RECTORY OFFICE HOURS TO BE SHORTENED

I’ve written many times of the budget challenges we and most other parishes face these days and of the steps we can or cannot take to address those challenges. There are many things we cannot do: pay employees less than the salaries mandated by the Archdiocese (or the state), reduce benefits, choose our own energy suppliers, put off repairs that would affect safety or result in higher repair costs down the road. There are relatively few options, however, for reducing expenses and the savings we realize may be minimal; but, as my grandmother used to say when baking or cooking, “every little bit helps.”

The “little bit” we will address beginning Monday, August 30^th, will be a reduction in the Rectory office hours. Right now, we stay open longer than most other parishes, both on weekdays and weekends. We’ve also maintained what seems to me to be a very civilized system of having a real person answering the phone and taking messages rather than a voice mail menu. I feel that if there’s one place where you should be able to talk to a human being when you call, it’s a church rectory. You may not immediately reach the person you’re looking for, but at least you’ve actually spoken to someone most of the time. The few messages we find on our voice mail after hours rarely involve emergencies and the vast majority of those calls could easily have been made earlier in the day.   

So, the new office hours (changes in bold print) beginning August 30^th will be:

·        Monday thru Friday: 9:00a.m. to 8:00p.m.

·        Saturday: 9:00a.m. to 6:00p.m.

·        Sunday: 9:00a.m. to 1:30p.m.

In talking to some of the teens who work the evening shift (whose salaries, by the way, are mandated by minimum wage laws), I’ve learned that there are almost no phone calls or visitors after those new closing times. No parish meetings begin later than those hours, and the key return system will not be affected by this change. The savings for the remainder of this fiscal year will be around $3,000.00, but in the next fiscal year, the savings will be more than $4,000.00. It may not seem like much, but “every little bit” does help.

Fr. Bob

2010-2011 PARISH CALENDAR NOW UPDATED

It took awhile to work out some of the kinks in our new updating system for the website calendar, but it's now complete from September 2010 thru July 2011. Check the calendar pages regularly for further updates or changes to the calendar, or look for it each month in the church bulletin.

 GAVIN COYLE CD AVAILABLE AT RECTORY

When Gavin Coyle was here back in March, he brought copies of his CD’s to sell at intermission. However, he forgot to bring his latest: Footlights: Songs of Stage and Screen. We offered the opportunity to those who attended that concert to place their order for that CD, and Gavin promised to drop off a case or mail it to us. It took a while for him to get around to that, but we now have copies for those who ordered it, and about ten extra ones for anyone who might like to purchase one. The cost is $15.00 (make checks payable to SJF). The CD includes Bring Him Home, Music of the Night, The Impossible Dream, Somewhere and eleven other selections from—where else?—stage and screen.

Looking ahead, mark your calendars for Gavin’s return to SJF for an Advent/Christmas concert on Tuesday, December 7^th at 7:30p.m. Hopefully our choir will join him, as they did two years ago, for some of the songs in his program.

GET CONNECTED!

We are in the process of developing a parish email database. Your address will not be given to any other party or used for any other purpose except to provide periodic notifications of parish meetings, schedules, parish-sponsored events or other activities. To be placed on the parish email list, please contact Pat Reed at preed@sjfschool.net. Also, please include your family name and street address in the email. Thanks for your support!