As we head into summer...

Greetings to all of you!

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

Don't Try To Do It On Your Own!

Don't Try To Do It On Your Own!

Many times when we are worried about something we make the mistake of trying to rely on ourselves and our own will power to find a way out of our problems. Will power only works for so long. Eventually we are worn down and we are back to square one. If we want REAL change we need to rely instead on God's Power. For as it says in Romans 8:32: "If God is for us, who can be against us?"

When God is on our side we can act boldly and with out fear. In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul tells us: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love".

I urge you to NOT try to fight your way though life on your own. Instead, trust in our loving God and become a part of His plan for you. Ask God to fill you with His love because, as we read in 1 John 4:18, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear".

When we let go of our fears and we truly trust in God, we become free to follow the advice of Blessed John Paul II when he said: "Do not be afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."

Peace,

Fr. David DeJulio

Upon This Rock...

Upon This Rock...

Personal Thoughts and Reflections on Our New Church

NOTE: This is the first in a series of personal thoughts and reflections from members of St. Mark regarding our new church. If you would like to share your thoughts with the parish, please email them, along with a photo of your family toBulletin@stmarktampa.org

Hello fellow Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today I would like to share a personal story of one of many of God’s miracles in my life.

We all want our Church to be built and I know pledging and sacrificing is not always easy. But having the faith and trust in God is our first step.

After I had made my pledge to our capital campaign I stretched a bit as I am asking all of you to do. A few weeks had gone by and I received a call from an insurance investigator inquiring about an aunt of mine that had passed away.

I had taken care of my aunt in her later years when she had difficulty taking care of herself. My aunt never had an abundant amount of money although she did fine and lived a simple life. After she passed away I did what I could to take care of her business.

Unexpectedly I received a letter just a few days later from the insurance investigator that had called me. I opened the letter and to my surprise there was a check in the envelope, my aunt had a small insurance policy that no one knew about. The check in the envelope was for the exact amount of money that I had pledged a few weeks prior. As I looked at the check I was quiet for a moment… God does provide. Take the step and trust in our Lord. He works in marvelous ways.

May God continue to bless you and your family abundantly.

Peace,

Fr. David

“Entrust your works to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.”

- Proverbs 10:3

Speaking of the new Church

Greetings to all of you!

Before I start, I did finally get out on the golf course in Ocala with my three other brothers and despite the stifling heat and the humiliation brought upon by my brothers trying to outdo each other, I shot a great round of 82 which is pretty good for not playing in over 4 months. Now I can silence my critics and carry on with my desire to play on the pro tour when I'm 60 years old. I figure by that time, we will have the Church built and it will be able to run itself!

Speaking of the new Church, we are in full swing in making this dream a reality. Many of you have come forward in making a financial commitment to the Campaign and helping procure pledges. We are still in need of more people to make calls and write letters so if you are able to come forward, it will be deeply appreciated. PLEASE, when our volunteers call about the campaign, please respond in a reasonable time so we can keep moving forward to reach more people in our congregation. I have been deeply touched by the many families who have come forward already in making this sacrificial commitment. It only goes to show what a great community we have so if you haven't been contacted yet, I pray that God will touch your heart to commit to this significant moment in our parish life.

Last week Bishop Lynch was here to confirm 81 men and women in a beautiful ceremony celebrating the Holy Spirit. The packed Church was on fire with the Spirit including the Bishop himself who gave a heartfelt homily of service and holiness. After the Mass the Bishop mentioned to me how touched he was by the preparation of the men and women he confirmed and of course the music was outstanding! I would like to thank Mary Ann Weigel and her staff, Dr. John Paul Cappa, the choir, and musicians, and Sandra Bonilla and her staff in getting some of the adults ready for this day.

Well, that is all for now. Continue to enjoy the gift that God has given in each other!

Peace,

Fr. David

Kick-off to our Capital Campaign for our new Church!

Greetings to all of you!

