UPDATE ON OUR SCHOOL AND ITS BOARD OF LIMITED JURISDICTION

As another very exciting year comes to an end at our school, I would like to offer an update for everyone; there’s lots of good news to share.  As you certainly know, Adria Crowley has completed her first year as our principal, succeeding Bud Tosti who retired last June after 17 very successful years as our principal.  Adria has already demonstrated her outstanding leadership and, working very closely with our exceptional faculty and staff, has led our school through an excellent year.  She will be introducing some innovative changes next year, including exciting electives for our middle school students.  As enrollment in our lower grades continues to grow, we have also hired two part time teachers’ aides to ensure that our students receive all the attention and direction they need to thrive.

Our Board of Limited Jurisdiction also continues to provide outstanding assistance.  Formed just five years ago, the very dedicated members of this Board have offered their expertise to help us with marketing our school, increasing enrollment from 381 students in 2018 to 415 this year.  It has also raised over $900,000 over these past five years allowing our school to become more financially self-sufficient and providing funds for special projects such as installing a new flat roof, replacing the fire detection system, upgrading the internet hardware, repainting the gymnasium and replacing some windows.

A Board of Limited Jurisdiction is a model of school governance already in place – and working well – in over 25 schools in our archdiocese as well as in schools in several (arch)dioceses throughout the country.  These boards are comprised of parishioners and non-parishioners who value Catholic education and who have a vested interest in the success and future viability of their local school.  These Boards don’t get involved in the everyday operation of the school but, in collaboration with the principal and pastor, they oversee development, marketing, facilities, finances, and enrollment.

 

I want to take this opportunity to thank Phil Hintze, our outgoing Board chairman, for his visionary leadership over these past five years.  I’m grateful for his strong dedication to our school and am glad that he is remaining on the Board as chair of its Enrollment Committee.  I also want to thank Joe Barba, Rob D’Ovidio and Maria Recchilungo as they retire from the Board; they have been a great benefit to the Board as they offered their enthusiasm and expertise.  I welcome Dana Hospodar and Scott Thompson who have recently joined the Board.  I’m confident that the Board will continue to provide invaluable support to our school so that it can continue to teach our children and form them in the faith in the same tradition as it has for over 100 years.

 

SUMMER PROJECTS

As parish activities and organizations slow down over the summer, it is a good time to take care of some of the necessary repairs and improvements on our facilities.  Our church’s sound system, replaced in 2012, needs to be replaced once again.  As I’m sure you have experienced at home and work yourselves, the electronic components of so many systems only last eight to ten years and as certain parts break down, the entire system needs to be replaced due to significant technological improvements.  We’ll be replacing the entire system (wiring, speakers, amplifiers, mixers, microphones) over the summer.

Several windows in our school’s newest wings also need to be replaced; after all, these new wings are now 13 years old.  We will be replacing the eight windows that are in the greatest need of replacement this summer.  Others will be replaced in upcoming years.

We will also be spending some time to clean out and reorganize the church and rectory basements.  As I’m sure you can well imagine, we have items left over from innumerable parish activities that have accumulated in these basements.  It’s time to reevaluate what we can still use and what needs to be thrown out.

 

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support for your parish.  We are, indeed, blessed with a strong and thriving parish, the result of so many parishioners involved in so many ways as we work to build up God’s kingdom in our midst!  Have a great summer; I hope you will have some time for rest and relaxation!

 

CATHOLIC CAMPAIGN FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

 Although we live in the wealthiest country in the world, more than 37 million people in the United States live in poverty.  For more than half a century, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) has demonstrated the Church’s solidarity with the poor in America, supporting community organizations that work to ease poverty and promote human development.  The CCHD is the national anti-poverty and social justice program of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).  CCHD was begun in 1969 by the Catholic bishops in the United States in response to Pope Paul VI‘s encyclical Populorum progressio (“The Progress of Peoples”).  CCHD’s mission is “to address the root causes of poverty in America through promotion and support of community-controlled self-help organizations and through transformative social justice, education, and solidarity between poor and non-poor”.

Our Lord calls us to “do to others whatever you would have them do to you” (Mt. 7:12), and then teaches us to love our neighbor, using his parable of the Good Samaritan to demonstrate who is our neighbor (cf.  Lk 10:29ff).  It should be a matter of great concern for all of us that, in a country as prosperous as ours, so many of our fellow Americans (approximately 11% of the 332 million Americans) live in poverty.  The CCHD supports community organizations that work to remove this poverty as it promotes human development.  And, what makes the work of the CCHD special is that these community organizations don’t just hand out food and clothing to the poor but rather they engage the poor to actively participate in identifying their problems and to work collaboratively to find effective solutions

CCHD has two goals:

  • To help low-income people participate in decisions that affect their lives, their families and communities; and
  • To provide education and promote understanding about poverty and its root causes.

This dual strategy of “helping people who are poor speak and act for themselves” and “education for economic justice” reflects the mandate of the Scriptures and the principles of Catholic social teaching.