June 1, 2003 – Ascension of the Lord

Dear Parishioners

Ascension Day: "The Lord goes up with trumpet blast."

It was the old Feast of honoring Christ, the King who took

possession of his eternal Kingdom. We are the people he

saved as the treasures for his victory parade. It is Christ’s

Vollendung of his earthly life. Only the sending of the Holy Spirit

is missing to complete the Easter Mystery. But we are still here on earth to slug it out. That was very obvious last Sunday at our General Parish meeting. There were only about 50 people present and some had to leave early because of ministries. Reports were given only of a few of the parish Ministries and I thank again all people who serve the parish if they were represented or not.

The major points:

1) the fence proposed by the police on 90^th avenue, as per bulletin insert two weeks ago. A Parish Committee will be meeting with the school administration to get a better reading on the proposal and iron our problems and avoid a creation of a difficult situation.

2) A pictorial Parish Directory. Our last one is 6 years old. Cost to the parish nil. Cost to parishioners only to those who order portraits. The cost is lower than usual commercially produced photos. Next Sunday we will test the opinion of the whole congregation to indicate by a hand sign if they are in favour of this proposal.

3) Rejuvenating our Parish Council by new members at large. Please give me personally your name if you want to serve your parish in these positions.

4) Our financial situation, at this time we live beyond our means. Either the collection has to be increased or we have to cut positions If the Knights of Columbus and other organizations would not have helped out, we would be dead already.

My dear friends this is serious and we have to create a re-structuring plan to survive.

May the Lord bless you, and your families in this last month before the summer holidays.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Henry

UPDATE TO ABOVE:

For your information the City and our Parishioners at the May 25^th Annual meeting have turned down the suggested installation of a fence on 90^th Avenue. We will continue to monitor the situation as in the past.