What is going on around the Parish?

This article is going to be a few pieces of random information about what is going on around the parish.

First of all, we are getting ready for RCIA for those who are interested in joining the Catholic Church. We will begin the classes in September, if you know of someone who is interested in joining the Church, or is just curious about the faith, have them contact Fr Ken, Fr Ryan, or Mary Jo Schechinger for more information.

Second, we are still in need of some volunteers to help with Religious Education for the year. We NEED a good number of catechists, please consider helping. We are also in need for substitute catechists, small group leaders, as well as helpers in the classrooms. If you feel called to help the 375 kids we serve in our Religious Education program, please contact Mary Jo Schechinger for more information.

We are still looking for parent or grandparent (or other) volunteers in the school. We utilize a good number of volunteers to help with lunches here at St. Luke. It is a good opportunity to help the students and see the excitement of the students around the lunch times here.

Fr Ryan is planning on leading another trip to Ghana to visit our sister parish in June, and Fr Ken is leading a pilgrimage to Italy for the Holy Doors in March over Spring Break.

Many have probably heard or guessed, we will be starting the process for Phase III of Construction. The estimate for the construction is $4.5 million. Yes, this is a lot of money, but we do have a pretty good start, thanks to some special donations to our Future Phase Fund that people are contributing to. We are in need of more classrooms for the school as well as for religious education. The project will be about 6 classrooms and some new office space. Right now, Fr Ryan and I share an office, Mrs Hade, Mrs Hazel, and Mrs Mathas share an office, and Jeremy and Nick share an office. We would like to add 4-5 more offices in this project. We do have some extra projects that we will add on if we can get over our goal. One is to build a rectory, the current rectory is decent, but it would be nice to have dedicated space for each of us, as well as a good place to hold special dinners. This would be around $200,000 more than we could sell the current rectory for. The other option is a dedicated cafeteria, this would allow for PE to go on during the lunch times, and it would also allow for a better option for funeral dinners if they are needed. Currently, if we have a funeral dinner during the school day, the kids have to bring a sack lunch and eat in their classrooms.

Finally, keep praying for staff, faculty, volunteers, and the many different things going on here at the parish and school. While it is very busy around here, it is really a wonderful and energetic place to be!

God bless,
Fr. Ken