From the Desk of the Pastor

My Dear Parishioners:

I can see the last days of summer are slowly giving way to the cooler days fall. Before long the leaves of the trees will undergo their graceful transformation from green to a majestic array of reds, oranges and golds. In these last few days, we have been blessed to have much needed rain fall upon our parched land washing away the heat and dust of summer.  As fall begins to unfold so does the life of a new school year in the parish. Our Religious Education program is now under way. My thanks to Tina Barbian for taking the helm once again. We have 29 students registered at this time. If you have not yet registered your child, please do so. Religious Education is like an orphanage or an Irish family. There is always room for one more. Deacon Bernard will be launching a new bible study series on Tuesday evenings from 6:00pm until 7:30pm “The Bible Time Line: The Story of Salvation”. Presently we have 30 people signed up for this bible study series.

I would like to bring you up to speed on several things. There have been questions about the Tesuque Tile Company using the church parking lot. Tesuque has signed a contract with us over the last several years. They pay $3,600 for the year and they provide their own insurance. They have also signed a form releasing the parish from any liability. 

I am happy to announce that the parish cemetery commission has been reactivated. The commission has met several times in the last few months. It was decided that the cemetery rates should be raised. We are not competitive with the other area cemeteries. We are working on a pamphlet with all of the updated cemetery information. These pamphlets will be available in the parish office and will be posted on the parish website. Just a reminder that Giselle Bango has taken over as our parish website coordinator. If you have anything that needs to be posted please contact her. Patty Snipes our Parish Cemetery Coordinator has been hard at work cleaning up all of the cemetery issues. She has been busy updating burial records, the cemetery burial layout schematic and preparing new cemetery burial contacts. So, we are making good progress with our cemetery.

We have applied for a grant to pay for a new sound system for the church and the parish hall. I have been told that the grants will be handed out this month. Please keep this before our dear Lord Jesus in prayer. Receiving this grant would be a great blessing for our parish as new sound systems are desperately needed.

 Regarding the parish hall. The Archdiocese of Santa Fe requires a $95.00 dollar insurance fee for use of the hall. The parish has set a new standard rate of $200.00 for use of the hall by parishioners. This will help defray the costs of the utilities and the general wear and tear on the hall itself.

As I have mentioned the sale of property west of the cemetery has fallen through again. The couple that had planned on purchasing the property could not come up with all of the financing needed and decided to back out. After discussion with the finance council, it was decided that it was in the best interest of the parish to release them from the contact. The finance council has also voted to change realtors. So, we are back to square one yet again. More will follow on this topic. Please stay tuned.

Just a reminder that we are closing in on our Annual Catholic Appeal Goal. Please make your donation. Coffee and doughnuts are set to begin again on Sunday September 27th after the masses. Please come and join us. I will be sharing more with you in the coming weeks.

Blessings

Fr. Jim