Greetings to all of you!
These last couple of weeks have been very exciting ones for St. Mark. First we had the International Festival that was an outstanding success! Over 900 people came to experience the various cultures of our great parish and they were treated to wonderful entertainment and mouthwatering foods from the different regions. I'd like to thank everyone who was involved in the planning and execution of this event, especially our chairs, Mike and Barbara Delman for doing such an outstanding job! It was a little congested going from room to room with all those people but the foods from the countries that I tasted were very delicious, even the food from the Irish booth! (A little Italian humor there, please don't take offense). Anyway, I can't wait for next year to see what the committee has planned!
Speaking of relieving some of that congestion, we also celebrated last Sunday the kick-off for our second phase of our building program for a new Church. This truly is an exciting moment for our parish as we are on the way of making this a reality. As you know, the Diocese has given us permission to break ground when we collect $5 million in cash and so far we are just over $2 million with almost $4 million in pledges. We are asking all parishioners to pray and see if we all can make a one year pledge to reach the $5 million figure. Whatever you can sacrifice, even if it's a one time gift, will go a long way to our goal. The excitement is building! Please be a part of St. Mark history!
Well, that is all for now.. Continue to pray for each other and may the Lord Bless your goodness!
Peace,
Father David
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Heading to Chicago
Greetings to all of you!
As I'm writing this article, I will be heading to Chicago for the Annual Conference on Stewardship which promises to be another informative event. I don't usually go to many conferences held around the nation due to cost and time commitments, but I almost always go to this one! Whenever I go to a Stewardship Conference, it energizes and reminds me again and again why I'm a Catholic Christian. The people I meet from all over the country are very giving and full of life and love just and I get so charged up by what Stewardship is accomplishing throughout our land. I've come a long way from my early days as a Priest and now I know so well that everything I have is gift, given by a Divine Creator, who wishes to use these gifts not simply for ourselves, but for others. The conversion to a Stewardship way of living has really changed my life and I hope and pray that it will also change yours. Hopefully next week, I will be able to tell you more about our experiences in Chicago and bring back some great ideas for our parish! This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to head a bible study for some young adults here in the youth room. I truly enjoyed being with them as they begin their young lives and try to connect the teachings of Christ to their everyday experiences. They asked some wonderfully penetrating questions and I hope I was able to leave them with some answers and even more questions! Anyway, this Bible Study for young adults will be held monthly and I hope many of you will take advantage of this opportunity! Simply call Maryann Weigel for more information.
On another note, the re-energizing of our Campaign for a Church will be coming up very soon! As I have said before, I think you're going to like what you see and we have a great opportunity to build sooner than we expected! But we still need your help to make it happen. I simply ask that you take a look at what we have come up with and pray about what you can do to achieve our goal. Again, it's not equal amounts but equal sacrifice. May God Bless your goodness!
Well, that is all for now. Keep praying for the success of Stewardship in our parish and see what God has in store for us!
Peace,
Father David
As I'm writing this article, I will be heading to Chicago for the Annual Conference on Stewardship which promises to be another informative event. I don't usually go to many conferences held around the nation due to cost and time commitments, but I almost always go to this one! Whenever I go to a Stewardship Conference, it energizes and reminds me again and again why I'm a Catholic Christian. The people I meet from all over the country are very giving and full of life and love just and I get so charged up by what Stewardship is accomplishing throughout our land. I've come a long way from my early days as a Priest and now I know so well that everything I have is gift, given by a Divine Creator, who wishes to use these gifts not simply for ourselves, but for others. The conversion to a Stewardship way of living has really changed my life and I hope and pray that it will also change yours. Hopefully next week, I will be able to tell you more about our experiences in Chicago and bring back some great ideas for our parish! This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to head a bible study for some young adults here in the youth room. I truly enjoyed being with them as they begin their young lives and try to connect the teachings of Christ to their everyday experiences. They asked some wonderfully penetrating questions and I hope I was able to leave them with some answers and even more questions! Anyway, this Bible Study for young adults will be held monthly and I hope many of you will take advantage of this opportunity! Simply call Maryann Weigel for more information.
On another note, the re-energizing of our Campaign for a Church will be coming up very soon! As I have said before, I think you're going to like what you see and we have a great opportunity to build sooner than we expected! But we still need your help to make it happen. I simply ask that you take a look at what we have come up with and pray about what you can do to achieve our goal. Again, it's not equal amounts but equal sacrifice. May God Bless your goodness!
Well, that is all for now. Keep praying for the success of Stewardship in our parish and see what God has in store for us!
Peace,
Father David
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