Catholic School Week at St. Paul’s
As you can see from the announcements at Mass and articles in our incredibly well done bulletin, this is Catholic Schools Week. And throughout the week, we as a parish, celebrate our beautiful little school on the corner of Alling St. and Grove Hill. I am sure that there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that all of the children of our parish are cherished by all of us no matter where they go to school. This week we celebrate the fact that we at St. Paul’s are lucky enough to have a Catholic School with a phenomenal reputation for scholarship, spirituality and values base education. All you have to do is walk through our doors and see that our little school is worth every sacrifice. Please look over the announcements in the bulletin and make an effort to come at see OUR School. I promise that you’ll be impressed by both the facilities, technology, and warm atmosphere. Today would be a perfect chance. Our school librarian, Annalee McGuire, has agreed to open our school book fair up to the parish at large. A book is one of the most precious gifts a person can give a child. Why don’t you stop over and pick one or two or ten out for your grandchildren after the 4:00 PM, 9:00, 10:30 and 12:00 PM Masses…? . (Open until 4pm on Sunday) God Bless St. Paul School
Pastoral Council Met
The Pastoral Council met last Monday to review its goals for next year. The number of members of the Council is reduced because 3 people’s terms expired. We are all most grateful to Linda Guzzardi, Rob Ramsey and Vivian Lane for their hard work these last three years. This Pastoral Council has had to deal with so many issues: our scandal of three years ago, the development project planned for the KGS property, the purchase of the KGS property and the establishment of a capital campaign. They have also supported the hiring of a Youth Minister, the establishment of the Helping Hands Ministry and a host of other things. Come the summer, we will be looking for some willing souls to fill the seats of those who have served their terms and hopefully expand both the number of members on the council and the scope of its mission. Thanks again to Rob, Vivian and Linda.
Finance Council and KGS
Because the Capital Campaign has been such an astounding success, we are now able to chose a contractor to abate and demolish our hazardous waste dump, as I fondly refer to the KGS building. I wrote this on Wednesday, tomorrow, Thursday, January 23rd, the Building Committee aka the KGS Committee will present the bids for the contractors to our finance council for discussion and approval. This has been a long arduous process . The members of the committee have met with a number of contractors and feel they have chosen the best possible option. We all know that abating and tearing down that building will not be cheap, but it is essential that we get the job done and tear it down for the good of the parish and the neighborhood. As you know, I believe that parishioner involvement and consultation is critical to the life of our parish. If the Finance Council accepts the proposal of the building committee, then I will feel confident enough to request permission
from Archbishop Blair to sign the contract. I’ll keep you posted.
If you notice
Some of our ushers are aging, and in these last few weeks, several have been sick. If you notice that no one is getting up to take the collection, I assure you that it doesn’t mean that we are having a collection free day. It means someone did not or could not come to Mass. If no one gets up to take the collection, please get up and take the collection. It’s easy, the baskets are in the back corners. Once the collection is taken, please walk it to the back sacristy door where there are labeled tamper proof bags and dump it in one of them. Hopefully, one of the ushers from the other side will show you where the drop box is. If this is not the case, simply put it in the sanctuary near the paschal candle and we will take care of it after Mass. We will be looking for usher volunteers in the near future.
Time to Step up Again
I have been approaching some of our young adult Catholics who are in college or who have just graduated, to ask their help with our youth group. Our High School and Middle School Kids need young adult Catholics that they can look up to. This is indeed an important ministry for our parish, one that we take very seriously. Young adult Catholics…. don’t be surprised if you get a call or feel a tap on the shoulder. If you are asked to step up and say yes, you won’t be sad that you did.
Jessie beat us home
Jessie Abramczyk beat us home. She was 93 and was a member of our parish for many years. She was a very holy, prayerful lady. I know we mourn the loss of everyone of our parishioners who beat us home and we pray for them, but I mention Jessie because she had a special place in the heart of our parish. She lived a long life and had very few relatives left. Whenever she would end up in the hospital, she would appear on our St. Paul list and because she had very few relatives left, members of the parish would volunteer to go up to see her at New Britain General as often as they could, almost everyday. The sad thing was, whenever she was discharged, we would lose contact with her because the hospital could not tell us where she was discharged to. Please, please, please, when you or a loved one is admitted to the hospital, make sure they know you are member of St. Paul Church. If you or your loved one is in a nursing home, please make sure that the parish knows where you are. (We are happy to mail our bulletin to our homebound and parishioners in nursing homes.) Sometimes people who come to Church every Sunday just disappear, and the next time we see them is at their wake. When this happens, it’s always sad.