Dear Church,
Pope Benedict once used the example of stained-glass windows in a homily about the church. He said that the stained-glass windows of our churches are a powerful symbol of the difference the Light of the Gospel makes when you are inside the church and outside the church. From the outside, stained-glass windows are dark, obscure, not beautiful, and incomprehensible. From the inside, stained-glass windows are bright and beautiful. The light shines through and makes the symbols in the window able to be seen and understood. The light of faith makes the same difference in our lives. When we are ‘outside the church’ so to speak when we are separated from God’s love and light we see the world in a dark and obscure way and not seeing God’s hand in our lives. When we are ‘in the church’ then the light of faith has penetrated our hearts and we can see all the good God is doing in the world and in our lives. Let us choose to be people of light!
This past September we issued a detailed financial report from our parish. I hope you found it helpful. As noted in our financial report, every year we undertake a few major improvement/repair projects to maintain the parish and we have come a long way already! One of the major undertakings is to replace all the rotted frames holding in our stained-glass windows, many of which have been donated in memory of a beloved family or family member. This project was in the works before the pandemic. To date, we have reframed the main window over the altar ($18,000) and a window by the old entrance to the Church ($6,500). The scope of the project is to replace the rotting wooden frames of each stained-glass window with a composite that will not rot. Before we can commit to reframing all the windows, we continue to raise the necessary funds. Each of the windows will cost between $6,500 and $10,000 to reframe. The total project is estimated to cost over $300,000. If you have memorialized a window in the past for your family or a loved one or a special intention, please consider adopting the window to reframe. At the completion of the project we will erect a plaque to thank all who contributed to the Stained-Glass Window Reframing Project. Thank you in advance for your support. Together we can reframe our beautiful windows so that they can continue to let the Light of Christ shine in for future generations.
Fr. Mario