Did You Notice Anything New?

Aug 30

Letter from the Pastor
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sept. 1, 2024

Did You Notice Anything New?

I hope you did! This weekend we are happy to roll out the new format for the parish bulletin. The traditional bulletin is typically a collection of dates and times of upcoming events along with other information that needs to be passed on to the community. That won’t go away but we have just organized it a bit differently. If we were to use a newspaper as an example and I want to find out how the Yankees are doing I know where to look. The Sports Section is always in the back of the newspaper. If we want the crossword puzzle we know where to look. We don’t have to leaf through the pages trying to find it.

The new format for the bulletin now presents the information within the different areas that make up St. Francis of Assisi Parish & Center. All things liturgical can be found on pages 4 & 5; Family Faith and Adult Faith Formation will always be on page 6. St. Francis Community Center information is on page 7 and meetings and upcoming events will be on pages 8 & 9. There may be times when we need to expand those areas to other pages but that will be more the exception.

I would like to publicly thank Arian Selmani, of Keel Agency - a Digital Marketing Agency, for his outstanding work creating this new format. Arian is incredibly dedicated to us and to spreading the Good News of our parish as far and wide as possible. Thank you, Arian!! A special thank you to Michele Beck and Amy Marks for working closely with Arian to make this bulletin possible. I want to give a shout out to Patricia Lee from a fellow Franciscan parish community, The Franciscan Renewal Center, Scottsdale, Az. Patricia has been very supportive to us sharing her knowledge and experience as we set out to redesign our bulletin. Thank you, Patricia!!

I expect that there may be some tweaks along the way but I hope you find this new format as exciting as I do.

Anniversary: I am a week late but congratulations to Fr. John Frambes, OFM on the celebration of his 50th Anniversary of his profession as a Franciscan Friar. (This would be our version of a wedding anniversary) His anniversary was actually last Saturday, August 24th. I am sorry John that I’m a week late but the kudos are real. Thank you for your commitment to our Franciscan way of living out the Gospel. In the early years of St. Francis conversion he felt affirmed by God because, as he wrote in his Testament, “…the Lord gave me brothers.” He viewed every brother as a gift from God. As a province and as a local fraternity we are blessed by, with, and through your brotherhood. Thank you, John and Congratulations.

Labor Day: The “end of summer” is always the weekend when we celebrate Labor Day. It may be because some folks now have to go back to work - no more vacations at the shore for this season. But it may also be a time to recognize the gift and benefit of work. We thank God for the work that He has done and we also thank God for the work that He has done through us as we each try to make the world a better place. This weekend we ask God to bless us and the work yet to be done to make the Kingdom of God even more present for all people in our community, in our country, and in our world.

May God continue to bless you and your families with Peace and All Good!

Click to view the new bulletin