Sunday: 5:30PM Vigil Mass $219; Sunday 8:30AM $657; 10:00AM $503; 11:00AM $337; 12:30PM$1352; 8:00PM $397; Week Masses & donations $767; Total $4232– Thank you!
–During Lent every year we hold the Stewardship Appeal (formerly Cardinal’s Appeal). The goal assigned to our parish is $24,500, (1/6th of annual Sun. Collections) using same formula for all parishes. I intend to have an in-pews appeal next weekend. We have always been able in the past to reach the goal and even though the economy is bad I hope that we’ll do it this year too. To do that I need the cooperation of all of the parish. Even of those who perhaps have sat on the fence in previous years. The Arch. is engaged in a lot of re-thinking and re-organization and needs our help. There are envelopes at the back that you can use to send your contributions directly to the Arch or to pass them on to me and I will gladly forward them. This of course includes me. If all participate it becomes less onerous for everyone. If you truly love your priests, your parish, you meet the goal because if we don’t we’ll never hear the end of it and it will all be my fault; they will be thinking that I am a lousy pastor, not able to inspire and motivate you. That is how it works in the real world. Help us out!!
Jaime Bernstein
–The Mass of inauguration of the chair lift last Sunday was very nice and well attended. I received great compliments. We always give praise to God only! But yes I was relieved that everything worked out well. The Bernstein family was delighted and pleased and grateful for the opportunity of honoring their “Julia”. They invited me to their apartment after Mass for a nice lunch and we spent a little time reminiscing about feisty Julia. It was also Nina’s birthday, the youngest of the Bernstein children.
Nina Bernstein Simmons
The funniest of stories was recounted by Jamie and I laughed so heartily. When Nina was born during the night, Jamie the eldest sister was anxious to know about the new sibling and she ran early in the morning to Julia wanting to know about the new arrival. “Is it a girl, is it a girl?” Jamie implored and Julia who always had a soft spot for boys answered mimicking her in an annoyed tone of voice: “Is it a girl is it a girl?” Well it was a gorgeous girl, Nina. I complimented Jamie on how well she spoke in church. Hopefully we’ll stay in touch for the future.
–Well my Lenten resolution about alcohol has been shot. I have had to attend too many social events. But I don’t mind because I am still sticking to the idea of an alcohol free Lent in this important sense that when Easter comes round out of 50 days maybe I’ve had 40 alcohol free days. I used to take a nightcap before I go to bed but not now. I am on pure water. I don’t touch sodas either since I read that they might be connected with pancreatic cancer. Must say, my body (and mind) feels better.
–Just today the Traditional branch of the Anglican Church here in US has officially requested the Vatican to be incorporated into the Catholic Church in block. I don’t know how big they are compared to the non-Traditional. I think this is big.
– There is no question that Archbishop Dolan is directing the senior bodies to focus attention on the problems facing our Archdiocese. Some hints from the Feb meeting of the Senate, the senior body of priests. Msgr. Mustaciuolo presented the financial aspects of the report, “Pathways to Excellence”. It will take two to five years to implement the plan. At the same time parish planning will also be taking place under the leadership of Bishop Sullivan. Monsignor stated that it is hoped that there will only be one set of school closings, which will be announced in February of 2011. However, before we arrive at that point much work has to be accomplished. Already the Education Department has a lot of data concerning all of the schools. The process of saving and improving our schools will start in September of 2010. At that time a panel of pastors with schools, as well as pastors without schools, together with business people and those who served on ARAP (the panel that advised the Archbishop on Parish Planning), will suggest a list of those schools which should be closed and/or merged. This process will last from September to November. During November 2010 the pastors of those targeted schools will be contacted and worked with. Beginning in December 2010 and January 2011, principals, teachers and parents (of the targeted schools) will be involved in discussions concerning their schools. It is hoped that by discussing the collected data, concerning their school, the principal, teachers and school parents will decide their school should be closed and/or merged. It is expected that by the end of February 2011 the process will be complete and those schools to be closed and/or merged will be announced. It is hoped that by this process all interested parties will have had their voices heard and will have participated in the process. Monsignor stated that the decision to close a school should come from the local level and not be imposed from downtown. As soon as we make the decision on the closing of schools, we then go to the regional vicars about clustering schools and how many do we need in each vicariate. Each cluster will form a board of pastors, principals, business and other laypeople, to advise the pastors of each school. 
