1.This year was the first year that
2.St. Patrick had their magnificent smorgasbord in the fall and the
delicious ham dinner in the spring, as well as helping with the Potato Fest and
the Community Club dinners.
3.
There were several tremendous adult education opportunities this past year.
Thanks to some generous donations by some parishioners, a special continuing
education fund was started in order to be able to pay an ample stipend to
speakers traveling from Rochester, Geneseo, and Syracuse. There were excellent
presentations on scripture, liturgy, and other areas of interest. There was an
average of 80 people attending (up from an average of 70 last year) including
one session that had 100 people. We also had people from other parishes and
protestant congregations come to hear these outstanding speakers. The end of
the year evaluation of the speakers was again extremely positive. A new feature
added this year was a break after an hour of the presentation, so that those
who attended could have some coffee and refreshments. Then the talk continued
until the children finished their Faith Formation sessions. There was an
excellent article in the Catholic Courier on this very unique and dynamic
program. Already exciting speakers are in place for next year. We had nine
catechists this year working with 65 children in grades 1-6, which continues
the expansion again of our faith formation program. We also had children
prepared for the sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Eucharist. We had
Confirmation with Bishop Clark in the fall, which was done for the first
time with our area cluster parishes. We also continued to develop our new
Youth Ministry Program. The crowning event for the year was attending World
Youth Day in Toronto with Pope John Paul II. Sr. Catherine also had programs on
the bible as well as fun events such as attending a Syracuse basketball game,
swimming, skating, the corn maze and the junior high "Rock Retreat".
One of the great aspects of this program is the cooperation with St. Michael’s
in Lyons.
4.
St. John’s folk choir began to play every other week at the 10:30 mass. There
were wonderful liturgies at Christmas time and Holy Week, with music provided
by our adult choir. There was a special blessing for married couples at the
Mass, including honoring those who celebrated anniversaries. There were
Communal Penance Services (with several priest available) in Advent and Lent.
New microphones and speakers in the choir loft were added at St. John’s. Holy
Thursday and the Easter Vigil were done together with St Michael's in Lyons.
Liturgical ministries and parishioners participated from all three parishes. A
new practice began of offering memorials of flowers or sanctuary candles for
those who have died.
5. We had our third annual Mass
of Remembrance for parishioners who had lost a relative during the last year.
It was well attended and very moving to all that participated. St. John
continued to offer the Martha Ministry, which provides hospitality for families
after a funeral, through preparing meal and refreshments. (This has been done
for quite a few years at St. Patrick) It was tremendous to see that 62 people
volunteered to help and gave donations to fund this wonderful ministry.
Families expressed their deep gratitude to the parish for their generous
offering at a very difficult time. More altar servers and Eucharistic Ministers were trained,
including several of our young people.
6. The Buildings and Grounds
Committee, along with Kip DeLisio and other generous volunteers, were very busy
this past year. After the wonderful renovation of the St. John's School
kitchen, there were a number of additional improvements to the school,
including halls that were painted and school meeting rooms that were renovated.
There was a beautiful new ceiling and lights put in the school hall. New
insulation and drywall were installed for the walls facing the outside in order
to keep the hall warmer. There was an excellent article in the Crossroad
Advocate on the renovations of the school. This wonderful publicity was
responsible in part for the first wedding reception being held in the hall in
about 25 years, as well as other several other events that have been scheduled.
Volunteer cleaners continued to keep St John and St. Patrick looking beautiful.
A new sewer line was put into the school. A new Xerox machine and a new
computer were installed in the rectory office for more effective office work.
Locks and panic bars were fixed on all buildings.
7.
An agreement (for one year) was reached with the Clyde Community Pre--School to
begin to use a classroom at St. John School in the fall. It is exciting to see
part of the building used again as a school. This program (along with the noon
meal program, the Food Pantry, the Faith Formation Program, the Boy Scouts, the
Girl Scouts, the Martha Ministry, the Holy Name, the Catholic Daughters, Martha
Ministry, many parish dinners, community functions, etc) reflects the
tremendous development of the school in such a short period of time and affirms
the importance of doing so many renovations to the school.
8. In the area of Social Ministry, the food
cupboard continued to distribute food to needy members of our community,
including giving out 70 Christmas baskets. St. John was able to get the funds
for a generator for a Catholic School in Haiti. The children in this very poor
area have electricity only one evening a week, which hinders their
ability to study. The generator will now allow them to study every night at the
school. St. John was also instrumental in helping to raise $11,000 for the
Payatas Community in the Philippines, which was matched with an additional
$11,000 by a Canadian Foundation. The money was sent to Catholic Charities in
Edmonton, Alberta Canada who in turn forwarded the money to the Religious of
the Virgin Mary's Mothers Social Apostolate Center in the Philippines. They are
the only NGO (non-governmental agency) working with the 250,000 people, who
live in a massive garbage dump in Manila, Philippines. The Rice Bowl collection
from St. John/St. Patrick, for the needy, was again one of the highest in the
diocese. The Social Ministry Committee added new members and began a process of
reviewing its mission within the parish. There was also a number of bulletin
inserts on the different life issues. It was a way to keep before the parish
information about important issues that are faced today.
9. A committee led by Bruce Liseno developed
an emergency plan for all the parishes' buildings, including emergency kits and
carbon monoxide detectors for each building (for both St. John & St.
Patrick). This should ad to the safety for those that use our facilities.
10.Catholic
Daughters had several successful undertakings this year.
11.The
Holy Name Society in conjunction with St. John's parish council began an
exciting scholarship program for graduating seniors (St. Patrick has been doing
this for years) and also funded the new lights in our school hall, as well as
paving in the cemetery.
12. The number of Eucharistic
Ministers to the sick increased again this year.
13.The
Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts were honored on Scout Sunday at the 10:30 Mass
followed by a reception in the Rectory. St. John's has sponsored the scouts for
over 33 years.
14.Both
parishes surpassed our TGA goal for the third consecutive year.
15.St.
John received $10,000 for its boiler from the diocesan Self-Insurance Program
16.One
of the big undertakings last year were St. John/St. Patrick conducting a census
with the other parishes in the cluster. This data can now be used to invite
those who don't regularly attend either parish.
17.
St. Bridget's Gospel Choir came from the city of Rochester to lead the music in
a dynamic liturgy followed by a wonderful Ziti dinner.
18. One of the most exciting factors this year
was the significant increase of baptisms (11 last year to 20 this
year).This reflects the crucial parish goal of evangelization, especially
reaching out to young families.