Guest Letter by Alexis Peters, Restoring Beauty Committee Chair: I must say, our first parish Feast Day Banquet was a complete success! Thank you to everyone that attended as we celebrated our “One Parish.” It was a blessing to share our strategic pastoral plan with you all - we really want to see our parish develop souls fit for the Lord’s Heavenly banquet. Our Restoring Beauty fundraising kick off was also a great success! Thank you to the Knights of Columbus for donating your talents, for all of the parishioners that donated their time to contribute to our raffle baskets and thepreparation and cleanup, those that spoke so wonderfully of our parish’s history, and the friends and family of St. Mary’s that showed their love and support for our church family. I am elated to have this parish family beside me in our earthly pilgrimage. I quite enjoyed listening to our parish’s incredibly rich history. After hearing the historical presentations, those that came before us, and those of us present today feel quite strongly that our purpose here is to have a sanctuary that truly honors our Lord’s greatest sacrifice. I pray that one day, our history will include the completion of the Historic Restoration. This way, when parishioners remember 2024 years from now, they will remember that we considered the importance of their souls, that we truly were devoted to having a beautiful space worthy of a Eucharistic celebration, and held our desire for the return of a truly reverent sanctuary in the highest regard. Hearing the passion our parishioners have for remembering where we came from, while also looking toward our Heavenly home was moving. You could feel a sense of desire for historical restoration grow as Matt Cobb, Jenn Dotts and Don Miller spoke about their reasons for donating to this project. I believe everyone present had a visceral response to this and the momentum for our project took off. To echo last week’s gospel, it would be easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter Heaven, and he that will give to God for the sake of Heaven, will receive more than he could imagine. This message couldn’t have come to us at a more perfect time in regard to our financial focus for the Lord. We must remember that our sanctuary isn’t simply an ornate building without purpose. Our sanctuary is to be a reverent and beautiful place set apart from the world; a place where we can celebrate the Eucharist with our immediate and parish families, to develop our faith, and prepare our souls for Heaven, now and for generations to come. I have the pleasure to announce that we have officially received $149,000 in donations and pledges toward Restoring Beauty! We can’t become stagnant however! The momentum is here, now. We need an additional $250,000 to complete the project. Pledge cards are available throughout the parish and I would ask that whether you intend to utilize electronic payment, cash or check, that you complete a pledge card along with it so we can ensure you receive the appropriate tax documents. These can be returned in the offertory basket, mailed to the office, or returned to the parish office directly. Now is also a great time to encourage your family and friends to participate as well. Every monetary donation, small and large, will propel us forward! If you feel called to contribute to this project, I encourage your support now. Our world is full of distractions, and as Don so eloquently stated, the Devil will find ways to confuse us - to try and guide us away from our faith and desire to support our Lord. I firmly believe that if we all work together quickly, we will see this project done sooner than we can imagine!