These boards will only be advisory and not for governance. After a short break to enjoy the archbishop’s birthday cake, Dr. Timothy McNiff then handed out copies of the report, Pathways to Excellence. He stated that he would like the 54 strategies found in the study, to be implemented within the next three years. We need, he stated, to get and train the right adults in this ministry, primarily principals, but also the teachers. He noted that 41% of Catholic School teachers are not certified in religion. Dr. McNiff hopes that the members of the council will read, and study, the Pathways to Excellence report so that when he returns to the senate in April a fruitful discussion will ensue. Moving from this topic, Dr. McNiff added that it is his goal to have 80 principals and 500 teachers in a database so that pastors who need principals and principals who need teachers can avail themselves of qualified candidates for teaching positions. At this juncture there are about one hundred teachers in the database. Also, he mentioned that a lot of data is collected using the standardized tests. Dr. McNiff stated that we need to use the data gleamed for better classroom instruction. Built into next year’s academic calendar will be two “data days” to train teachers to interpret data from the standardized tests and the ITBS tests. These two days will be used in helping the teachers focus on the academic program within each school. Also, Dr. McNiff mentioned that there are five teams helping schools with marketing themselves. He also mentioned that a study was conducted by Notre Dame University concerning education, demographics and ethnicity. One of the findings of the study was that if the number of Hispanics (3%) who presently attend Catholic Schools were to double to 6%, every seat would be filled in Catholic Schools.
–Father Baker, the representative from South Manhattan, went on to say that the area around Tomkins Square Park has enough churches. There are many churches within a few blocks of where the reconstruction of Saint Brigid’s is taking place. It is the feeling of the priests of the area conference that the dispersed parishioners who already have made a home in new parishes will leave and return to the restored Saint Brigid’s. This will leave already weakened and half-filled churches even more distressed. Father Baker voiced the concern that the only reason Saint Brigid’s is being restored is because a benefactor is donating millions of dollars towards it. Where are the priests to staff it going to come from short as we are? The area conference would like to participate in the process. The Archbishop said absolutely.
–Here are current statistics about Age of ADNY Priests: Under 30 4; 30-39 34; 40-49 101; 50-59 117; 60-69 151; 70-79 61;80-89 97; 90-100 14; Median Age of ADNY Priests 62;Age Distribut. for Retired Priests: Under 70 4; 70-79 41 (20 active as senior priests); 80-89 51 (18 active as senior priests); 90-100 13 (1 active as a senior priest). Unassigned Priests at this time 17. Father Devery (the priest personnel director) mentioned that we lose about 25 priests per year from retirement and death. In his estimation, by the year 2015, there will be 357 Archdiocesan priests. In 2010 Total ADNY Priests 604; in 1970 Total ADNY Priests 1,202. Two issues. Some priests have asked the Arch to study the possibility of lowering retirement age to 70 yrs. How could that be possible with dwindling numbers? Secondly they asked for priests’ wages to be increased in a situation of lack of money and closing of schools and tough economy, how wise could that be? In conclusion the Archbishop thanked the Chancellor and Dr. McNiff for their hard work (for schools). The future of Catholic Education is a huge problem that should involve all. There is no easy answer to it. We will always be sacrificing and struggling to keep them open. There should be a sharing of the burden between Arch and parish. We are aiming for increased enrollment, to use money better, especially for our religious education programs. He reminded all that in proper prospective, schools exist to enhance and feed the parish, not the other way around. Archbishop Dolan said that the pilgrimage to Ars was phenomenal; also thanked the priests and the people of the archdiocese for raising almost $2 million for Haiti.
