Parties & Fundraisers

Friends

    Peace be with you. 

    October is filled with events, so many in fact that I feel a little overwhelmed just thinking about them. We start by sending Deacon Dan Hoeger into retirement with a party following the 10:00 Mass next weekend, on the 13th. The following weekend, October 20th after the 10:00 Mass, we will recognize that I’m 50 years old with a small birthday party. It won’t be anything fancy and please don’t give me gifts. My actual birthday is Wednesday October 16 and I really hope to do three things that day: celebrate Mass, work at Metro Catholic Outreach, go to the gym, and ride my bike to Jams for a seasonal scone. That weekend will also be a state-wide Eucharistic Event and the KMMK fundraiser on the same night, October 19th. As one of the “on air” talents for KMMK, I’ll be at the fundraiser but both sound like awesome events! We’ll finish out the month with our Holy Spirit, Healing Fire mission on October 27-29th. I’ll have more to say about each of these events as they get closer. 

    In the midst of that, you’re going to hear about the Xavier Impact Fund. This used to be primarily for Xavier High School but, with the systemization that happened at the end of last year, it now affects all the Catholic schools in town. They’re saying that it will go to promoting faith and updated building needs. I’m sure some of you are wondering how the Catholic schools can still need money with the creation of the Educational Savings Accounts. The truth is that it costs more than the $7800 yearly ESA cap to educate a student. Somewhere along the way, I heard that our Catholic schools were averaging $12,000 to $13,000 to educate students, which is less than the cost of public schools from what I understand. Part of the reason for that discrepancy is that we haven’t paid our teachers as much as they deserve, a fact that the Xavier Impact Fund has sought to address in order to retrain and recruit great, faithful teachers for our kids. We also provide classes in faith that public schools shouldn’t. Having been intimately involved with LaSalle the past two years, I can tell you that certain necessary building improvements have been put on hold because of a lack of funds and the Impact Fund will help to make sure our kids have the best space possible for an education. As I understand it, this will not be to address the possible creation or renovation of a place for a new middle school. There is a committee that has studied the issue and made a recommendation to the Xavier Catholic System School Board and it will come before the Pastor’s Board before it moves to the general public. But that will be a separate fundraising event in the future. I’ll do my best to keep you informed of all of this. 

    Know of my prayers.