Pastor's Message

August 29, 2010

Dear friends of Saint Mark Parish:

The week passed with the usual round of meetings and appointments for me and the staff. Preparations for the beginning of Religious Education Classes are stepping up. The team leaders for "TMIY" That Man Is You have had a practice session and the men have all been through the facilitator's training now. Best of all, more than 80 men signed up for the program last weekend which gives me reason to believe it is the right time to get the Men's Ministry Program going.

Shawn Reidy and I met with a member of the parish who will be redesigning this web site in the coming months. We have studied many other sites and will be hoping to give this site a fresh look and a few more "bells and whistles." I also had a meeting concerning the electrical system, switches, and panels in the church. The ten years of use seem to be causing some trouble as some of you know who may have tried to turn on lights. The dimming system is undependable, and several other technical issues beyond my seminary training are developing. My own uneducated opinion is that the system is too complicated and sophisticated for our actual use. "What were they thinking?" is all I mutter as I watch the system fall apart!

Personally I spent every free moment this week writing. I finished the presentation for the Women's Conference on Thursday, and we gladly hosted more than 250 women of the Archdiocese for a splendid day of reflection welcoming Bishop Slattery of Tulsa and our own Archbishop who spent the entire day here presiding at the Saturday evening Mass.

Talks for the Retreat I am preaching this week in Baltimore were finished early in the week, and I have a big running start on the next serious of talks I will give to the priests of Grand Island, Nebraska at the end of September.

The technology improvements in the Lake Room are complete, and in the next week or two I expect that the room will receive a new coat of paint. It is the most heavily used space in the building, and has not been painted since the we moved in almost ten years ago.

If you are simply dropping in on our web site, welcome. For all of you, I wish a blessed and peaceful week to come.

Fr. Tom Boyer