Dear Family,
Thank you for making your gift and/or pledge to ABCD 2023. The brochure we gave you underlines in very simple terms the outreach that you, (The Church of Miami,) is able to do for the various needs of our Archdiocese.
Our portion of the goal is $143,516. I’m kicking it off with my gift of $5,000. I would normally never tell you that, but I want to make the point that this is really important for us. And... the practice of the Archdio¬cese is to return to each parish any excess over their goal. That allows us to focus on our own outreach projects as well.
It’s important to me because all the way back in 1958 when the Diocese of Miami was established, one of the first things Bishop Coleman Carroll did after arriving in the city was to announce that we were going to build a seminary.
I was already in the seminary in Hartford, Connecticut because we had no seminaries south of Baltimore or east of Little Rock. Bishop Carroll had a fund drive within months of coming. I think it was called the Diocesan Development Fund, DDF.
I forget the first goal, but the amazing thing was that people came through with twice as much as he asked for, and that was how St. John Vianney Seminary began. Each year the fund continued and never failed to meet its goal.
The short version of my own story is that within two years I was able to come back home for my studies. I was in the first class that went through St. John Vianney minor (later College) seminary, and then St. Vincent de Paul major (later Regional) seminary.
So, you see I have a very personal gratitude for DDF and ultimately ABCD. Not only did DDF build the building; it (you) also paid for the tuition to attend those great schools. That’s why I’m happy to be first in line to help ABCD in our own time for the important things it is doing.
Our annual Fish Fry will be coming up in a few weeks (Feb. 17th.) Someone remarked that very possibly this will be the last year that our great crew will have to prepare the fish at the Fifteenth Street Fisheries. The Fisheries has been a great blessing for us, but it still required folk to go there to prepare, and then truck it all here to cook.
With a good deal of prayer and a touch of spicey luck we may have our own kitchen by the time Fish Fry ’24 rolls around.
Speaking of FISH FRYS, you’ll be happy to know that an anonymous donor has sponsored the drinks for this year. Including drinks in the price of the ticket at the spaghetti dinner worked very well and made handling the drinks so much easier.
As to kitchens, all the bids for the project were to be submitted to the Archdiocese by 3:00 p.m. on Friday. I can’t wait. I’ve always wanted to bread fish in my own kitchen.
(I have the absolute conviction that someone is going to remember I said that next year. I only open my mouth to change feet. I don’t know what the equivalent is when your fingers type things on your keyboard, but I know I’ll be reminded.)
Last, but definitely not least, we are grateful for the great work of Penfield Window Cleaning. They sure do more than windows. From the sidewalks to the roof of the Main Sanctuary, the mold disappeared.
You don’t realize just how badly mold can affect the way things look until it’s gone. Like so many things in life, we just get used to things that aren’t quite right but live with it. Who knew there could be a great homily in mold removal. Thanks, Penfield Crew.
In Jesus,
