MAY 20, 2007

A regularly scheduled Town Hall Meeting was held on Ascension Thursday evening at the Church. What follows is part of the agenda for the evening:

1. Deacon Joe Compomizzi, having served here since his ordination in 1999, has been reassigned to St. Elizabeth Parish in Pleasant Hills, PA effective in July. We send him off to serve God's people in another part of the diocese with gratitude and blessings on his new ministry. He will always be welcome back.

2. The closing on the sale of St. Mark plant occurred on May 9. After some expenses, the Parish realized a little under $260,000. This covered the outstanding bills from 2006 to the diocese for benefits and insurance ($213,000); the Bishop's Education Fund assessment ($16,000). The remaining $7,000 will go our Renovation Account in Catholic Institute, which will bring that total to approximately $120,000.

3. All bills are currently up to date, and we have been functioning on a balanced budget since January 1, 2007. With only 2 months to go on the financial year, we project that we will finish the fiscal year in the black, for the first time in the 14 year history of the Parish. PSP is proceeding well enough to project making our goal.

4.Because we will realize a savings now that we are not responsible for the St. Mark plant, and given the current financial flow, we are working on a proposed budget for the 2007-2008 year that we hope will be balanced - no deficit spending.

5. We are still indebted, however, to the Catholic Institute. As of this month, the debt is $950,000 approximately. It is under a million dollars now, but the interest grows at the rate of 5 1/2% a year, which means that we will again be over $1 million in debt by the end of next year, unless something wonderful happens (like a very large, or several, bequests; hitting the Lottery, etc.)

6.Our 1/8 of a priest - Fr. Mike McDermott who cam to us retired this year - has been co-opted by the Pastor who has to cover both Sheraden and West End. He therefore is not as free to back us up as he was the first part of this year. This means that there will be times - especially on week days - in which a communion service will have to substitute for the Mass. We are trying to keep the schedule as we now have it, but between our duties at St. Catherine and at St. John of God, there will be more frequent gaps in coverage. And things will only get worse on the vocation front. At one time, we tried to schedule Mass and the sacraments on the principle of convenience. Now, the operative words are necessity and possibility. Fr. Rege, Fr. Al and I aren't getting any younger, either. (Of course, I will never be as old as they!) So, our current configuration is: 1/2 a Pastor; 3/8 a Parochial Vicar and 1/4 a Parochial Vicar, for 1 1/8 total clergy for SJOG. In 1993, in the territory we are currently covering, there were 9 full time Pastors, 2 full time Parochial Vicars and 3 resident priests.

7.This necessitates some adjustments in scheduling Mass intentions. You have already read our general policy (i.e., we can never guarantee a specific date and time for an intention, only that it will be satisfied within year. If this is not satisfactory, we suggest you request Masses elsewhere.) As of now, the school Mass (8:15 Wednesdays at the Chapel) because it is sporadic is not available for requests until the week before it is celebrated. It will most often be for the Parishioners or School intentions.

8. A chapel has been outfitted at St. Mary Cemetery. No only will it provide shelter in inclement weather for final commendation prayers, but we have instituted a Month's Mind Mass on the second Saturday of each month at 1:00 PM celebrated in the chapel by Fr. McDermott. All who have buried loved ones during the month previous from either the Parish or the cemeteries are invited and encouraged to attend. We will send invitations in the appropriate time frame but all are always invited to come pray for the dead.

9. The number of funerals and weddings are up from last year, the baptisms down. We have cleared our rolls of those who have not used envelops for a few years or otherwise shown any public activity in the parish. We now number 1,874 families comprised of 4,122 individuals, of whom 1175 come to Mass on any given weekend with 120 shut-ins being brought communion on a weekly basis. We ain't what we once was, but we are still a vibrant presence of the Church in the Sto-Ken-Splen-Rox area.