August 14, 2022

Whether we are ready for it or not, this time of year sees many people turn their eyes towards the Fall and the coming of the new school year. One of things that we, as a parish, will be turning our attention to as school begins is our participation in the Archdiocesan Love One Another Capital Campaign.  I wrote about this campaign a few months ago, but to review the basics: the Love One Another Campaign is a joint campaign between the Archdiocese and each individual parish.  Each parish has been assigned a goal with 40% of the funds going to support the various needs of the Archdiocese and 60% staying in the parish to address the needs of each individual parish.  If the goal is exceeded, more of the monies raised will stay at the parish.  St. Mary’s has been assigned a goal of a bit over $2 Million, the portion of the money that is raised which will be used at St. Mary’s will go for two separate items.  The first is to raise money ($1 Million) to be used towards a new and expanded Perpetual Adoration Chapel.  We have seen an increased use in the Perpetual Adoration Chapel and its current location is too small for the needs.  Our hope is to build a new Perpetual Adoration Chapel which will be larger, will increase security and will be a truly beautiful place to spend time with Our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament.  In addition, we our also hoping to use some of our portion of funds raised to continue the upkeep on our school building – the monies (about $200K) will be used for future needs as well as some projects we would like to address soon, including upgrades, security improvements, etc. 
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As the Love One Another Campaign gets up and running at the parish you’ll have the chance to learn more about all of it.  The first informational session will be held in the Atrium at 6:30 PM on Monday, August 22nd.  This will give an overview of the campaign process, the Archdiocesan needs, the needs of St. Mary’s, answer questions and will also be an opportunity to learn of ways you can help to make the campaign successful.  Everyone is invited to attend – no need to sign up, just show up!

Speaking of the parish school – we are happy to be able to share that (at the time of this writing) our school enrollment for next year is 338 students!  This is the largest our parish school has been in over a decade!  As you know, our school over the years had a very close relationship with the School Sisters of Notre Dame, who, for so many years, sustained the school and provided teachers and administration.  In honor of those close historical ties between St. Mary’s and the School Sisters, we were honored to receive the two statues which were in the Lourdes grotto on the convent grounds.  These two statues (Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette) have been located to the corner of our property at Crescent and Juneau Boulevard.  They have been placed so that Our Lady looks at their former location on the convent grounds.  That corner has been revamped over the past few years with new landscaping, a new sign and a new outdoor classroom – what was really a pretty sad looking part of our property has been transformed and the statues are a lovely addition.  Please feel free to stop by and make a mini-pilgrimage to pray, we hope to dedicate them after one of the school Masses this fall.

Finally, I hope everyone can make good use of the summer weather that remains!