Greetings everyone!
At long last, we welcome our new Parochial Vicar…Rev. Peter Ekanem! Fr. Peter offered the Saturday 4pm Mass last week and had the chance to greet many of you already. We are all looking forward to getting to know him more as he begins his new priestly ministry here at Blessed Sacrament, along with St. Paul’s as well! I know that all of you will be very gracious and kind to him as he takes up this new responsibility, and seeks to become a vital member of our beautiful parish community.
We have some good news to share in terms of our ongoing efforts to repair the many roofs on our campus. After many months of waiting for quotes and diocesan input in what has been a painfully slow process, we are happy to announce that we have agreed upon a specific roofing company and are scheduled for the necessary repairs! This is truly exciting since I was especially anxious about getting diocesan approval in time so that we could be added to the schedule of a roofing company before the next winter. Luckily, we have received the necessary approval and have been scheduled for roof repair work this year, before the weather turns bad in the fall.
Along with the news that the roof repairs are going forward, we also announce that we can actually readjust our total amount requested to cover the costs. Originally, we aimed for $300,000 for the necessary roof repairs. After specific quotes and assessment of what was needed, we can happily reduce that amount to $200,000! This makes our goal certainly more attainable, even though $200,000 is still a HUGE amount of money. Also, even though we are moving forward with scheduling the roof repairs, please don’t think that our fundraising efforts are all done…far from it! We are still in need of significant contributions to make this possible. If you are able to, please consider helping us in any way by making a monetary donation. We know that this is a very large goal, but any amount helps us achieve the necessary repairs.
To all of you who have already contributed a great deal, thank you very, very much! Your support and generosity will ensure that this parish continues to be a beacon of hope here in our little corner of Tonawanda! May God bless you and reward you for your many sacrifices, and your faith in this parish of Blessed Sacrament!
~ Fr. Martin Gallagher