The recent weather pattern feels more like early October rather than early December. I am aware that the majority of our seasonal residents and visitors are ecstatic with the warmer than usual weather, however, I would like some cooler weather indicative of late fall. The winter solstice is exactly one week away (December 21) marking the first day of winter. As the song says, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” however, it is not at all beginning to feel a lot like Christmas with high temperatures in the 80s. If the forecast holds, it will have cooled a few degrees by this weekend but far short of where we should be for this time of year. Ironically, it seems as though the state of Florida is the only one in the contiguous 48 that has been exempt from colder than normal weather recently. As a year round resident, I feel that my dues are paid sweating it out during the summer months. The ultimate reward is cool weather during the late fall and winter. My apologies if I offended anyone with my wishes for cooler or seasonable weather for the holidays.
I have had the hardest time beginning this paragraph basically due to the fact that we are in totally uncharted waters and the following has NEVER happened in my 16+ year tenure at St. John the Evangelist. With that said, let me begin by saying THANK YOU to our amazing parishioners for their extreme generosity! As of Monday, December 9, we have officially reached our goal for the 2013 Catholic Faith Appeal. As a matter of fact, we have already exceeded our goal by over $8,000.00. This accomplishment has never taken place this early in the year! Actually, for many years, we never reached our goal at all! We still have the remainder of the month to really knock it out of the park. The task now is easy. Every dollar you contribute to the CFA before the end of the year will come directly back to the parish free of assessment. This is an amazing opportunity to really make a difference financially in the operations of the parish. THANK YOU again for allowing us to reach our goal and thank you in advance for allowing us to continue to exceed our goal for the next two weeks.
As a follow up to the preceding paragraph, please remember that the CFA is the single most important component of our annual operating budget. As a reminder to our seasonal residents and visitors, please make your check payable to the Catholic Faith Appeal with St. John the Evangelist in the memo line. You may also make electronic contributions by visiting the Diocese of Venice website at www.dioceseofvenice.org. In addition, you may also make contributions of stock by contacting Deborah Shafer in the Diocese of Venice development office at 941.484.9543. Due to the very late date in the year, the latter two options will certainly be your best bet in ensuring that we are credited in the current calendar year.
Beginning this weekend you will see special green bordered envelopes in the narthex. These envelopes are to be used for our annual Christmas Spiritual Bouquet. Your donation will furnish the Sanctuary with flowers during the Christmas season and your loved ones will be remembered in the Christmas Spiritual Bouquet during the Christmas Masses. A duplicate of the envelope is published on page 18 in the bulletin for those who are unable to locate an envelope.
This may be a bit premature, but I thought I would put out a Save the Date reminder for our Family Fun and Ministry Day to be held on March 9 in the PLC ballroom and outside in the fields on the far north end of our campus. For those who attended last year, this was an incredibly well attended and very fun event where all members of our parish family (regardless of age) enjoyed great food provided by our Men’s Club, activities from Bounce Houses to a rock climbing wall and the opportunity to visit with representatives from our countless ministries. There will once again be NO CHARGE to attend this event. You will simply be asked to RSVP the number attending from your family. I hope to see you all on March 9.
In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA
General Manager