Almost exactly one year from the date of our catastrophic lightning strike which caused extensive damage to the Claussen Center and Parish Life Center in 2013, we were pounded again this past weekend. Most of the activity took place during a wedding Mass on Saturday afternoon where Fr. John was the celebrant. Ironically, while our campus was being hit relentlessly by cloud to ground lightning strikes, I was in a plane making my final approach into Fort Myers. The flight was rough from the start, so much so that they discontinued service for the duration. Imagine my surprise while looking out the window to see a bolt of lightning strike the wing of the plane creating a tremendous explosion of green, white and purple in addition to a very loud bang. 
Thanks be to God that planes are designed to take such lightning strikes with little or no interruption of power. After performing some research, I found that, on average, each commercial airliner is struck by lightning once per year. That being said, we were able to land safely without incident. The damage to our campus was isolated, however, it looks as though we may have lost a circuit board in our fire system and also had a portion of our irrigation system damaged underground.
Did you know that the nature of the landscaping in the Memorial Garden was planned for a particular reason? We wanted to plant as many flowering trees, shrubs and plants as possible for one specific purpose. The last thing we want to do is clutter our beautiful Memorial Garden with plastic flowers and large bouquets that look out of place. The idea is that instead of placing an arrangement of flowers on a particular grave, you would pick one of the many varieties of flowering plants and place this on the grave. I would kindly ask that you comply with this request to further beautify our garden. There have been several complaints recently about large flower arrangements and knick knacks being placed in the garden. The placement of small American flags is perfectly appropriate.
We just placed the final order for 85 new granite markers for the Memorial Garden. These markers will be installed in the remaining western sections as part of our master plan to replace ALL of the old markers. If you would like the old marker of your loved one, please contact Rich Neville at 566.8740 ext. 3917 to arrange a convenient time to pick up.
I published the paragraph below last year and thought I would do so again this year with updated statistics. Oddly, the percentage of participating households has decreased slightly although we exceeded our CFA goal last year. This could be due to the fact that those participating households increased their annual pledge. We look to be in very good shape this year thus far as indicated in the CFA summary which can be found on the opposite page. Remember that any excess funds received through the CFA will be returned to the parish free of assessment. This made a big difference last year and can certainly do so again this year. Think about it this way – every CFA dollar received in excess of our goal will technically generate an additional 26% of revenue as it will not be subject to assessment.
Each week the Diocese of Venice sends me an updated spreadsheet of contributions made to the Catholic Faith Appeal (CFA.) Included in this report are statistics regarding the total number of registered families and those that have made a contribution the CFA. We currently have 2,800 registered families at Saint John the Evangelist. A registered family is defined as one that has contributed at least $1 in the past twelve months. Obviously, our parish membership is much greater than the 2,800 listed, however, many choose not to register, others do not contribute and many more are very seasonal and contribute cash while here, making them virtually “invisible” as far as record keeping goes. What I found truly amazing is that only 27.02% of these registered families have contributed to the CFA. That amounts to roughly 750 of our 2,800 families. Currently, we are $147,000.00 short of reaching our goal for the 2014 appeal. If we had participation from the 2,050 families that have not yet made a contribution or pledge, we would have a great shot at exceeding our goal this year and on into the future. Our shortfall divided by the number of families not contributing amounts to approximately $72.00 per family. If these 2,050 families were able to make an annual pledge of $75 ($6.25 per month at 12 months) to the CFA, we would be in great shape. Remember that the CFA is the single most important component of our annual operating budget. For those who have made a pledge or contribution the CFA, thank you for your generosity. For those who have not, please consider doing so as there is certainly power in numbers. Although $6.25 per month doesn’t sound like a lot, when there is a factor of 2,000 or more involved, the growth is exponential. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA
General Manager