Dear Parish Family,
We received the “Witness to Hope” Feasibility Study Report back (Executive Summary inserted in this bulletin), which summed up all of the interviews, in-pew surveys, and the first town hall meeting. Your input and feedback have been heard! It appears at this point that there is NOT sufficient support for Heritage Hall, so that very well may NOT be the primary priority for the big capital campaign beginning in January. There was an emphasis to first take care of the top priorities of our existing facilities, whether it’s the school, the church, the parish center, or St. Joseph Oratory.
We want to have a capital campaign that the whole parish can get behind. Thus, we want to now identify and prioritize all the various projects in consideration. The Pastoral Council met this past Wednesday, and we want to receive more input from the parishioners. To that end, we will be having the follow-up Town Hall Meeting this Tuesday, December 20 (6:30 p.m. social gathering and the meeting itself will begin at 7:00 p.m.). We will review the Feasibility Study Report and go over some of the other big ticket items that were on the Parish Case Statement and the Building & Grounds Committee’s Ten Year Plan.
Also, a lot of folks are simply unsure what Heritage Hall was all about, so towards the end of the Town Hall Meeting, we’ll go over the updates of the conceptual plans as well. The design we have so far did pass the initial look by the Diocesan Building Commission, but we are looking for further parishioner input on that as well. There are a couple of images in this bulletin of the floorplan and elevation for your perusal.
Christmas Falls on Sunday this Year!
Normally, we would have 1) Christmas fall some time during the week, 2) celebrate the Holy Family on the following Sunday, 3) then ring in January 1 with the Solemnity of the Mother of God sometime during the week, and 4) finally celebrate the Epiphany in the first Sunday of the new year. But this year, both Christmas and the Solemnity of the Mother of God fall on Sunday, which means we will have two fewer Masses of obligation. That also means two less collections! Those Christmas season collections are what normally make up the YTD shortage in our budget, so please don’t forget that end-of-the-year Christmas contribution.
If you want to avoid the Christmas Eve crowds, I would highly suggest going on Sunday, Christmas Day itself! Our 4:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Mass is the most popular. If you do go and it’s already packed by the time you get there, don’t forget we have the 4:15 p.m. Mass at St. Joseph Oratory, as well as the 6:00 p.m. and Midnight Mass at St. John later that evening. Our Christmas Day Masses will be celebrated during the same times as our normal Sunday schedule.
I’ll be giving another engaging book again this year as my Christmas gift to your family. Come to Christmas Mass next weekend to pick up yours! Let us celebrate the coming of our Savior!
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Chas