After a phenomenal Spring Festival last weekend (much more on that in a moment) we turn our attention this weekend to the Groundbreaking for our new Redeemer Activity Center (RAC). It’s being held today, Sunday, May 7. Please make plans to join us on the field behind the back parking lot near the playground after the 11 a.m. Mass. You’ll see a big tent erected and the outline of the building staked on the ground.
We encourage you to bring smaller individual pop-up tents, lawn chairs, and blankets, along with a picnic lunch. We’ll have snow cones, popcorn, music and other fun activities for the whole family. We’ll be “turning the dirt” at 12:30 p.m., but we’ll be there until 2:30 p.m. so come whenever you can. We invite 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.
Construction on the new building gets underway this month, and by summer of 2018, our new facility will be open for use by our entire parish community. My thanks to all who have made a pledge 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. For more information on how to be part of the campaign, see our website.
Now, let’s look back at last weekend. I don’t know if the Lord could create another day as gorgeous as last Sunday. With crystal clear blue skies, mild temperatures, no humidity (on the last day of April in Houston? Amazing!), it was classic “Chamber of Commerce” weather. That set the scene for a terrific day at our
Spring Festival. Words fail to describe what a tremendous weekend we experienced as the parish came together for the 32nd time to celebrate our families and our faith.
Suffice to say we owe a huge debt of gratitude to Mike and Camille Havelka and all of the Spring Festival committee members, as well as our hundreds and hundreds of volunteers who made the event a great success. My thanks to all the booth workers, food servers, auction helpers, game attendants, Flea Market and Sweet Shop workers, Knights of Columbus, the Piece Makers, and everyone else. It was a superb job by all. And, of course, a great big thank you to all of you who came out to support us during the weekend.
Everyone contributes to the success of the Festival, whether you bought raffle tickets, or worked in the booth, or peeled potatoes, or priced items in the Flea Market, or poured Cokes, or baked a cake, or worked a shift in game booth. The list goes on and on and on. Everyone is part of it and everyone contributes to the success of it. That’s Stewardship in action so thank you one and all.
As always we are indebted to Mike and Camille, our chairpersons. It’s hard to put into words how much this couple gives to our community. They always go the extra mile and do this because of their great love of the parish and the people of our community. They will be the first to tell you it’s not just them, of course. The entire core committee gives so much. Each member or couple of the committee is responsible for a given area of the Festival and they all do their work with dedication and a love for our community. It’s a true act of Stewardship on the part of them all, most of whom have been giving back to the parish for many years. They include: Tony and Beckie Croes, who oversee the auction; Rick and Lynne Boehm, Paul and Jonna Prodoehl, John and Mary Phillips, Mike and Peggy Bell, Cody Feagin, and Mike and Camille’s two adult children, Steven Havelka and Rachelle Havelka. My special thanks to Wayne and Carol Longer, who joined the Core Committee this year, and
Megan Dillingham, our Director of Advancement. All of them did yeoman work and are deserving of praise. Thanks to all of these fine people for their service to our community.
Please join me in thanking as well our new barbecue cook team that came together for the first time this year. A trio of “smokemasters” – Travis Hausmann, Thomas Prochazka and Kenneth Winkler – were ably assisted throughout the weekend by several friends and family members. The brisket was hot and moist, and most importantly, delicious! It’s not easy taking over after 30 years for the Holub family, but the guys did a great job. Thanks as well to Bryan and Rachel Smyth, our youth ministers, who led a team to prepare the sides for the barbecue dinner. Special thanks to all our ethnic food booths –Vietnamese (loved the banh mi sandwich!), Cajun (killer gumbo!), Mexican, African and Argentinean (tasty gelato!). If you went hungry during the Festival, it’s your own fault!
I also want to thank our DJ, master of ceremonies and auctioneer Dan Block, who along with Briz Garcia, did a great job with the live auction. Dan and his family moved last year to Louisville, Ky., but he returned to help us once again and we are grateful for his masterful job of calling the auction. Three hours of non-stop auctioneering is not easy on the vocal cords, but Dan is never at a loss for words! Thanks also to all who bid on and bought items in both the live and silent auctions. Special thanks to the many CtR ministries who put together the “ministry baskets” for the silent auction.
The winning raffle ticket for the new car was held by the Pruneda family. They are long-time members of CtR whose son, Aidan, goes to our school, though 5th grade is maybe a bit too young to start driving! Thanks to all who bought raffle tickets for a chance to win.
I appreciate all who stayed after the Grand Prize drawing to help break down the tables and chairs. We had the largest group ever helping out and were done in record time. When we all pitch in, it doesn’t take that long. Thanks for working together. It takes a few weeks to settle all the accounts and we’ll have a full report for you soon. For now I ask that you say a prayer of thanksgiving to the Good Lord for all who made it possible, for our core committee, and for all in our community who offered their time and talent to make it happen. We are truly blessed to have a
Spring Festival that does so much for the good of our parish.
In other news, the calendar has turned to May and that’s always a busy month. We celebrated two
confirmation Masses this past week. We congratulate our teens who received this important sacrament. Next Saturday, May 13, our 2nd grade Religious Education students make their
First Holy Communion at 9 a.m. We congratulate them and their parents on this milestone in their faith life. Please note there will be no confessions next Saturday in order to prepare for the Mass.