Greetings to all of you!
Last week the staff and I put on a "Thank You" to all our stewards at St. Mark who give so much of their Time, Talent, and Treasure in making our parish a light to the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel community. I realize that they are in no need of our thanks and simply do it for the love of God, but I feel it is always nice to at least get together and have a party! Over 250 people came and what a nice celebration we experienced! Just seeing all those stewards together in once place brought joy to my heart and the staff had lots of fun serving all of them. (I would like to thank Sun Kropp and her committee, Barbara Delman for helping us with the skit which was lots of fun and Gina Savko for assisting Sun with the hospitality.) I would also like to thank our great St. Mark staff for their continuous dedication and desire to make St. Mark a wonderful place to serve God.
In a little over a week, I will be heading to the
"old sod" once again to visit with Pope Francis at the Vatican. I realize our schedules are pretty tight so
we may not be able to meet up but at least I will enjoy a Mass at St. Peter's
Basilica for the Ordination of St. Petersburg seminarian, Brian Boyle, to the
Diaconate. A number of seminarians from
around the country who have been studying at the North American College in Rome
will be ordained Deacons for their home diocese. I'm thrilled that I will be able to see Brian
ordained while I'm there. I also can't
wait to sit outside the various restaurants in Rome enjoying the wonderful
pasta and Italian wines. I wish you all
were going with me!
Well, that is all for now. I'm hoping that by the time I get back, the
roof on our new church will be up! It's
really looking great so far!
Peace,
Fr. David
