On behalf of the Clergy and staff, I would like to wish everyone a very happy Independence Day. The Fourth of July falls on a Friday this year which means that the parish office will be closed allowing for our staff as well as many of you to have a long three-day weekend.
Have you met our new Parish Secretary? If not, I would like to formally introduce Deborah Marsh. Deborah comes to us from the “snow belt” of Syracuse, New York. She is of Italian and Norwegian decent and is one of seven children. Deborah attended St. James parochial school and is very familiar with the Catholic environment. Her first job was working in the parish office after school, answering phones and typing. At the age of 14, she began working at Loretto Rest, a Catholic nursing home in St. James Parish as an organist, receptionist, bookkeeper and activities therapist.
Deborah received her training at Ohio University where she studied Music Therapy and Special Education, earning her degree in Music Therapy. She also studied Early Childhood Special Education at the University of Miami where she earned her Master of Science Degree.
Upon moving to Naples in 1975, Deborah worked as a church organist at many different churches in the area. She also worked as a grant writer for non-profit agencies and as a home educator for migrant families around the state of Florida. She worked in Immokalee for 15 years with non-profit agencies, teaching families and children.
Deborah has two children, Michael and Angela, who were born in the early 80s. While raising her children, Deborah spent nearly 15 years involved in Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and altar serving right here at Saint John the Evangelist. She has fond memories of attending Mass at Pine Ridge Middle School during the construction of St. William’s before moving to Naples Park and building Saint John the Evangelist.
Deborah recently retired from teaching after 40 years in the field. She feels she has come full circle, returning to her job as a parish secretary after 50 years.
If you have yet to do so, please stop by the parish office and welcome Deborah to the staff.
For those parents who have applied for a tuition subsidy to St. John Neumann, St. Ann or St. Elizabeth Seton, you are well aware of the criteria involved in securing a subsidy. In addition to regular Mass attendance and giving we also require that your child participate in the life of the parish. Participating as a youth lector or altar server are two great opportunities to get your child involved. The two aforementioned opportunities are great ways to ensure that your child receives a subsidy. Participating in youth group is another avenue if your child is not comfortable with serving or lectoring.
The air conditioning project continues to drag on. Following my comments from last week, the installation of AC units in the Parish Life Center will be further delayed due to unforeseen issues with the fabrication of metal curbing which will house the units.
This weekend will be the final weekend of our fiscal year. Our fiscal year officially ends on June 30. 2013/2014 was a very good year on many counts. Although we recognized numerous unforeseen and unbudgeted expenses, we look to finish the year in very good shape financially. Believe it or not, even though 2012/2013 was a great year from an income standpoint, we exceeded expectations this year. Offertory collections are up nearly 7% over the prior year. As a matter of fact, our offertory collections for 2013/2014 reached levels not seen since 2005/2006. Following the complete closing of our books in late July, I will publish a full financial statement in the bulletin. Thank you to all of our parishioners for your very generous support.
I feel it safe to say that we have now settled into the summer doldrums even though summer just began this past week. Attendance has substantially tapered off and contributions to the CFA have also decreased dramatically. We are still in good shape due to the early outpouring of generosity through the first six months of the campaign. As I have said on numerous occasions, let us strive to not just meet our goal this year, but rather substantially exceed our goal. Thank you in advance for your continued support of the Catholic Faith Appeal.
In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA
General Manager