On Thursday, May 8th, Bishop John Leibrecht, retired Bishop of the Springfield-Cape diocese confirmed 25 of our 7th and 8th graders. It was truly a lovely celebration. My thanks to Kathy Reid, Barb Jackson and the members of the adult choir who were joined by some of our grade school students to lead the singing. You were magnificent! Though I never say it often enough, THANK YOU for the amazing gift of sacred song, prayerfully led and wonderfully chosen, every time you lead the music at our celebrations. What a gift to our worshipping community and our Confirmands.
Thanks also to the members of our Confirmation Preparation Team. What a gift you bring to our parish community. Not only did you lead our Confirmands in prayer and reflection about the Gifts of the Spirit and the Spirit’s role in our lives each of those eight Sunday mornings, but you also witnessed to the concrete effects of the Spirit’s invitations by your lives of service and love. Thanks to Matt Bono, Marie Carter, Chris Dulle, Kate Flatley, Megan Horner, and Holly Scheibel for the gift you are to our parish.
All but the last bills are in, a few receivables are outstanding, the tablecloths are washed, the projectors put away, the date is nearly set for the ‘Thank you dinner’ for the workers, and everything but the thank you notes to our generous sponsors are done for our 44th Annual Sponsor’s Dinner Dance. I wanted to take this time to thank ALL OF YOU for making this fundraiser such a huge success. Whether you helped with decorations, did the set up or tear down, bought a raffle ticket or donated an item for the silent auction, were a sponsor or simply participated in the event, we could not have done it without you. The grand total for this year is looking to be over $61,000. YEA YOU!
In the past, we have been blessed to be able to use the funds for a lot of extra’s around the school – from Mimio projectors to new playground equipment to teacher’s wish lists and the like. This year, however, we are at a different place. As you know, the Missouri Transfer Law affected our enrollment more negatively than we would have liked, with a net loss of about 7 students. Certain incentive programs which we believe will help long term, are an added expense in the short term. The net result is this: The bulk of the Dinner Dance funding will be going to operating expenses. Teacher’s will have what they need to enhance our student learning through the Wish List/Fund a Need monies. But, there will be no ‘big ticket’ items this year. Quality teachers, a solid school and being able to pay the bills are very worthy goals to have achieved. Thanks to one and all for making that possible…