The new St. John the Evangelist street sign on 111th Avenue North is now in place and looks absolutely beautiful. It is also illuminated after hours which makes a nice statement to passersby after hours. We plan to make some adjustments to the landscaping at the front of our site to create better visibility for the sign. Attached is a picture of the installation which took place last week. Thank you once again to Jim and Marianne Coogan for their gift in order to make our beautiful new sign a reality. When the Coogan’s return in the fall, I intend to include a picture of them in front of the sign.
Please see the attached picture of our new fountain in the Memorial Garden along with its donors, Jack and Madeline Gaffey. The Gaffeys wanted to do something memorable to enhance the Memorial Garden which will ultimately be their final resting place. After my recent comments regarding the sale of space in the Memorial Garden, I have been inundated with families heeding my advice and pre-planning their final arrangements. If you are interested in doing so, please contact me at 566.1678.
Triplet update. According to our doctors, Shelley will be giving birth to our little ones this Memorial Day weekend. If this turns out to be the case, look for pictures in next week’s bulletin. I will also see if we can get some pictures placed on the website. Nathaniel, Ella and Mia are looking forward to meeting their parents and meeting all of you later in the summer. Thanks again to all who have prayed for a safe arrival.
We hope to break ground this week on the Paniccia Prayer Garden to be located on the west side of the courtyard, stretching from the church to the Parish Life Center. We are very excited about this upcoming enhancement to our campus. We will first install a construction fence which will surround the perimeter of the eastern side of the Prayer Garden. We kindly ask that you do not enter the fence until construction is complete for obvious reasons. The granite for all 22 benches and 14 Stations of the Cross has been ordered. The granite is mined in Italy and will then be shipped to Georgia to be finished and engraved. We eagerly anticipate completion of the Prayer Garden by the end of the year.
One quick glance at the collection summary will give confirmation that “season” has officially come to a close. As you may notice, our weekly operating budget is approximately $27,000.00 and this past week’s offertory was $21,351.00 or $5,649.00 short of budget. As I have stated on numerous occasions, we generally operate “in the red” seven out of twelve months. This is why it is so important that we manage your donations very carefully over the winter months so that we retain the needed surplus to get us through the lean summer months. In the past this has been quite a task. With that said, it is due to your generosity that we have been able to close last fiscal year in the black. With any luck, we will be equally successful on June 30th which marks the end of our fiscal year. Thank you to all of our parishioners who give so selflessly to make St. John the Evangelist all that it can be.
With the departure of our seasonal residents and visitors, contributions to the Catholic Faith Appeal have tapered substantially. If you are a remaining seasonal resident or visitor, please continue to make your checks payable to the CFA with St. John the Evangelist in the memo line. Thank you for your continued support of the Catholic Faith Appeal.
I have had several recent inquiries regarding bequests to St. John the Evangelist. I published this information last year, however, many did not see the information. I will also post this information on the website under ways to give. If you are interested in making a bequest to St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, here is the legal description to be used for planning purposes. Have you remembered St. John the Evangelist in your estate plans? The legal wording to include St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in your Will is: “I bequeath the sum of $____ or ____% of the residue of my estate to Bishop Frank J. Dewane (or his successor), Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Venice, a corporation sole, whose principal office is located at 1000 Pinebrook Road, Venice, FL 34285, for the benefit of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church.” You may further restrict the use of your gift to be used for a ministry, capital improvement, Catholic Charities, etc….
Thank you so much for supporting St. John the Evangelist.