July 9th

Dear Friends, 
I had to write this by June 28 because of the early bulletin submission deadline due to the 4th of July holiday… so hopefully all will go according to plan and Fr. Paul Klavins will have made it to our parish from Riga, Latvia by the time you read this. 😊 I am away at a family wedding in Michigan this weekend, and so the plan is for him to celebrate all the Masses in my absence- so you’ll get the chance to meet and hopefully greet him. Fr. Klavins will work part-time as associate pastor at our parish through next June, while also taking advantage of some sabbatical time granted to him by his diocese. He will live with Fr. Rich and me. Please help to make him feel welcome. I am sure he would appreciate any invitations to spend time with parishioners to get to know you better! 
 The past week or so into next week I am getting around to visit the home-bound of our parish. I am grateful to our Ministers of Care, who visit them regularly and bring them communion- often on a weekly basis. If you know of someone who is not able to come to church and would like someone to bring them communion, please let me know. Also, I have come to realize that we often have parishioners who are ill or hospitalized and I did not know about it. In the old days, hospitals contacted parishes directly to let us know when our parishioners were hospitalized- but privacy laws now forbid this. The only way I learn about someone who is ill or hospitalized is if a friend of family member tells me… so please, let me know. I want to pray for them and will do my best to visit them, if they would like a visit. 
 This past week our new Director of Parish Schools and Principal of BCA, Kelly Bourrell, formally started work here (she has been coming in informally over the past month or so). She and Dan Flaherty managed a good transition, and she and Julie Jurisic (Principal at St. Gabriel Catholic School) are developing their collaboration model as they prepare for their first year of working together. I am grateful to Mr. Flaherty for his three years with us during very trying times, and wish him well as he prepares to lead a Catholic school in Wauconda, which is much closer to his home.  
 
May your week reflect the encounter with Christ we experienced at Mass today!