The brochure you got in the mail this week had that theme. It showed children playing around a pool, doing cartwheels, or eating ice cream. The best of childhood, anyway, is that we’re free and happy, trusting that we’re taken care of. At our best, then, children naturally share happiness with others. We adults need that sense too. This Sunday begins the actual Stewardship Awareness mini-season. Last Sunday I gave the Annual Financial Report, a practical and necessary rende

This is the weekend of the Annual Parish Financial Report. I don’t talk about money from the pulpit very much, but this is required by church law so that you, the parishioners, are made aware of how the money of the parish is dealt with. With the fiscal year that just ended on June 30, we have a surplus like last year, but smaller. Expenses are growing that are beyond our control (our share of teacher/employees health care). We all do our best, but our Offertory Collection—th

NOW IT STARTS—and that’s the rub. Do you know what is the most stressful thing you do to your car? It’s to start it up. That puts a lot more strain and stress on it than running along, or sitting idle. It’s the same with a parish. Things have been low-key through the summer, and now that the last summer holiday is over, a lot picks back up in earnest. Meetings, practices, planning sessions, etc. etc. And there can be a lot of stress over this. People and groups sometimes bump