Dear Parishioners of St Anthony:
Today is Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ, where the Church directs our attention fittingly to the centrality and importance of the Eucharist. As Catholics, we believe that the Eucharist is truly the body and blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. It isn’t simply bread nor is it simply wine. But rather our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a sad reality that so many Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence. Or even worse, I think, to take it for granted. So, I encourage everyone to really reflect and pray on how they receive the Eucharist. Do you really believe it is Jesus Christ? Do you treasure those moments of intimacy with Christ after you receive? Jesus made it clear receiving the Eucharist is essential to being His disciple. We need the Eucharist to become more Christ-like, to grow in our love for God and our neighbor. I hope this weekend’s celebration will drive home and deepen our devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
I want to thank everyone for taking the time to fill out the surveys for the Campaign Readiness Assessment. The results of the survey are printed in this week’s bulletin and are available on the website as well. The results really confirmed what I thought. There is wide support for getting new pews and new tile in the church and a little less for the sanctuary projects. But overall, most people said they would gladly support a campaign. Some even listed some other needs of the parish (such as sealcoating and striping the parking lot, painting the Padua center, etc.) These needs are already being addressed from our operating funds in the next year or two. (But, hey, if people want to pay for these projects, I won’t stop them!) Any project can be undertaken, it just depends on the generosity of you the people of St Anthony. I wanted to be judicious and realistic about the needs of the church as we look ahead.
Moving forward, replacing the carpet and the pews on the church will be addressed first. I hope to start these projects next year, June of 2023. This is dependent on how successful the capital campaign goes. I would still like to address the sanctuary but I will get better renderings and make them more available so people can see what the vision is.
I also want to thank everyone for their gracious comments in the surveys as well. It is clear that people are very happy here at St Anthony and like the direction we are headed. This is good news for your pastor! So thank you all.
God bless,
Fr. Dennis