Mary has completed her extremely long trek from Thailand and is now in Southwest Florida. If all goes as planned, we should have the new statue of Mary installed for Mass this weekend. If you don’t see Mary in the niche on the east side of the nave then you can surmise that things did not go so well. I am incredibly excited for Mary’s arrival and am very confident that you will find her absolutely beautiful. Thanks again to the anonymous donors that made this dream a reality.
Below is a note of thanks from Fr. Al McPartland’s family. Also please find a summary of Dennis Powers’ eulogy honoring Fr. Al in this bulletin.
Words cannot express how grateful the family of Fr. Al McPartland is for the generous ways in which the entire St. John the Evangelist community helped us to grieve, yet celebrate his arrival into the loving arms of our God. Father John, all the ministers, the volunteers, the choir and cantors, and the entire faith community are an inspiration to us all. As we mourn his absence, we will we pray in gratitude for all of you. United in affection for Fr. Al, may we together continue to witness the gospel he loved and lived.
We are planning a “soft launch” of our new website this coming week. We have been working for several months to reveal the new site. With the EXTREME limitations of our current website, we thought that we would launch the new site even though it is not completely finished. Please accept our apologies while we make the transition. There may be an interruption of service while we are changing providers. We are using a local firm (4what interactive) to design and host the new site. This will allow us to support much more interactive components than what we currently have.
Messner Publications (our bulletin provider) had a major technical issue last week and was unable to provide you with a full color bulletin. Luckily, they were able to provide a full color front page to properly honor Fr. Al. What a difference the color makes. It is hard to believe that we went so many years with only black and white. All of the issues have been resolved and I am confident that this bulletin is again in full color.
It is with great pride that I announce that we exceeded our goal for the 2010 Catholic Faith Appeal. I still do not have the totals, however, I was contacted by the Development office at the Diocese of Venice with the great news. This marks the third straight year that we have exceeded our goal after going nine years without doing so. Thank you so much for your generosity and diligence in ensuring that we met with success.
Save the dates……..On January 22 and 23 we will host our second annual ministry parade. This involves representatives from all of our parish ministries processing into the church prior to Mass with their respective banners. For those who witnessed the parade this past year, it is a truly amazing sight. This will provide an opportunity for those not involved in a ministry the chance to peruse the choices. The following weekend on January 29 and 30, we will host the first annual ministry fair to be held in the PLC ballroom from 2:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and from 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. This will be your opportunity to come down and meet representatives from all of our ministries and sign up to join. As a reminder, this will also be your first opportunity to receive the new Parish Resource Directory. This incredibly comprehensive full color directory is a true work of art and is amazing. There will also be other giveaways at the fair so be sure to attend. We will serve refreshments during the fair on both days. Our goal is to create 100% participation by our parishioners in ministries at St. John the Evangelist. With so many choices, we invite you to join us for this magnificent event.
Thank you for your extreme generosity during the second collection this past weekend to benefit the Seminarians of the Diocese of Venice. The collection totaled over $13,000.00. This was an increase of 136% compared to last year’s second collection of $5,500.00. As you know, it is very expensive to prepare these young men for the priesthood. Due to your generosity, we will be able to continue to turn out amazing priests in the Diocese of Venice.
Don’t forget to purchase your tickets for Paul Todd’s return to St. John the Evangelist. Paul will perform a “Concert for Life” to benefit the Pro-Life ministries of Collier County on Thursday, January 27 at 6:30 p.m. in the PLC ballroom. Joining Paul will be Catholic recording artist Gabriela Frei. Please see the flyer in this bulletin.
Thank you so much for supporting St. John the Evangelist.