform everyone of the needs and proceedings of the hoopla surrounding this rather vital project. I remind you of the words I spoke to you during the Jubilee Mass on May 23rd when I said, “We are indebted to the dedication, sacrifices, and hard work of our founding parishioners, to whom we owe it to keep St. Catherine Laboure viable for future generations.” I believe that the future begins now. See you next weekend. May God bless you and your family, Fr. Maina. With you a Christian, for you a priest. |
