I know summer is just beginning, but as someone recently reminded me, the days are already getting shorter. I was not happy with them about sharing this fact, and you may not be happy with me for sharing it with you. Please forgive me.

I mention this for a couple of reasons, one is to enjoy the summer you have and two is to be looking ahead  We have started looking ahead in our planning for the parish festival this fall  One of the things that has come up is that we may have a tent issue. We have used tents for shade and (if God so chooses) keep the raindrops from falling on booths outside. We had a tent we used over the DJ that got ripped and there is one that was damaged by a small animal (mice not Chihuahua).  I am wondering if anyone may have a large tent that they would be willing to let the parish use for the festival?  Simple white, no sides, just like the tents you have seen in years past.  If by chance you have something that you think we may be able to use, please contact the parish office with information on size and how to reach you about it.

Secondly I would like to ask you to please be open and helpful.  When you receive a call about something with the Festival, PLEASE call the person back as soon as you can.  Even if, to say you will be out of town for the Festival this year, the sooner you call them back and we know this, the better we can plan.  We need so much help to have our Festival be a success, please consider being generous with your time and talents.  I want everyone to be able to enjoy the Festival, by many hands helping out, it can happen.

As you make your plans for summer vacations, make plans to spend time with Our Lord.  If you are going to be traveling, I would like to encourage you to log onto masstimes.org. This website will allow you to plug in the city or town where you are going, and will then give you the near by Catholic Churches and their Mass times. This is a wonderful help and is much easier than waiting until the last minute and trying to find a church.  If you are doing a road trip to some theme park, why not do some searches and stop at a shrine on the way?  Make prayer a part of your summer.

Lastly I would like to make a plug for the Catholic Services Appeal.  We currently are at about 88% of our goal.  If we can reach 90% of our goal, we receive 10% of the funds raised come back to the parish. IF we reach our goal we will receive 25% of the funds raised back to the parish.  If you have not responded to the Catholic Services Appeal yet, please do so soon.  The Catholic Services Appeal serves many different groups and is doing work that no one parish could do by itself.

Fr. Backer