St. Mark's News & Events for September 2, 2007

Greetings as we begin another week! I guess with the start of school, the last gasp of summer vacations have come to St. Mark as the season starts up. Last weekend our youth ministry put on a wonderful picnic (even though the rains came) and a concert which was very well received and of course, LOUD! I now realize I have become my parents complaining about the loudness and style of my music ages ago. However it really was a blast and we have some GREAT teens here at St. Mark who care very much for their Church. Let’s make sure to support them in all their endeavors. On a sad note, Tracey Blum our current Youth Minister will be leaving to go into full time teaching at a local school in early September. Tracey has been with us for two years now and has really moved youth ministry to a new level. However, she will be staying with us on a part-time basis to help with the Confirmation program until a new Youth Minister is hired. We thank Tracey for her wonderful energy, intelligence, and sense of humor as she leaves St. Mark and we pray her continued success in her new path.

Last Saturday we had over 42 people “get on the bus” for a tour of Churches in the Orlando and Winter Park areas in our continued effort to set the ground work for our new Church. We visited three churches that had been built or remodeled in the last five years and we came across some interesting and fascinating designs all patterned with the Liturgical Guidelines for Church Architecture in the 21st Century in mind. We brought back some great ideas and we took pictures of the Churches we visited. We hope to be able to put them on our Website in the near future to give you a look into how Churches are being built in this day and age. We are also hoping to visit more Churches in the near future to obtain even more information and ideas. Check the bulletin for dates and times.

Next week, Alberto Portello will be here to give us a talk on “Gathering Spaces” after all the Masses on September 8th and 9th. This is another opportunity to find out about the Church’s thinking on Liturgical Spaces and I hope educate yourself and ask questions as we being to move forward.

Well, that is all for now. Continue to enjoy the gift that God has given us in each other!

Peace,
Fr. David