We welcomed Kiera Hruby into our Catholic Faith last Sunday through holy baptism. May she be taught the ways of faith through her parents and godparents.

     Congratulations to Kay Rama & Angel Saaverdra who are being married this weekend by a visiting Filipino priest. May the Lord grant them many happy and holy years together.

     While our summer maintenance crew is busy cleaning the school building and working on many different projects, we have made plans to have the cafeteria windows replaced this summer. The windows throughout the school building are really showing signs of their age and are not efficient in keeping the cold air out in the winter or the cool air in during the summer. You will see a big difference once they are installed on the northern wall of the cafeteria which faces the parking lot. We are also having the gym windows replaced as many of them are cracked, have holes, and again are terribly inefficient due to their age. We are replacing them with glass block so that we can let light into the gym (and hence remove the blue curtains that currently cover the windows & which are always hanging improperly as they are hit with basketballs, etc.). We will replace the windows on the north side of the gym (facing the entrance of our property off of Broadview) this summer & the ones on the south side of the gym next summer. These are expensive projects but ones we don’t want to put off any longer. Gratefully our budget permits this thanks to your continued generous contributions and to the continued number of students in our school (which we predict will continue to remain around 300). This is also in anticipation of the 75th Anniversary of our parish which we will begin to celebrate this fall. More on that in upcoming weeks.

     I’m still working on gathering photos from our pilgrimage to the Holy Land that I can post on our website. But I’m also planning my next trip to Europe which I would like to open up to others who would be interested in joining me. The only disappointment in our trip to Israel was the food..not the quality of it but the type of food that is somehow digested regularly by those who live there. I learned that 75% of the Mediterranean meal is made up of vegetables. This is a true affront to carnivores everywhere. I can deal quite happily with corn on the cob, potatoes (actually a vegetable but not always thought of as one) and even fruits like bananas (especially when in a pie). But the meat served in Israel was pretty scarce (and served at odd times, such as hot dogs for breakfast). Again, the hotels put on a beautiful spread, appreciated by most of the tourists I’m sure, but thank God we stopped at a McDonald’s once during the week so that I could fondly remember what real American food tastes like (the size of their burger by the way was 10 times the size & weight of a burger from the same place here in the States..and we have pictures to prove it!). Anyway, I certainly survived those days of fasting (helped by their surprise meal of lasagna for me!), but I did miss my daily pasta. So I figured I better make up for this diet deficiency by planning another trip to the pasta capital of the world...Italy. I’m looking at taking this trip in March of 2023 and it will begin in Venice. From there we will make our way to Padua (to celebrate Mass at the famous church of St. Anthony of Padua) and then perhaps a day or two in Florence, along with a day in Assisi, before heading to Rome for a good 4 days. The itinerary is flexible & can change according to the desires of those wishing to accompany me, but I’m comforted knowing that wherever we go there, pasta will be plentiful. More details will be forthcoming, but let me know of your interest. Anticipated cost for our 11 day trip will be below $4000 per person. Time to make up for lost travels during the pandemic years.