I have been approving tuition subsidies (with several finance council members) for deserving families and their children for many years. These subsidies are given to students so they may attend St. Ann, St. Elizabeth Seton or St. John Neumann High School. This has always been a frustrating process due to the very strict criteria in order to qualify for a subsidy. The family must first qualify financially through an affidavit completed through a third party vendor. Then they must meet our internal criteria which includes being registered for at least six months, regular Mass attendance and the child participating in the daily life of the parish. This could include participating in youth group or being an Altar Server. I have a fiduciary responsibility to our parishioners which requires me to act accordingly when reviewing these applications. Occasionally exceptions are made based on extraordinary circumstances. Just this past year one such circumstance arose and the decision was made to offer a reduced subsidy even though this was a new family to the parish. To say that this young lady validated our decision is an understatement. Below is a letter written to Fr. John by a very faith-filled and thankful student and parishioner.
My name is Alexa Guadagno and I attend St. John Neumann Catholic High School, as well as your church, St. John the Evangelist Church. I have a deep compassion for my faith and am so blessed for all God has given me. The amount of generosity and support you have given me is very much appreciated, more than words can express. Without all you have done to help me in my faith and education, I wouldn’t be able to be as privileged as I am today. I have only lived here for a short amount of time and you don’t know much about my character, or me. I would like to share a few things about myself to give you a better idea of who I am. God is my number one priority and I try to live my life for God rather than for my own flesh. In order to demonstrate this, I attend religious classes each Sunday to help out the teachers and children. I love working with the young kids and I hope to be a role model on them in any way I can. I have also recently joined the youth group and I am looking forward to all of the services we will do, as well as learning more about my faith. Education is another major part of my life. I make it an effort to keep straight A’s and stay focused on all the work I do. I aspire to go to a college that will help me to accomplish my dream of being a doctor and helping people. I want people to see Christ in me and to be an inspiration on all people I come to meet. St. John Neumann Catholic High School is the perfect place for me; I hope that you see the potential and drive in me, and further continue to support me at the school. Thank you for all of the faith you have entrusted on me this year and I pray that you do the same in the year to come. God bless – Alexa Guadagno
By the way, Alexa included a copy of her report card which displayed straight A’s. What a great pitch for Catholic education and for St. John Neumann High School.
Even though it is the middle of season, we are hard at work keeping the campus in tip top shape. The maintenance and upkeep is substantial to keep all three building looking great year round. There are numerous projects that are currently underway which I will briefly describe over the next few weeks.
We last had the campus roofs pressure cleaned only two years ago and they looked awful in this short period of time, especially on the west facing pitches. After much discussion and numerous bids, we decided to finally forego the traditional pressure cleaning process and instead change to the new enzyme based method which is more expensive initially but over time will provide a consistent clean appearance on the roofs. We are using a Citra-Shield BioCide® which is eco-friendly and EPA approved. It also eliminates the need to walk on the roof tiles which always results in a break or two. Initially the roofs may look worse than they did before the product was applied, however, over time they will become beautiful and remain that way for the foreseeable future. The dirty roofs have always been an eyesore and have taken away from the beauty of the campus. Now we will have an aesthetically pleasing campus from top to bottom.
The Stretching for Seniors classes have begun! Monday morning from 8:10 to 8:45 at the Clausen Center, and Wednesday morning, 8:10 to 8:45, at the Parish Life Center. Naturally, the stretching helps people feel better, both physically and mentally. Stretching can also help “quiet” the mind. So, if you attend the 9:00 a.m. Mass after class, you may have a deeper contemplative experience. The cost to participate in the stretching class is $5 per session. The teacher is Miriam Austin, a parishioner and the author of numerous books on health and well-being. If you want more information, or if you are interested in stretching classes at another time or Healthy Joint classes, please email Miriam at [email protected].
In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA,
General Manager