The first five of ten new granite benches arrived this past week and are now in place. This includes the two final benches in the Prayer Garden, two in the Memorial Garden and one immediately outside of the Prayer Garden. There are still two benches available for purchase if you would like to honor or memorialize a loved one. The next order of five benches will arrive later in June. If you would like to purchase a bench within the next week or so, I can most likely have it included in the next delivery. The cost is $3,000.00 and includes engraving for as many characters as you would like.
Did you see the story in the Naples Daily News on May 10 regarding the use of iPads at St. John Neumann High School? There was also a subsequent story on NBC. St. John Neumann is one of the first schools in Collier County to have a school wide iPad learning program that provides one iPad for every student and every faculty member. St. John Neumann raised more than $33,000 to purchase the iPads. The 200 high school students can rent an iPad for $300 a year. The cost includes insurance and electronic textbooks. They will own the latest version of the iPad by their senior year. In other words, upon graduation, they will be given an iPad to take with them. The students will not be allowed to use personal iPads because the school’s device will be connected to a network that gives teachers controls to prevent cheating. The iPads will be used for virtually everything – lesson plans, homework and even exams. 
As a result of this new initiative, Andy Sanfelippo (St. John Men’s Club President) met with Sr. Patricia Roche (Principal of St. John Neumann) to discuss the program and offer assistance. Many of the students are unable to afford the $300 required to rent the iPad annually. This past week, Andy presented a check for $3,000.00 to Sr. Patricia intended to assist 10 deserving students. This is a wonderful way for our parish to support Catholic education through the work of our very active and incredibly generous Men’s Club. Thank you to the Men’s Club for all you do for the parish and Catholic community.
In addition to the attached picture of Andy presenting the check, I have also included links to the stories in the Naples Daily News and NBC regarding this innovative program, which I am sure will ultimately be adopted by other schools in Collier County..
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2012/may/10/st-john-neumann-putting-the-ipad-in-education/
http://www.nbc-2.com/story/18273662/collier-school-trading-books-for-ipads
After an exhausting interview process, we have hired a new Director of Youth Ministry. For three weeks in May, a committee including, Fr. John, myself, numerous parents, youth and George Smith (DOV Director of Youth Ministry) interviewed twelve very qualified candidates from all around the United States. After going through several youth ministers in the past few years, we felt it important to perform a very thorough search to find the perfect (long term) fit for our parish. As luck would have it, we ended up selecting someone from our own backyard. Below is a bio of Bill Maguire. He is extremely well qualified and very dynamic. In addition, he relates incredibly well with the youth.
Bill Maguire is a cradle-Catholic from Northern Virginia. Like many young people in the 80s, however, Bill drifted away from the Church. This experience of trying to find happiness apart from Christ led to a growing sense of restlessness and the desire to find something more. When he encountered the teachings of Bl. John Paul II, he found that “something more”—and his life was changed forever.
Convinced that evangelizing young people was his life calling, Bill chose to pursue a deeper study of the New Evangelization and to how reach the hearts of young people with the Gospel. He received his Master’s Degree in Theological Studies magna cum laude from the John Paul II Institute (Washington, D.C.) in 1999. Since then, Bill has worked with young people in various capacities, including: high school theology teacher (St. Petersburg Cat
holic); youth minister (Cathedral of St. Jude, St. Petersburg); campus ministry (Ave Maria University); adjunct theology instructor (Ave Maria University).
Bill brings great enthusiasm and excitement to his new position as Director of Youth Ministry at St. John the Evangelist. He is sincerely looking forward to meeting all the young people, families and parishioners of St. John. Bill has a great sense of humor and believes that faith and fun — far from being a contradiction — are both essential to developing a genuine, life-giving relationship with God. As Bl. John Paul II once asked: “Do you think there can be anything greater than bringing Jesus to people and people to Jesus?
Bill lives in Naples with his three beautiful children: Zoe (12), Maddie (10) and Will (8).
Finally, I had to include one last picture of Nate, Ella and Mia preparing to tear into their cakes at their First birthday party! 
In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA
General Manager