07/12/2026

Dear Friends,

We have entered what is traditionally a quiet month in the parish. Schools and RE are closed; parish programming is reduced (although Personal Training in Prayer still has a couple of weeks- almost 20 people are taking part!). We’re tackling some maintenance projects and doing a deep-clean in the school buildings. I’ll use these weeks to reflect on the past year and start putting together notes for the September State of the Parish report. Looking at the fiscal year that ended in June, it appears that collections were up a little last year- though not enough to cover all our expenses. We’ll get our parish/schools calendars filled-in this month and prepare to hit the ground running sometime in August.

The work on the church floors at Saint Gabriel is moving along. The replacement of the final wood section should finish up this week, I hope. We’ll then begin restoring the terrazzo. We will have some extra pews when this is all over, as by separating each row by a couple of inches (economy-plus seating😊) we will fill up the floor space with fewer pews. Also, there were three pews on each side screwed into the terrazzo in the very back. My gut says we should leave that terrazzo floor untouched once it is restored. We’ll still have enough room in church for at least three times the number of people we usually get for Mass. It would leave us with a larger gathering space in back as well. (It would be nice to enclose that with glass someday.) I’ll be interested in your input/opinions once we have the floors completed. Unneeded pews could be re-sized for people to purchase, or we could raffle them off.

A good chunk of the Generation-to-Generation campaign funds are designated to replace the worn-out roof at our Nativity of Our Lord church. The plan has been to do this once we have enough money in from the campaign. But June thunderstorms and winds damaged the tired roof even further, and that damage has made its way to the church ceiling. Insurance should pay to repaint the ceiling when we are ready, and we are looking into obtaining a bridge loan so that we can tackle the new roof project sooner rather than later. (It seems crazy to spend thousands on a repair that will just get torn off in a year or two when it is replaced.) I’ll keep you posted on this as it develops.

May your week reflect the encounter with Christ we experienced at Mass today!

​-Rev. James F. Hurlbert