St. Mary Our Lady of the Rosary

August 14, 2014

Dear Parishioners,

            Here is an update regarding several things happening in our parishes.

            Saint Mary Parish Religious Education

            It is with great pleasure that I announce that we have hired a Coordinator of Religious Education and a Confirmation Coordinator for Saint Mary Parish in Jewett City.

            The Coordinator of Religious Education is Mrs. Cheryl Morin. She worked with the religious education program several years ago, both teaching second grade and preparing kids for First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion and then later assisting the Director of Religious Education with office and administrative work. In addition, while Saint Mary School was open, she worked as a teacher’s aide for kindergarten for three years.

            The Confirmation Coordinator is Mrs. Sue Haulotte. She is presently teaching one of the Confirmation classes and has done so for several years. In addition, she has experience with teaching and working with various youth ministries and activities.

            I am confident both Cheryl and Sue will do well in their positions, and I thank them for accepting these positions.

            Saints Thomas & Anne Furnace and Air Conditioning

            We have narrowed the number of bidders to two and are confident enough with a price for the work that needs to be done. The existing furnace and air conditioning system will be dismantled and removed and a new system complete with new duct work will be installed. The cost of this project will be about $25,000.

            At the Finance Council meeting in July, we discussed several options for funding. It was the unanimous consensus that we do not want to deplete parish savings and checking accounts to pay for this project. In this light, it was again the unanimous consensus that we will ask each parish household to make a gift or pledge payments to help defray the expense of the new furnace and air conditioning. On the weekend of August 30 and 31, we will ask each household to make a gift or pledge payable over ten months to help pay for this project. During the next two weeks, we ask that everyone please prayerfully consider making a gift or pledge.

            On a side note, we have decided not to go with the wall-mounted air conditioning/heat pump units for three main reasons: (1) We have received information that the units cannot generate enough heat when it gets extremely cold (like last winter) and thus they need a furnace system as back-up; (2) Having a back-up furnace system for heat pumps would be creating a duplicate system and we cannot see installing two heating systems; and (3) we cannot justify the higher cost of installing two heating systems. So we have decided on installing one heating and air conditioning system.

            As always, if you have a question or concern about any of this, please contact me.

                                                                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                                                                                        Father Ted Tumicki