St. Mark's News & Events for April 1, 2007

Greetings as we begin another week!

I was able to hit the golf course this week, not only once but twice as I played in two fundraising events. One was for my nephew's traveling baseball team in Ocala and the other was for Corpus Christi Catholic School. Before the tournament began in Ocala, I participated in the putting contest in which we were given three opportunities to sink an 85 foot putt for 50% of the proceeds. As God would have it, I rolled my first ball right into the cup! My brothers jumped for joy and couldn't believe someone would actually make it, let alone me! It turned out that I won the putting contest which is the first thing I won on my own since childhood. After making millions, the IRS took almost all of it for taxes and left me enough money to buy a stiff drink. Well, at least I'm well known in Ocala for my marvelous accomplishment and I'm sure they will put up pictures of me all around the city. Unfortunately, I had to carry my brothers all day since they couldn't hit a broad side of a barn and we turned in a respectable showing. On Sunday at Heritage Isles, I again had to carry my foursome with all my spectacular shots and saved the day on many holes. Now I have to give my back some rest since the load was very heavy but we all had a great time and I'm glad we were able to support this great school of Corpus Christi!

As you may have noticed in the Narthex of the Church, we have a board placed showing our participation in the Annual Pastoral Appeal. This really is important for St. Mark Church since every dollar contributed is one more we get to keep here at the parish. I'm hoping we get a high participation of families so please help us in this effort by contributing to the APA! Anything you can contribute will help us reach our goal.

As you may know by now, this is the holiest week of the year and I'm looking forward to seeing many of you at our services for Holy Week. Please check the times in the bulletin, I know you will truly enjoy the experience!

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

Peace,
Fr. David

St. Mark's News & Events for March 25, 2007

Greetings as we begin another week!

Well it's getting closer and closer for the Elect and Candidates as they prepare for the great Easter Vigil in which they will be fully initiated into the Catholic Church. These last three weeks the Elect have been going through the Scrutinies and at the 10:30 am Mass on Sunday, they will have completed the last step and we pray ready for the Easter Vigil. It has been a long process for them and after speaking to some of them, I realized what a profound affect this process had on each one and that their relationship to Christ has deepened. Continue to pray for them as they continue onto the Mother of all Vigils on Saturday, April 7th.

The weather has been very nice lately so I decided to go out to the golf course and hit the ball around. I have to say it was the best round I shot in months! It also helped that I was playing by myself and there was nobody around to check on my score. However, you will have to take my word for it since I will have to answer to God if I cheated. Well…….maybe I should have added a few more strokes now that I mention it.

There is still time to make this lent a good one if you haven't been able to keep up with all your promises and sacrifices. We have almost two weeks left before Easter arrives. So let's make these next two weeks one of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving and really experience Easter Joy!

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

Peace,
Fr. David

St. Mark's News & Events for March 18, 2007

Greetings as we begin another week!

Last Saturday I was happy to see over 80 people join us for a presentation on the building of our new Church and the process of how this is going to happen. We had a diocesan official from the Office of Liturgy come to speak to us regarding guidelines for building churches. He showed us various liturgical publications from Rome and the Diocese regarding architecture and requirements. The architect for our new church, Alberto Portela, explained the various subcommittees and their function as we begin to make all this happen. Being the son of a carpenter and not being able to hammer a nail in a wall, I'm really getting quite an education on all this and I know I'm going to need all your help in planning and design. So if you haven't signed up for any of the committees yet, check our website and sign up for one that interests you. This truly is a privilege in being on the ground floor of a building that will serve for future generations of Catholics in the New Tampa area! I hope you will be part of it.

Speaking of our web site, if you haven't visited it just yet, please do http://www.stmarktampa.org/! It has wonderful information and pictures of our Master Plan along with information on ministries, schedules, current news, and a new feature, the virtual Evangelist! It even has a section to improve your golf game (only kidding) but it will keep you in the loop of all the happenings at St. Mark the Evangelist. So take a moment and go to our website and see all the things your parish is doing! Become involved and experience the grace of God in your life.

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

Peace, Fr. David

St. Mark's News & Events for March 11, 2007

Greetings as we begin another week!

Well I must say that our Parish Mission was a HUGE success with our Retreat Master, Fr. Dennis Corrodo mixing humor with a serious message of forgiveness. Record numbers of people from all over New Tampa came to listen to this powerful speaker and I know many walked away with a renewed sense of Gods love and presence. It was a wonderful start to the Season of Lent and I hope it will carry us forward to the Easter mysteries! We hope to have him back in a few years so that more people can experience this powerful presentation.Last Saturday I was transported to New Port Richey to receive my third degree from the Knights of Columbus. What a truly exceptional organization of men we have here at St. Mark the Evangelist. Theyre self-less giving to our parish is unheralded and they put on the best fish dinners during Lent of any place in the city! If you haven't come to a fish fry yet this year, by all means do so and have a great dinner. I think I recognized food critic Chris Sherman one Friday night testing our dinner and a happy smile creased his face. I'm still waiting for the rating in the newspaper though and I'm sure well make millions when the secret gets out!

As of this writing we will be having our Parish Retreat on the new building on Saturday, March 10th. Hope to tell you all the details in the next bulletin.

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

Peace, Fr. David

St. Mark's News & Events for March 4, 2007

Greetings as we begin another week!

Lent is off to a wonderful start as we had Fr. Dennis Corrado give the Lenten Retreat here last week. His message of forgiveness was powerful and I hope many of you were able to attend one or more of the sessions. Its not everyday we are able to have such a profound speaker in our midst and I continue to pray that we take his message to heart as the Season of Lent moves forward.

I did get the chance to play golf during my vacation and unfortunately it turned out to be one of the coldest days of the year. By the 12th hole I was frozen and birds decided to land on me as if I were a statue which is probably why I inherited this terrible cold after all that nonsense. I hope it isn’t the bird flu.

Last Sunday our Catechumens and Candidates for full reception into our Church were presented to Bishop Lynch at the Rite of Election. Again, the Cathedral was jammed packed with those desiring to enter the Catholic Church and we are so proud of our own who will become Catholics at the Easter Vigil. You will be seeing some of them throughout Lent as they will undergo more steps to full reception. Continue to keep them in your prayers.

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

Peace, Fr. David