October is typically a transition month with regards to the return of our seasonal parishioners. Just this past week I saw no less than ten car carriers unloading the vehicles of these seasonal residents. For those who are now returning or have already returned, we wish you a spiritual and fun-filled winter season at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church.
World Mission Sunday, organized by the Propagation of the Faith, is a day set aside for Catholics worldwide to recommit themselves to the Church’s missionary activity through prayer and sacrifice. In 2013, World Mission Sunday is celebrated on October 20. Annually, World Mission Sunday is celebrated on the next-to-last Sunday in October. As described by Pope John Paul II, World Mission Sunday is “an important day in the life of the Church because it teaches how to give: as an offering made to God, in the Eucharistic celebration and for all the missions of the world.” We will have a second collection for World Mission Sunday on October 19 and 20.
Believe it or not, on this very same week last year, I was commenting that we were only $111,500.00 shy of our Catholic Faith Appeal goal with three months remaining. As you know, we raised the $111,500.00 and another $60,000.00 for good measure thanks to your incredible generosity. Currently, we are $58,805.00 shy of our goal for the 2013 appeal with three months remaining. Considering the strong finish we had in 2012, I am very optimistic as to what will happen this year. Remember that every dollar in excess of our goal ($454,000.00) comes back to the parish “free of assessment” to be used as we choose. Last year’s overage was used to enhance several parish ministries and to create capital reserves so that we are able to replace aging AC units in the Parish Life Center.
According to the Catholic Faith Appeal statistics released by the Diocese of Venice, there is plenty of room for growth within our parish as only 30.60% of our registered families are responsible for the funds contributed thus far. If you have yet to make a pledge or contribution to the Catholic Faith Appeal then now is the time to do so. You may contribute by credit card on the DOV website https://secure.pledgeconnect.com/donation.aspx?catholicgiving, drop a check in the offertory basket made payable to the Catholic Faith Appeal (CFA) with St. John the Evangelist in the memo line, or pick up a pledge card in the church Narthex. The pledge card may either by dropped in the offertory or mailed to the Diocese of Venice. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Big Brother is watching! After long last, we now have an active surveillance system in the church. Although there are more cameras which will be added in the next few weeks, we are currently able to see all areas of ingress and egress as well as the “trouble areas” such as poor box/candle box locations. Once we are satisfied with the performance of the system in the church, we will begin installation of the cameras in the Parish Life Center and then the Claussen Family Center.
Last week we switched over to our new service provider for internet and are now taking advantage of much higher upload and download speeds for all applications. The new fiber optic connection was a must for our campus as the new phone system and surveillance system use a considerable amount of bandwidth.
Speaking of the phone system – Although we have installed all of the hardware, we were waiting on the fiber connection to be in place before making the final move. The new phone system should be fully operational this week. Due to the staggered nature that it was installed, there should be absolutely no interruption in service.
I would like to thank Randy McNichols, parishioner and president of Telecom Solutions USA, for his generous gifts of time and talent in assisting us with the setup and implementation of both the phone and surveillance system. Randy is a recent RCIA graduate and has spent an inordinate amount of his personal time making this transition as seamless as possible. Thanks Randy!
In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA, General Manager