Progress

After several weeks of hibernation, the building committee (at least those would were able) gathered today with Fr. Perry and met with a Liturgical Consultant. A very constructive dialog took place and the committee received some needed advice on moving our little project forward.

In the meantime, the diocese has sent out our initial request for proposals to the short list of architects, with a due date of October 31 @ 2PM. From there, we can begin to schedule interviews and listen to their vision(s) for our property.

I know it has been spotty of late but, please keep checking in for the latest info.

Thanks for being patient! Please pray for continued patience and as always, for vocations!!!

MGD

From the Pastor.....

A few bits of info to share with you.

• HOME MASSES: Thus far, 6 households have volunteered to host a HomeMass/Potluck throughout the remainder of the year. The idea is to gather a few families in a home where I can celebrate a simple Mass followed by a potluck. This can help grow our parish and introduce people to each other. The Masses would most likely be on Mondays, Tuesdays or Fridays. I will come up with a variety of dates that families can choose from. Sign-ups will come after we have a few morevolunteers to open their homes. Masses will be casual—indoors or outdoors. If they are popular, we can continue into the Spring! Let me know if you're Interested.
• CHILD CARE: I have received questions about providing child careduring the morning Masses at Frontier. The only problem is there are no rooms available to us. So, I am continuing to explore possibilities about how we might deal with this need. Any ideas?
• RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: Without facilities we really can't startReligious Education classes. The only alternative is to do something"home-based" and that is really difficult with a potentially large number of children. So, I encourage you to sign up your children in your previous parish or another of your choice. Eventually, we will begin to explore organizing our own programs.
• BUILDING COMMITTEE: Requests for proposals from local architectsare being sent out soon. Hopefully, we will decide on an architect and get a Master Site Plan going. This will be the exciting part.
• CAPITAL CAMPAIGN: I will be asking the Finance Council to meet next month to make some decisions about starting a Capital Campaign for our parish building project. The idea is to raise enough money in PHASE 1 to get us in our own building on the property. There are several options for doing this. But, the sooner we get on site, the sooner we can schedule different Mass times, religious ed, youth ministry, etc. I will keep you informed.
• I am finding that this venture requires a great deal of patience. I am learning to take things one day at a time (very difficult). Thanks for your patience, commitment to the parish, and support!

ONWARD

What a Kick Off!!!!

I suppose it shouldn't be any surprise that our first weekend of masses coincided with the NFL's "Kick-Off" Sunday for 2008. What a turnout!!! We attended the 10:30 mass Sunday morning and, it was full. If the room holds 700-750 people, there was easily 600+ at 10:30. Having spoken to some folks who where at the 9:00 mass, my understanding is that it was equally packed. I guess it is the perfect indicator of how badly the NW has needed a Catholic Church. One Mass and we're already growing out of our facilities.
Logistically, things seemed to run pretty smoothly. There will be some wrinkles to iron out but, for the most part, things went exceptionally well.
Thanks to Fr. Perry for his vision and guidance towards the identity of this new family. Thanks to Susan and the music ministry. Thanks to Denise for leading the sacristans; Deacon David for leading the EM's & Lectors. And, thanks to ALL the men & women who helped greet, usher, provide hospitality, set-up, clean-up or serve in any capacity. We can't make this all work without your help. A special thanks to all those who traveled from Fresno to help celebrate our inaugural masses. We know you miss Fr. Perry and are thankful that you are still close enough to help us keep tabs on him! ;)
Now, we need your input. We need to know what your thoughts are now that we've celebrated a mass together. What did you like? What would you like to see different? Tell us your thoughts of our first celebrations. It is your input that can help direct this new parish. Remember, it can be anonymous if you'd prefer.
Thanks and have a great week...We can finally say, see ya' next weekend!
MGD

Down to the Wire

As we approach our first weekend of masses at SEASCC, we here on the blog are also approaching another benchmark. We are about to eclipse 3000 hits in just about 4 months time. I am a bit humbled by the power of mass communication in this format. I never expected to see such a tremendous response to it all.

Now, we are going to make another transition. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, we will be moving all of the parish information from the blog to our new website. setoncatholicchurch.org will be launching very, very soon. It will be the spot for news regarding the parish. We are wanting it to serve as an online bulletin; A place for general information and updates, links to sermons and hopfully, pictures of events and progress. It will be very simple to start and as we grow our community, will be a source of all things SEAS.

We're not done here yet but, I wanted to take a minute to thank Fr. Perry, and all who helped and contributed to this blog. I hope it was/is a place that everyone could come for info, updates and even some friendly debate.
So, thanks again to everyone in the community for your support, your prayers and your contribution to this forum.
MGD

What do you think?

As you can see, we've made a slight change to the banner of the blog. Above, you see the new logo for SEASCC. I was only able to use a scanned copy for now but, I hope to have a good copy soon. I find it to be classy and beautiful. What do you think?

General Information and Welcome Letter

This week, the ladies in the office were very busy stuffing envelopes with an information and welcome letter. The letters were sent and should be delivered this week. If you have not had an opportunity to register your family yet, you may not receive the letter. If this is the case, please contact the parish office and provide them with your mailing info so you can begin to receive parish info.
Part of what was sent was a more official looking registration form. This needs to be completed and sent back to the parish office. It also got me thinking of a new question that I'd like to hear responses to....

Is there any particular ministry or organization that you would like to see developed in the new parish? Please leave your comments here. Remember Fr. Perry is able to see all of your ideas so, please share with us what YOU would like to see by clicking the comments link below.

I will try and get a link to the letter and registration form on the blog, so you can read/fill out/print from home, in the next few days.

Mass Info

We are now just 3 weeks away from our first gathering as a parish. Masses will begin on Sunday Sept. 7th in the performing arts center of Frontier High School @ 9AM and 10:30AM.
Our first ministry has begun to take shape, as a group of young people attended our first altar server meeting this past Saturday. Other ministries will be formed as we move forward. Pray that our young people will use this opportunity to learn more about the mass and enrich their faith.
Remember, we do not have a shortage of vocations. We have a shortage of people open to hear God's call. Turn down the noise in the lives of our children and families and show them how to be silent and listen to our God, who speaks to us everyday in all matters.