Sep 13, 2022

Greetings,

Here is some great news about you.  It was so good that I thought I must be misunderstanding the data or that something must be incorrect in the reporting, but it was double checked and the numbers look solid.  The number of households who gave in the offertory collection last year was approximately 1,600.  That number is out of a potential 1,800!  That is an outstanding percentage!  You are awesome!

This number includes Electronic Giving and it not only includes those who give weekly, but also monthly, quarterly or even annually, the last number being about 100 of you.  Everything we are able to do is because of your generosity: having the lights on all night during our Annual Eucharistic Devotions, being able to house seminarians, purchasing flowers for our grounds, improving Byrider Hall and even purchasing the bread that becomes the Eucharist for us every day of the week.  Thank you for placing your parish and its mission in such an important place in your thoughts.  Know of my prayers for you.

IN OTHER NEWS:

BRICKS:  The two brick drives to the parish from Elmdale Avenue are about to be replaced.  If you want any bricks, please call the rectory office and let Cathy Sivec know.  She will also need to know how many bricks you will need.  The bricks will be set aside for you.  Apparently, the company may even drop them off at your doorstep.  In any event, they will be off of the parish property fairly quickly after work begins.  The unclaimed bricks will be ground down and used for filler elsewhere. 

Most of the bricks are not in good condition so you may want to come take a look.  (They are about 100 years old.)  There is a section of decent bricks in the school drive.  Construction may begin as early as next month, so do not put this project off too long if you are interested.

PERKINS:  It appears that there will be some activity, finally, on the Perkins property.  On Wednesday, September 21st I have been invited to give an invocation for a ground-breaking ceremony to take place on the property.  From what I was led to believe, the first stage will be all of the infrastructure that needs to take place (water, roads and such) and then perhaps as early as next building season, residences will start to be constructed beginning with townhouses along Mull Avenue and then free standing, single family homes extending back from there, growing in size and cost as they near the golf course.

MISC:  As we near the end of the summer season, I hope you get to take a turn about St. Sebastian Square and enjoy the grounds.  They were particularly superb this year.  The Grounds Crew and the Garden Crews put in a lot of effort.  A great big thank you to all of the volunteers.  In the not too distant future, it will be time to close down all of the flower beds, so take time to enjoy them if you can.  Also thank you to those who made the flower arrangements for the church all summer!

Byrider Hall work continues thanks to your generous contributions.  The new entrance, the updating of the main hallway and improvements in the bathrooms were greatly needed.  There is still more work coming.  Both inner and outer entrance doors are going to be replaced and new windows have been ordered and will be installed before winter.

Work on the Church roof should begin within the next month or so.  This should not affect your access to the building.  There will be many updates when this project approaches.  The plaster work in the church will be handled after the roof has been finished and the plaster dried out. 

At the same time as the church plaster work, similar work will be done in our 90-year-old rectory.  A couple of roof and plumbing leaks over the years have caused some damage and while the church is being done, we will also have the rectory worked on.  Also, you may notice some rubber over the edges of the roof of the rectory.  We have been waiting for the workmen to come back and finish the job, but they suffer from the same staffing shortages that everyone else is so patience is the word of the day.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck