Hello friends!
I hope that everyone has had a pleasant start to the month of August and is ready for the heat and humidity of late summer! Hopefully your air conditioning units are ready to go and in top condition for what’s ahead. For matters of the Church, August is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Any time of the year is a good time to take up new Marian devotions or deepen our spiritual life with Marian books and readings. However, during this month, we focus specifically on the maternal heart of Mary, and how that same motherly heart beats with profound love for all her children and for the Church itself. For those of you who are mothers, this month of August might be a special time to draw closer to the woman who inspires and encourages us as the greatest of all mothers!
Now let’s talk about some issues here at the parish, namely the state of the roof on the school, chapel, and main church. We are still collecting for the special roof repair fund and if you are able to contribute something, or if you’ve thought about it but haven’t yet given anything, now would be a great time to donate. Some parishioners have asked Sr. Lucette and I about the roof…for example, “I donated money but I don’t see any scaffolding being put up or construction vehicles on campus.” The reason for this delay is that the diocese has instructed us not to begin work on the roofs because the cost of building materials right now is simply too high. COVID-19 has had a profound impact on many aspects of society, including jobs, materials, staffing, and understaffed industries. Many people have commented to me about recently going into Lowe’s or Home Depot and being flabbergasted at how expensive everything seems to be! For these reasons, as well as what roofing companies are or are not willing to do, the diocese has told us to wait until the spring of 2022 to being any roof repairs.
In the meantime, we can make smaller, simpler repairs and patching, and our maintenance staff has been closely monitoring things on campus. This was done with great diligence during those very violent rainstorms during the month of July. Thankfully, the roofs in the school, chapel, and main church seem to be holding up relatively well, and we pray that they will continue to do so until next year.
That’s about it from me, for now of course. Stay tuned for more information about our Fall festival on Saturday, September 11th and Sunday, September 12th. We are still in need of volunteers so call the parish office if you can help out.
One final note about parking spots near the Chapel of the Divine Mercy, and directly behind the rectory. For the weekend Masses, we will be putting up more handicapped signs so those who need to park closer and have handicap placards in their cars will be able to make use of them. We apologize if this is inconvenient for any of you, however, we do have to be mindful of the needs of those that are legitimately unable to park far away from the church. I know that all of you, the loving members of this community, will be gracious and understanding towards one another.
~Fr. Martin Gallagher