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FROM FR. ROBERT’S CLUTTERED DESK.............

June 21, 2010

Dear Parishioners,

     Last week I received an inquiry for the R.C.I.A. (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) process.  As you know this is the process people go through who are converting to Catholicism.  Our program will start on the evening of September 13^th starting at 7:00 p.m.  I do like to have individual meetings with inquirers to explain the process and get a sense of where they are spiritually.  If you know of people contemplating entering the church please invite them to call the parish office and set up an appointment.

     Last week our young people had a great time at vacation bible school.  I would like to thank Cathie Liccar and her band of volunteers for an excellent job.  I am sure many of the kids are already looking forward to next year.  Not far from the topic, I was surprised recently when I discovered the frustration of a number of our catechists at the fact that many of our school age children do not know basic prayers; like The Our Father, Hail Mary, Sign of the Cross, Act of Contrition and Grace before Meals and Thanksgiving prayer after Meals.  This summer might be a good time to teach these prayers to our young.  I bet some older siblings or other relatives that are in frequent contact might like to assist in this project.

     We are ending the current fiscal year with a deficit.  However, I am more concerned about some upcoming expenses pertaining to maintenance issues.  The parking lot needs resealing and striping and some other small repairs.  The cost of these will be between $10,000 to $12,000 dollars.  We have some erosion issues that may even involve repairing some damage to the adjacent park property.  While discussion is ongoing concerning the degree of liability to our neighbor we are anticipating the cost of repairs to be around $10,000.  Sometime between this summer and early fall we will have to rent a lift to change out lighting in the church. Two weeks ago it was necessary to do work on the air conditioning system.  The bill for this repair has not come in yet.  All of this information is just a heads-up.

     I am most grateful for how we are taking care of the parish property.  We owe a lot to the volunteers who are keeping up the landscape.  This past week the wind tore down the temporary church signage out by our entrance.  I am hopeful that some day in the not too distant future we can have permanent signage for the church, possibly adding some nice masonry features to mark the entrance to the church property.  This could be accomplished in part by memorial donations for loved one/ones.  By the way, this is how we got the new vessels for the altar and how a lot of the nice items that adorn our worship space came to be.

     Do continue to have a nice summer.  Remember the city fireworks for the Fourth of July weekend sponsored by the City of Lee’s Summit at Legacy Park is on Friday July 2^nd.  As usual the Knights of Columbus will have a cookout on our property for our parishioners and any others who would like to participate.  The Knights also have a raffle going for chances on three $300 gift cards.  The raffle tickets are $5 each and there will be three drawings. Remember to mark your calendar for this year’s parish picnic which is on Sunday, August 29^th.  Our chair and   co-chair are Tim Brennan and Kim Rausch respectfully.  Both are veterans to the process.  The rest of us need to sign up to help and the sign up boards are in the vestibule of the church.

Sincerely,

Robert H. Stewart

Pastor