I leave for my extended vacation today.  I’m looking forward to this break.  I’ve been in ministry as a priest for 33 years and this is the first time I’ve asked for some extra time for myself.  Fr. Lazaro will be here taking care of the parish and Fr. John Heinz will join him. I’ll be visiting with my family and doing some car trips.  My family is in Toledo, Ohio and this is where I was born and lived the first 17 years of my life.

When I return, I intend to get moving on a much needed remodel of our parish house, our friary.  We have five friars living in the space that was built for four friars.  The front of the friary is laid out for offices that were moved out of the friary 18 years ago.  We need more living space and more rooms for friars.  The remodel of our Friary was one of the original goals of our Capital Campaign of our parish which began before I arrived.  Recently, our Parish Council and Finance Committee have said that this project should be a priority for the parish.  Rick Lopez has already agreed to be our project manager.  He did our Church project and he brought it in on time and under budget.

I believe that we can do this even during this recession.  I intend to keep a lid on the spending and we will envision this project in a way that it can and will be done.  After I hear project figures, I’ll be able to say more about the amount of funds that will be necessary.  But as we begin, I want to assure you, that I intend to raise a portion of the needed funds outside of your parish.  You can give to this project in the same way as you gave to the Church project by marking an envelope Building Fund and then placing it in the Sunday collection or mailing it to the parish.  I’ll see you all in September—-have a good summer!