My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Mary Our Queen’s Annual Garage Sale began on Friday and  will conclude this Sunday, July 28. The proceeds from the Garage Sale go to Mary Our Queen’s Human Needs Ministry that supports the less fortunate in our community.  Remember, even if you don’t want to  purchase anything, you could buy something and give it back to the Garage Sale next year :P. Thank you to all who support our Human Needs Ministry and most of all I would like to thank Mary  Parizek and all our wonderful volunteers for making our Garage Sale possible.

We did a survey for our Family of Parishes a few months ago.  We thank all who responded to the survey.  Based on the survey, or those who have families with children at home either in our School or Religious Education Programs, the responses showed interest in

1. Marriage enrichment (Programs that support strengthening marriages)
2. Parenting Programs
3. Formation on Prayer

For those who do not have children at home, the responses showed interest in

1. Formation on Prayer
2. Learning about the teachings on the Catholic Church
3. Bible studies
4. Learning how to pray with Scripture

We are working on addressing the needs of our Family of Parishes. This includes expanding our Lent and Advent series.  We are also looking at introducing an Alpha Marriage Enrichment Program in the Fall as well as a subscription to Hallow (a program that assists our Formation in Prayer).  We are also talking with Boys Town about bringing their Common Sense Parenting Program to our Family of Parishes.

Our renewal for the subscription to FORMED is coming up in September, one of the things we are looking at is whether we should renew the subscription or transfer the resources to other programs.  Currently we have a little more than 400 users to the subscription, many users have duplicate accounts (Approximately about 250 users).  If we were to subscribe to just 8 to 10 individual accounts that will be used in our School, Religious Education Program, RCIA and prayer or bible study groups that meet in our Parishes, we would save over $2000 and this will give us options to subscribe to other programs that is aligned with the needs of our Parish.  More details to follow.

Some updates:

At Mary Our Queen:

• The concrete work for the playground by the soccer field has been completed.  We also added two concrete pads in between the playground equipment under the tree for two picnic tables to be installed (similar to the picnic tables by the gym entrance).  The rubber surface will be installed is currently being scheduled.  After its installation, we will install the sprinkler system around the area and reinstall the fencing by the playground.
• The green house by the preschool was demolished last Monday.  I was fortunate to get on the excavator and took the first swing in demolishing the house.  The rubble should be cleared  early this week and there will be a playground installed in its place.
• There are four classrooms being remodeled in the lower level of the school this summer.  Last summer, we remodeled two classrooms.  We hope to complete the renovation of the final four classrooms in the lower-level next summer.

At St. John Vianney:

• We were fortunate to find a reconditioned control card that controls the H/VAC system in our Parish.  Unfortunately, the system that controls them is no longer in service and needs to be upgraded.  We are working on a solution to address this.  When the control cards went out, it came to my attention that the H/VAC system for the Church and basement dates back to the time the original Church was built (40+ years old).  While they do not make things like they used to, I think it would be a good idea to start planning for its replacement as based on my experience on replacing the H/VAC system at MOQ it took over a year before the equipment was delivered after the contract was signed. I am asking our Finance Council to help address this need.

God’s Blessings,

Fr Marc