St. Mark's News & Events for September 9, 2007

Greetings as begin another week!

This weekend we are honored to have with us architect, Alberto Portela, who will be conducting a short workshop on “Gathering Spaces” after all the Masses. As many of you know, Alberto was the architect of our current Family Life Center and was instrumental in designing our Master Plan some years ago. This weekend he will enlighten us on his thinking and creativity in following the guidelines of Church Architecture. I hope you will be able to attend this important presentation.

Secondly, I am thrilled with the way many of you are responding financially to our parish and specifically our building fund collection. It just goes to show how much you care about our St. Mark Parish Community and look forward to the day when a new Church graces our property. When we first implemented the second collection, we were worried that it would take away from our offertory but that is not the case. Although the first collection did not increase as much as we would have liked, it did increase over 3% from the previous year. At the same time we have averaged over $14,000 a month in our second collection which has really helped us pay down our debt. You all are WONDERFUL! So as I said, we will discontinue the second collection once the new Capital Campaign for a new Church building commences. Again, my many thanks for allowing me to sleep at night!

This weekend we bid farewell to our Youth Minister, Tracey Blum who has accepted a position teaching at a local high school this year. Tracey has been with us over two years and brought her unique talents and gifts to the youth of St. Mark during her stay. Her bubbling personality will be missed by all of us as she pursues her new adventure. God speed Tracey!

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

Peace,
Fr. David