As we head into the summer period there are a few changes in the parish staff that I would like to announce and that I hope will continue to make St. Mark a great parish in the years to come. First of all, it is with a mixture of deep sadness and joy that our Director of Faith Formation for adults and the RCIA will be retiring at the end of this month to spend more time with her family and finally get some rest from the rigors of ministry these past 20 or more years. Sandra Bonilla and I go way back to our St. Jerome days in Largo when I was a young administrator and she was in charge of the Religious Education program there. I had always admired Sandra's passion for God and when I had heard that she moved to the New Tampa area, I was thrilled that she would be coming to work with us. While here, she has done marvelous things with our program and has made it into the top programs in the Diocese. Now that she is a grandmother and a caretaker for her family, she certainly will need the added time to rest and recharge to accomplish her new duties. She will continue to stay a member of St. Mark and will use her time and talents to help in our Faith Formation program when she is able. Join me in thanking Sandra for her wonderful contributions to our great parish in the years she has been with us. God speed Sandra!
In some other good news, our Director of Faith Formation for Children, Claudia Garcia, has earned her degree from the Diocesan Lay Pastoral Institute! It has been a four year process in which she took a full load at school, took care of her children, and also worked full-time here at St. Mark. It just goes to show what intelligence and determination can get you when you put your faith in God. Congratulations Claudia!
As you know, David Larson has come on board to become our Parish Administrator and already he has done great things for our parish and our staff cohesion. David is a marvelous man and a great organizer and I am thrilled that he has become such an integral part of our parish. I look forward to even greater things to come!
Due to all the restructuring in our parish staff, I am sad to say that we will NOT be having Summer Bible School for this year. As you know, this takes a great deal of coordination and logistics to pull off and we just didn't have the personnel to make it happen with the quality of earlier years. I promise that next year we will be introducing a new summer program that I think will be a very effective tool for further education of our young. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.
Last but not least, I have been heartened by the amount of people coming forward to involve themselves in the life of our parish! This is truly Stewardship in action and what a parish should be when it comes to serving God and our neighbor. Why don't some of you step forward and GET INVOLVED! I have found that many of our new ministry members come out of Christ Renews His Parish which is a weekend retreat held here at the parish. I know there is a weekend for men and women coming in July so those of you who have been sitting on the fence with their relationship with God, come and experience this spiritual event. You won't regret it!
Well that is all for now. Continue to enjoy the gift that God gives us in each other.
Peace,
Fr. David
