This past Tuesday afternoon I sent out the first of what we hope will be many informative emails to our parish family using our new platform. The email subject line was entitled “inaugural email.” If you did not receive this email then we either do not have your email address or you gave us your email address at the ministry fair back in January. I inadvertently sent the email before I had added the ministry fair registrants to the group. Yours will be sent out at a later date. If you would like to receive email from the parish, I strongly urge you to submit your email address to me at your earliest convenience. I am very excited about the possibilities with our new email tool. In addition to regular email, we have the option of sending completely interactive newsletters which will give you the option of clicking on numerous links which will connect to whatever we feel appropriate. Until now, our only true form of communication with you has been the bulletin or announcements from the altar.
The inaugural email was sent to 1,174 parish families. We have well over 3,000 registered families. As of Wednesday morning, 642 of these emails had been opened. This is an open rate of over 57% which is incredible. Of these emails 58 bounced back, 8 recipients opted out and only 2 were marked as spam. In addition, over 100 of our families personally responded with their thoughts about the new email system. There was not one negative response. Everyone seems to be thrilled with the new form of communication. The greatest part of this program thus far has been the personal responses I received from you. In a parish as large as St. John the Evangelist, there are always those who feel disconnected from the mainstream. It is possible that our new email platform could also help in this area.
Did you experiment with the QR code on the front of the bulletin last week? I know that some of you did as I received a few calls and emails from those who were unable to figure it out. If you had problems or simply don’t understand, please give me a call and I will walk you through the process. If you are on site, feel free to stop by and I will give you a quick tutorial. We are still working to update our mobile site to include information that you feel is relevant. This will be an ongoing process.
We have sold seven of the remaining 15 benches on our campus with one more pending. If you are interested in purchasing a bench to honor or memorialize a loved one, please contact me at 566-1678. The cost for a bench is $3,000.00. If you are unable to pay the entire amount up front, I will work with you on terms.
I received a call this week from a parishioner of eight years who was inquiring about the Memorial Garden. Interestingly, he claimed to be unaware of the existence of the Memorial Garden until last month. Although I find this amazing, there are many other parishioners that fit into this same category. I would like to take this opportunity to ask our parishioners (newcomers or long timers) to take a walk through the Memorial Garden following Mass this weekend and see
this beautiful space. The Memorial Garden is located directly in front of the church on the East side surrounded by a very large ficus hedge. Our Buildings and Grounds committee has worked tirelessly to transform the garden into a true masterpiece. If you are interested in purchasing a space in the garden, please contact me to make an appointment. There are approximately 400 spaces remaining. The all inclusive cost is $1,200.00 and includes the opening, closing, urn, headstone and plaque. This is a mere fraction of what you would pay at a cemetery. In addition, your final resting place will be in consecrated grounds right here at your parish.
If you have requested tuition assistance for St. Ann, St. Elizabeth Seton or St. John Neumann and claim St. John the Evangelist as your parish of residence, please pay close attention to the following information. All families are required to first complete the FACTS financial survey online. In order to receive financial assistance from the parish of residence, families must be registered in that parish, attend Mass on a regular basis, financially support the parish using church envelopes and participate in the life of the parish. In some cases, the subsidy requested is substantial. The finance council will review the aforementioned criteria to ensure that the family requesting assistance is in compliance.
We have successfully blown through the 50% mark with regards to the 2012 Catholic Faith Appeal. We are now well ahead of where we stood at this time last year. The good news is that we are just over two months into the annual appeal. In addition, this statistic does not include the nearly $10,000 generated through the Reverse Raffle. Thank you for your extreme generosity! Seasonal residents and visitors, please remember to make your check payable to the CFA with St. John the Evangelist in the memo line.
In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA
General Manager