As you can see, May has been quite a hectic and yet exciting month as we celebrate First Holy Communion for our children during the weeks of May and also the kick-off to our Capital Campaign for our new Church! I can feel the excitement building as more and more of our parish family begin to be involved in the Campaign which only means that we can get closer and closer to our goal as the days go by. We hope to keep you informed of our progress and I pray that more and more of you will embrace this huge goal and make St. Mark that Spiritual Center of New Tampa that we have dreamed about from the beginning of our history.

As you know, some of our youth are hoping to attend NCYC which is a National convention for youth held every two years around the country. This convention is attended by over 25-35 thousand young people and they get together to pray, sing, attend workshops, and gather with other like-minded Catholic young people from across the globe. It truly is quite an event to see thousands of young people worshiping God at Mass and it is an eye opening experience that forever changes their outlook on faith and religion in their lives. If anyone would be able to help financially to make this a reality for some young person, I and they would be forever grateful. Simply contact Mary Ann Weigel in youth ministry for more information.

I haven't picked up a club in over 4 months and already I've forgotten how to swing at that stupid ball with the dimples on it. I think the next time I go out, I'll just make a hefty slash at the ball and see where it goes. It can't get any worse and I might even decide to like the game once again.

Well, that's all for now. Continue to enjoy the gift that God has given us in each other.

Peace,

Fr. David

Italian Feast/New Church Building

Greetings as we begin another week!

As I write this we just finished having a wonderful Italian feast held here at St. Mark under the auspices of the Knights of Columbus. Over 200 tickets were sold, although it seemed almost twice that amount that ate the delicious spaghetti and meatballs. I had to "oversee" the cooking of the sauce and meatballs, since I needed to be sure it met the standards that every Italian mother would accept. Thank goodness a real Italian, Nick Piscitelli, was able to make the sauce from scratch with real tomatoes rather than those other nationalities that simply use ketchup! Anyway, the meal was terrific, and I know many others felt the same way as we celebrated a "Taste of Italy" on this most beautiful night! Grazzie to all the Knights responsible for the success of this event, and we can't wait for the Friday Fish Frys that will be coming soon.

Again this week I have been meeting with families to talk about plans for our new Church, and it continues to humble me at how much the families of our parish care about our people and wish to give back in so many ways to God. Although we still have a ways to go in some areas, I can sense our people are as excited as I am at the prospect of a new Church in the near future, and they continue to stretch themselves by sacrificing to make this happen. I have been blessed by being a part of this parish these past 8 years and the love I have for our people here with all their experiences, both good and bad, has truly been an inspiration to me and cemented my decision to become a Priest almost 21 years ago. God is very good, and I hope I can continue to serve you the best I can in His Name.

Well, that is all for now. Continue to enjoy the gift that God has given us in each other.

Peace,
Fr. David

New Parking/Capital Campaign

Greetings to all of you!

Since it's been so cold lately, I have not been able to ride my bike out on Flatwoods and thus, my exercise program has been sporadic, not that I'm complaining. Since my childhood days, exercise was not one of my most treasured moments and I still, after all these years, try to force myself to get out there. So I'm always looking for excuses, and the cold weather is a good one!

Some of you may or may not have noticed, but the Knights of Columbus put up parking spaces for expectant mothers a few weeks ago which try to promote life. I think it's a wonderful idea, and I thank the Knights for their efforts in obtaining this for our parish, and I hope those expecting will be able to use them.

I have been out of the office a lot lately visiting families who will be able to help us in our effort to build a new Church. I have been amazed at the generosity of our people and many of them are excited at the prospect of this becoming a reality in the near future. Many have even stretched themselves a little financially in trying to make this happen for our parish community, and it goes to show how FAITH is such an important element in this important endeavor. I know God will bless them abundantly! Stay tuned to the bulletin and web-site for further information as we begin the countdown to the parish-wide Capital Campaign in the Spring!

Well, that is all for now. Continue to enjoy the gift of each other!

Peace,
Fr. David