It seems like the activities never end...and that is a good thing! On Saturday evening, we held the Gala for the Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos. We welcomed our guest speaker, Marlon Velasques, the National Director of our home in Nicaragua sharing his experiences with us. Thank you to all of those who attended this wonderful event.

Next weekend is our annual Ministry Fair. Please plan to stop by and see all the activities and ministries available to you. It is a great time to sign up to help one of our ministries.

We are presenting to you last year’s financial report from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. As usual, I want to thank you for your generosity. Please note that Plate income was over our projected budget, and while the total Operating Cash shows a deficit, it is much less than the projected budget. We are moving in the right direction.

Some of you know that I am on the Advisory Council for Nazareth House, our diocesan seminary. This is for the first year or two of seminary and it has proven already to be successful. In fact, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops just put out their revised Program for Priestly Formation and they are advising this same idea for all dioceses in the country.

It has been my pleasure to get to know these men before they go to major seminary and I am proud of them all. This year we have twelve men living at Nazareth House.

There is still time to sign up for the Men’s Renewal Weekend, October 15-16, and for the Women of Joy Retreat, October 29. Both of these are wonderful retreats to grow in faith and to get to know men and women in our community. I strongly urge you to consider this opportunity. Also, the Diocesan Rosary Sunday is October 16th; details are on our website or on the Diocesan website.

Next weekend begins October … and the stores are full of Halloween decorations. It is a sad commentary that now many people spend more money and time decorating for Halloween than for Christmas. Do we celebrate fear and evil more than we celebrate blessings and saints? Remember, the day after Halloween is the Feast of All Saints, which is a Holy Day of Obligation to attend Mass.

I have some great news! First of all, in the past two years, we had 194 new families register in our parish. Welcome to all of you and we are so happy to have you. Thank you for registering. I hope you can attend some of the events this year so you can get to know other parishioners.

Secondly, as of September 2, the cost for our parish magazine is down to $275 per month. Thank you to all of our advertisers, just a few more and the magazine will be free for the parish! Also, thank you Ryan and our staff members who solicit ads.

One of the comments I hear from visitors and new members is that we are a very welcoming community. What a great reputation to have! I want to thank all of you, especially our greeters outside and our ushers inside who make everyone feel so special.

Our “part-time” members will be returning soon. Please make them feel important to us as well. I always look forward to this time of year as they return to us and help us worship our wonderful God.

I hope that you are all enjoying our parish magazine, Clairvaux Community Life. If you are not receiving it please call Nancy or Ryan in the office to be sure you are registered and we have the correct address for you. We recently took a survey of your reactions and it was very positive. Almost 70% rated it excellent or good and over 70% said they read every issue.

I know many of us have forgotten our Diocesan Capital Campaign, Together Let us Go Forth, but it is still collecting pledges. I thank those of you who continue to honor your pledge by sending in your donation to the Diocese. As you may remember, we receive 35% of your donation; it is sent to us twice a year from the money received by the Diocese. I am happy to announce we have just received $13,000 from your donations these past 6 months.

Welcome home for many of you who have been away on vacation; with schools starting it is time to return even if it is hot and humid. Of course, that means that many parish programs and activities are preparing to start as well.

I was in Mexico the last week of July with some students from California visiting Nuestros Pequesnos Hermanos. I was amazed how careful they are in Mexico with the Covid-19 virus. Many of us have become a bit complacent about the virus even as it continues to evolve and spread. Even if you are “vaxed” and “boosted” it is still possible to spread the virus to others.