St. Joseph of the Lakes

On Tuesday evening, January 17, the Finance Commission met and with great discussion recommended to me that we move ahead with the ordering of the new sound and AV systems. We have collected over $122,000 as I write this so we are over 80% to our goal. They did advise that we begin taking up regular second collections until we arrive at our original goal of $150,000. I am accepting their recommendation so we have sent on to the Archdiocese our request for a proxy vote of the Archbishop (as a member of our Board of Directors) to sign the contract to initialize the purchase and installation of the new systems. We have some hope of having it installed by Easter Day. You will at least get to experience the sound system by Easter Day; it may be a couple of weeks later for the visual part of the system to be up and running. I also accepted their recommendation that we take up second collections until we collect the remaining goal of the Invest In Our Future campaign.

Last Sunday I joined Archbishop Hebda at Lino Lake prison as he confirmed three young men. At the beginning of the ceremony each of the candidates stood up and explained why they wanted to be confirmed. It was very moving to hear them describe the Church as the community that they have been lacking in their lives and their wish to grow closer to God through the sacraments and the community of the Church. Their Life's experiences up to this point never included seeing the Church as a positive place for them, but now through the sacrament of Confirmation they know they are true members of something greater than themselves.

Speaking of Archbishop Hebda; we have invited him to join us for Sunday Mass on February 19. (We started by asking him to be a speaker at the Cana Supper but he was already committed.) He will be the celebrant of both the 8:30 and 10:00 am Masses. It is also the "Lumberjack" breakfast that day so he will be staying for a bit of "brunch" after the Masses. It is our opportunity to get to meet the leader of our Archdiocese in an up front and personal way.