Dear Parishioners and Friends,

THERE IS NO VACATION FROM GOD! For more than forty years I have used this sentence as a kind of summer slogan. I proclaim it to our students prior to their summer recess; I preach it from the pulpit. I wouldn’t want anyone to forget this especially if our Lord has given us an opportunity to travel within our blessed country or to far off lands. The Lord shouldn’t be far from our thoughts whether at home or abroad. When we used them, The Yellow Pages could always be relied upon to find a nearby church simply by looking up: Churches – Roman Catholic. Today it’s even easier to ask Google or Siri “Where is the nearest Catholic Church?” in order to not only find a church location, but most of the time anything and everything else about a parish on their web site. It’s really hard to find an excuse unless it’s just “I don’t have time for God on my vacation.”

The big excitement around our parish is, of course, the restoration of our pipe organ. It was removed the week of June 11^th to be restored in Stowe, Pennsylvania. That will take most of the summer until sometime in late September when it will be rebuilt in our choir loft. One challenge we will all face when the organ is returned is to provide at least two weeks of as much quiet in the Cathedral as possible in order to tune each pipe. However, we’ll face that when it will be time.

We have more than reached our goal thanks to your generosity. As I write this message we have accumulated 102% of the goal of $420,000. Chairman George Trapp, who is also the Chairman of our parish Finance Council, has led the way to achievement in just fifteen weeks of fundraising. There are not many parishes who can be so successful in such a short time. This has been accomplished in addition to reaching 98% of our goal for the Bishop’s Annual Appeal ($343,000), and maintaining our weekly contributions thanks to the E-Giving Program under the tireless direction of Joseph Donahue, Boris Moczula, Kara Kwiatkowski and David Liantonio.

Sorry for writing so much about money this month, but I like to keep you informed. You can be very proud of what you have achieved in this parish home of ours. However, we can never forget the spiritual achievements with which our Lord continues to bless us. No vacation! Bring your children to holy Mass. Make it a point to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance. Read the Scriptures. Adore our Lord in the holy Eucharist. Visit the sick. Pray for the living and the dead. Relax and give thanks. God and our Blessed Mother bless and protect you along with Saint Francis of Assisi.

In Christ’s service,

                                                              
Rev. Msgr. Robert J. Zamorski
Rector