From the Pastor
May/20/2010
This weekend, as we celebrate Pentecost, the fiftieth day of Easter, we come to the conclusion of the fifty-day celebration of Easter. Throughout the history of salvation, God’s Spirit continues to breathe upon all creation, bringing life and renewal. We rejoice in the continued presence of the Holy Spirit among us, bringing us abundant new life, first, through Baptism, and renewed again, through the Sacrament of Confirmation. The first Pentecost was the renewal of the covenant God made with man on Mt. Sinai, when the Spirit of the Lord descended upon the Apostles, with sevenfold gifts of wisdom, understanding, right judgment, courage, knowledge, reverence and wonder.
With joy, we renew the covenant made in the waters of Baptism, and ask the Lord to grant us a renewal of His gifts each day of our life, for we live in a funny world that daily challenges our spirit, our moral fiber, and our way of thinking. We need that constant help!
What a tremendous day we had last Saturday at the annual parish golf-outing at Quail Ridge Country Club! The weather was perfect, and the tourney was a success, thanks to the untiring efforts of Mimi Meister, her husband, Dan, and the committee and numerous volunteers who dedicated themselves to making this our best outing yet, for the benefit of the children of our St. Vincent Ferrer School. We had a lot of fun, with many laughs, and managed to enjoy ourselves throughout the afternoon and evening. May God bless Charlie Bowie and the leadership of the club that offered us such a wonderful venue.We thank all of these people for their fine efforts, and may all of us who participated relish the thought that next year’s event will be even greater!
Next weekend, we will take up that special 2nd collection for the missionary work of the same religious order of Sisters that now staffs our school, viz., the Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. In your appreciation for having a community of devoted religious sisters that staff our parish school, and are ever present in our parish to minister to the sick and homebound, a generous response in the envelopes that have been provided will help that same community to reach out to many people in the third world. There they are engaged in bringing Christ to those who otherwise wouldn’t know Him, and of ministering to the spiritual and physical needs of these people at the same time. Our Sister Maria and Sister Dorothy and their superiors are most grateful for your support of their community’s efforts, and will ask the many Sisters of their Order to pray for you along with their other benefactors.
At this time, I would like to thank Mr. Lou Finelli of our school faculty for the many years of service he has given to our school and parish, too. He is retiring this year after fifteen years here of teaching math, computer science and doing the upgrades of our technology programs: data processing information, website structuring, etc., in the school. We will miss his daily presence here, but hope to see him on his visits in the future.
We will also bid fond farewells to two other staff members whom we will miss: Mrs. Molly Karpenko and Mrs. Patricia Sperry. May God bless them in their new setting, and know that our prayers will follow them. Next weekend we will celebrate our 8th grade graduates from St. Vincent School with a special Mass and blessing of the graduates during the regular Saturday 5:30 P.M. Parish Mass. With gratitude for the many sacrifices made by parents to provide a quality Catholic education at our school, and thanks to the efforts of a wonderful teaching staff and leadership in our school, we will send forth thirty-one young men and women to a new level of preparing to deal with life’s situations.
Hopefully, they will remember the most important values of what they have learned in these past eight to ten years in Catholic education and continue to worship the Lord each week, thanking Him for the abundance of gifts poured out upon His people. I thank our good Principal, Mrs. Delgado, her staff and all the teachers and parents who have brought our students to this point in their lives. May our graduates never forget they are God’s children, and may they always remember to give Him the worship and honor due Him each week at Mass.
Congratulations to our Mrs. Delgado for getting our school to be accepted into a special scholarship program. St. Vincent Ferrer is a participating school in the Florida Tax Scholarship plan called “Step Up For Students.” What is the Step Up For Students Program? Well, students who are entering kindergarten or first grade, or who attended public school the previous year are eligible, providing they match the criteria. The scholarships cover up to $3,950 for private school tuition and books. This should help a number of our students and their families to cut tuition costs. For more information regarding scholarship qualification, please go to www.stepupforstudents.org.
Very Rev. Canon Tom
With joy, we renew the covenant made in the waters of Baptism, and ask the Lord to grant us a renewal of His gifts each day of our life, for we live in a funny world that daily challenges our spirit, our moral fiber, and our way of thinking. We need that constant help!
What a tremendous day we had last Saturday at the annual parish golf-outing at Quail Ridge Country Club! The weather was perfect, and the tourney was a success, thanks to the untiring efforts of Mimi Meister, her husband, Dan, and the committee and numerous volunteers who dedicated themselves to making this our best outing yet, for the benefit of the children of our St. Vincent Ferrer School. We had a lot of fun, with many laughs, and managed to enjoy ourselves throughout the afternoon and evening. May God bless Charlie Bowie and the leadership of the club that offered us such a wonderful venue.We thank all of these people for their fine efforts, and may all of us who participated relish the thought that next year’s event will be even greater!
Next weekend, we will take up that special 2nd collection for the missionary work of the same religious order of Sisters that now staffs our school, viz., the Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. In your appreciation for having a community of devoted religious sisters that staff our parish school, and are ever present in our parish to minister to the sick and homebound, a generous response in the envelopes that have been provided will help that same community to reach out to many people in the third world. There they are engaged in bringing Christ to those who otherwise wouldn’t know Him, and of ministering to the spiritual and physical needs of these people at the same time. Our Sister Maria and Sister Dorothy and their superiors are most grateful for your support of their community’s efforts, and will ask the many Sisters of their Order to pray for you along with their other benefactors.
At this time, I would like to thank Mr. Lou Finelli of our school faculty for the many years of service he has given to our school and parish, too. He is retiring this year after fifteen years here of teaching math, computer science and doing the upgrades of our technology programs: data processing information, website structuring, etc., in the school. We will miss his daily presence here, but hope to see him on his visits in the future.
We will also bid fond farewells to two other staff members whom we will miss: Mrs. Molly Karpenko and Mrs. Patricia Sperry. May God bless them in their new setting, and know that our prayers will follow them. Next weekend we will celebrate our 8th grade graduates from St. Vincent School with a special Mass and blessing of the graduates during the regular Saturday 5:30 P.M. Parish Mass. With gratitude for the many sacrifices made by parents to provide a quality Catholic education at our school, and thanks to the efforts of a wonderful teaching staff and leadership in our school, we will send forth thirty-one young men and women to a new level of preparing to deal with life’s situations.
Hopefully, they will remember the most important values of what they have learned in these past eight to ten years in Catholic education and continue to worship the Lord each week, thanking Him for the abundance of gifts poured out upon His people. I thank our good Principal, Mrs. Delgado, her staff and all the teachers and parents who have brought our students to this point in their lives. May our graduates never forget they are God’s children, and may they always remember to give Him the worship and honor due Him each week at Mass.
Congratulations to our Mrs. Delgado for getting our school to be accepted into a special scholarship program. St. Vincent Ferrer is a participating school in the Florida Tax Scholarship plan called “Step Up For Students.” What is the Step Up For Students Program? Well, students who are entering kindergarten or first grade, or who attended public school the previous year are eligible, providing they match the criteria. The scholarships cover up to $3,950 for private school tuition and books. This should help a number of our students and their families to cut tuition costs. For more information regarding scholarship qualification, please go to www.stepupforstudents.org.
Very Rev. Canon Tom