Parish Updates  From time to time, I will take a break from the more theological reflections I might write about and instead address a few of the more practical, pastoral aspects of life in our parish. It’s hard to believe I have been here for three months. I have so enjoyed this time, although I admit I felt a bit dazed just by the sheer amount of information I needed to process. I do so appreciate the parish staff, Ann and Betty for the school, and all the volunteers who have kept things humming along while I continue to come up to speed. Here are a few things that we will be working on in the coming weeks as a parish, especially as we adapt to the new normal with the pandemic and engage in appropriate and necessary activities.

Stewardship Renewal and Commitment:  In many respects the work we are doing in transitioning to a full stewardship parish is not new. The parish has been used to yearly stewardship renewal cards—generally referred to as time and talent. However we call it, this time of the year provides an opportunity to recommit to sharing the blessings of time, talent and treasure with our parish community. We are working on the instrument that everyone will use to indicate how they are going to share their first fruits generously, sacrificially, and proportionally with others and return them with increase to the Lord. This will be the opportunity to recommit to ministries, service in parish leadership positions, personal faith formation, and engagement in the sanctifying ministry of the Church. Much more than simply a call for volunteers, our stewardship renewal will offer an opportunity for each parishioner to identify the special charisms that God has blessed them with and find a place in our pastoral life to offer these talents in charitable service to others. The treasure portion of our commitment will allow all of us to assess the resources we have available for the coming budget year and ensure that each one’s contribution goes toward providing a solid foundation for the material and spiritual welfare of our community and especially those in need. Details will be provided in next week’s bulletin. Finally, please look for the Catholic Stewardship Appeal mailing from the Diocese of Jefferson City. I know you will be generous as you have in the past in ensuring that we reach our goal. Mary Immaculate’s goal is set at $32,640 this year, and St. Rose has been asked to give $1938.

Liturgical Ministries:   I am thankful that we have resumed the customary 11:00 AM Mass on Sundays. Folks stepped right back into their roles, and that is wonderful. There still is a great need for more people to step up and participate at all the Sunday Masses. We have relied on a few folks to carry through in the past year and a half. When they are gone for a weekend, it can be a challenge to get substitutes. The stewardship renewal process will assist greatly in allowing us to schedule ministers for at least a month out, but in the meanwhile, please be aware of any communication requesting substitutes at Mass. Two particular roles need some attention. It would be great to have three altar servers every Sunday. I’ll be working with the school and PSR students on refreshing their serving skills, but in the meanwhile, I am asking families to do their best to provide some young altar servers at Mass. The other role that we added during the pandemic is that of the live stream coordinator. Dean Maag and Taylor Leffers have done an amazing job with this very important service. We are especially looking for some high school or college students with some experience in live-streaming to help assist to allow Dean and Taylor to attend Mass occasionally without having to minister, which is always good. And in general the principle is that we want to share the burden and lighten the load whenever we can.

Facilities:   I was joined by a few volunteers to do an initial walk through of our parish facility with an eye to assessing the current condition of the grounds, buildings, and infrastructure. A sudden downpour cut short our walk through and that was probably for the better. We might have been at it all night. A couple things came up, things that others have pointed out, that need to be addressed. One is the general condition of the landscaping of the grounds. An effective and attentive Administration Commission will go a long way toward taking care of some of the neglected areas, but in the meanwhile we do need to take care of some things that are not part of the regular lawn service. I appreciate the weeding that some folks are doing for the school flowerbed. There are a couple other areas that need some attention. Look for a call for volunteers on the time and talent. In the meanwhile we will process our list of items that need attention both inside and outside and take care of them. We will need to attend to drainage around the church and parish center. There are some low spots in the lawn and wash out next to some of the stairs that are causing the concrete to sink. One major facilities issue is the HVAC unit for the parish center. The air conditioning is broken and needs to be replaced. The age of the existing heating unit indicates that it should be replaced with something more efficient and effective. We are looking at the bids and expect it to be something around $5,500. We do have reserve funds to take care of emergencies like this. The plan for moving forward as a stewardship parish would include developing a long-range plan to take care of the normal repairs, replacements and improvements and include those in a capital expenditure budget, especially as we evaluate the condition of the roofing on all the buildings.

Rectory Repairs and Replacements:   Thankfully August and September were dry months so the basement finally dried out. I really appreciate the assistance of volunteers in cleaning out the basement and arranging it to dry out a bit better. The foundation is seriously deficient, as has been noted before, so there really is no way to keep water from coming into the basement. Putting larger, more functional gutters on the house has helped direct water away, but the level of the sidewalks will still cause problems. We will be installing another sump pump with a battery backup so that in case of a power outage, it will still drain the water. The condition of the rectory merits a great deal of attention, but that will require a fair bit of planning  to manage for the long-term. In the meanwhile, we will be replacing the carpet in the living room and the linoleum in the kitchen with vinyl planking. That will help cut down on some of the effects of the wet basement. We will try to keep costs down as much as possible while continuing to make the rectory livable.

North Edge of the Playground:  The school community has done a lot of work in improving the playground. More pea gravel was added as needed. The slope of the playground is good for drainage, but with the slope goes the pea gravel. The border to the playground needs some attention to keep the gravel in the playground and off the Washington Street sidewalk. The chain link fence needs some TLC in some spots where gravel has pushed against it. This is a normal maintenance issue, especially on the alley side where new gravel gets added and pushes against the fence. Stay alert for a call for volunteers to improve the border and re-secure the fence. Thanks so much to Home and School for their leadership on continued improvements to the playground.