Bulletin for April 30

Dear friends in Christ,

Welcome to our 32nd annual CtR Spring Festival weekend! Come one, come all!

If you are reading this on Saturday night or any time on Sunday, I hope you will make plans to stop by the Festival and enjoy everything that it has to offer. And I do mean everything. We’ve got plenty of space to spread out and a few new rides and games this year. The food booths and auction tent are back in the usual spots, but take time to wander around the grounds to see all there is to offer. From the delicious homemade barbeque dinner from our new smokin’ team in the Community Center (followed by bingo in the mid-afternoon), to the live and silent auctions under the big tent, to the games for the kids, there is truly something for everyone. The Wine Garden is back again for the adults. The Sweet Shop will satisfy any child’s (or adult’s) sugar craving and the Plant Booth will give your green thumb a new friend to care for. Don’t forget the ever-popular Flea Market where you can find anything and everything under the sun. Make us an offer as everything must go!
    
The Spring Festival is truly a community event and it only happens through the generosity of time and talent from all of our great volunteers. Look for the Festival Committee members in their specially designated “Staff” T-shirts and tell them thank you for their hard work. They are parishioners, just like you and me, who give selflessly so that we can enjoy a great weekend of family fun. My special thanks to our Festival chairpersons, Mike and Camille Havelka. Every year they seem to top themselves. You must find them and tell them how much you appreciate their hard work. Thanks also to Tony and Beckie Croes for their work on the auction and all the members of our core committee. The entire committee and all our great volunteers deserve our support and gratitude, but for now get out there and enjoy the Festival, buy your raffle tickets (it’s not too late as the drawing is at 7 p.m. on Sunday at the close of the Festival), and support our parish. This is our No. 1 fundraiser for the parish the entire year so your help is especially needed. I’ll be there and I hope to see all of you, too!

If you didn’t get a chance to volunteer at this year’s Festival, but still want to lend a hand, you are in luck. How about showing up Sunday at 7:01 p.m. after the raffle drawing and help us tear down the booths and stack chairs? If we have a good number pitch in, you will be amazed at how fast we can get everything back in order. Old or young, male or female, it matters not. A few minutes of your time at the close on Sunday night will be a great help. And if some of you are free on Monday and Tuesday of this coming week, swing by for some last minute help in getting everything put away in the sheds in the back parking lot. I know Mike Havelka would truly appreciate it, and since he does so much for us, how about lending him a hnad Sunday night or Monday as a show of support for all his hard work? Thank you in advance for helping with the clean-up. It really means a lot.

I’ll be back next week with more news from the Festival. As always, it will take a few weeks to settle all the accounts but we are looking for another big year. Of course while the revenue is welcomed and we certainly depend on it to fund the operations of the parish, the real benefit comes in the spirit that is developed and the community that is formed at the Festival. There is a real sense of joy and I am always amazed at just the sheer happiness I see on all the faces. I don’t just say that because I’m the pastor. You can honestly sense that this a parish community that enjoys celebrating with one another. What a true blessing that is for all of us. So come, come all!    
 

Groundbreaking for RAC - 12:30 p.m. Next Sunday, May 7 After the excitement of the Spring Festival this weekend, we continue our celebration and invite you to join us next Sunday, May 7, for the Groundbreaking Ceremony and Picnic of the new Redeemer Activity Center (RAC). It will run from 12:30-2:30 p.m. next Sunday on the field behind the Parish Life Center and Education Building. We’ll have a big tent set up, and we encourage you to bring smaller individual pop-up tents, lawn chairs and blankets. Bring a picnic lunch with you (perhaps keeping it in a cooler in your car while you attend the 11 a.m. Mass.) We’ll have sno-cones, popcorn, music and other fun activities for the whole family. We encourage you to bring a jug of water that will be blessed and then you can sprinkle holy water on the ground where the RAC will be constructed. We’ll have the outline of the building staked so you can see exactly where the gym, auditorium, Youth Ministry suite, and other classrooms will be located. We’ll have time for prayer and “turning the dirt” as we ask God’s blessing on the final phase of our Master Plan.  Make plans to join us for this historic day in the life of CtR. Construction gets under way this this month, and by summer of 2018, our new facility will be open for use by our entire parish community. My thanks to all have made a gift to the Capital Campaign to construct the RAC, and of course, I encourage everyone to join in by making a pledge to help make it a reality. It’s only through your generosity and good Stewardship that we are able to provide for the needs of our community both now and for generations to come. I look forward to seeing you at 12:30 p.m. next Sunday. I'll be easy to spot in my hard hat!

In other important news, registration for next year’s (2017-18) Religious Education classes will open tomorrow, Monday, May 1. You may register children in grades Pre-K through 7th online at our parish website. We are also in need of catechists to help us teach the faith, so please consider signing up yourself. We’ll give you all the training and help you along the way, but parents are the best teachers of the faith. We invite you to partner with us in passing on the great gift of faith to you children. If you want to ensure the best range of options for class times, take care of your registration now. Don’t delay! It’s one less thing to worry about over the summer. And speaking of summer, registration for Vacation Bible School also gets underway on Tuesday, May 2. VBS will be June 19-23, with two sessions (morning and evening) each day of the week. See our parish website for more information on registration for children and volunteering as a catechist.

Peace,
Fr. Sean