Mission Ministry

Dear sisters & brothers in Christ,

I pray that you are blessed and as ready for Spring to get here as I am. In my letter last week I spoke a bit about the Mission Trip that would be taking place this week. For some members of the team doing a project closer to home is an answer to their prayers. The staff has talked about the possibility of having some people, who cannot spend a week or even a night, drive up for the day. For example, it would be difficult for me to be gone all week since Fr. Chung will be there most of the week, although I do hope to make a couple of day trips up and help is some way, even if it is just to take some photographs.

If Baldwin still isn't close enough for you, I have an idea. I would like to organize a group of people who could work on projects right here at St. Alphonsus. Scott and Mike have their hands full just doing the normal things that need to be done to keep a plant this size going. Along with regular repairs and projects, it doesn’t leave much time to address the Wish-List. As an example: Along with his regular daily duties, Scott has been changing out all of the light fixtures in the church, rectory and parish hall to accept LEDs. Can you just imagine how many light fixtures there are? Not to mention where he has to go to get to some of them.

Some parishioners have taken it upon themselves to re- organize the church-cleaning group and a couple of others helping with carpentry and electronics. The cleaning is done after the 9:00am mass on the first and third Tuesday of the month. They are always happy to welcome others. My hope would be to expand this ministry to include: the occasional deep cleaning of other areas, organizing some of the storage areas, minor repairs, painting, picking up trash and possibly other projects like gardening in Br. Andy‘s old area. If you have a specific skill or just the willingness to offer some of your free-time, I would ask that you call the office and give them your name, best way to reach you (email is our preference), any useful skill(s), and when and how long you might be available. If you listed this on your census form, we will be checking those as well.

The basic idea would be to have professionals do what needs to be done by them (like plastering the church or carpeting), but have parishioners do some of the other work (like painting). This would save us considerable money. It would also take a few things off of Scott’s plate and allow him to focus on the things that are best done by him. We have a beautiful church and we are blessed to have a substantial parish hall, but these things need to be cared for. As essential as it is for us to continue to help our neighbors, we mustn’t forget the needs of our own home. May God bless those who are already doing this ministry, as well as, those who did so for so many years. And may The Spirit lead others, with paint brush and dust pan, to care for The House of Our Lord.

In the Redeemer, Fr. Rick