High Fives Abound Festival Weekend … Except Once:  As you can imagine, I give out many “high-fives” during Festival Weekend.  Well, there’s this little three-year-old that just wasn’t going to have anything to do with me or my high fives.  Let’s just say for the sake of it, her name was Eloise.  Now Eloise’s family tells me she will point me out and call me by name from their pew in Church, but the moment I get close she turns away and doesn’t want anything to do with me.  I did my absolute best during Festival Weekend to win her over.  Since her family is actively involved in every aspect of parish life, running into little Eloise multiple times throughout the weekend was just going to happen.  One time Eloise didn’t quiver up too quickly as I approached so I stuck out my hand and pretended I was going to cry if she didn’t give me a high five.  After a second or two of silence, she scrunched up her little face and with teeth clenched declared with great clarity: “GRANDMA would NOT be happy!”  I burst out laughing.  Okay, the three-year-old won; I finally gave up!  I couldn’t wait to tell Grandma Anne.
 
Festival Thanks:  My friends, our parish’s 50th Annual Spring Festival was awesome.  THANK YOU for the many and varied ways you supported the Festival.  Apart from the few hours we lost on Sunday because of the heavy rains and storm warnings, we had some of the best weather we’ve seen in years.  Overall, it was a safe and enjoyable Festival.  To me, that’s most important!
 
One of the first questions I get every year after the Festival is about how we did financially.  To be honest, it will be some time before we can report on the final numbers. As I have said on many occasions, the final numbers don’t tell the WHOLE story of the Festival.  The fact is that the Festival is much more than a fundraiser.  Our net numbers will never tell the full story of what took place in our prayer tent or what took place in Church on Friday night during the Nightfire prayer event.  The numbers will never tell the story of the person who inquired about being baptized, the countless people who went to confession or the 500 people who stopped by to light a candle and say a prayer in Church.  The picture on the cover of our bulletin was taken during the Nightfire Event.  Despite the noise outside, there was absolute quiet and peace inside.  To be honest, I had misgiving about doing this in Church because I was concerned that the noise outside would overpower what would take place inside and thus make it somewhat less than prayerful.  Boy was I wrong!  I had a few people approach me afterward and tell me they were so moved by what went on inside Church on Friday night that they were called to go to confession for the first time in many decades.  It was beautiful, prayerful and awesome!  God was so present!  It was so moving that we’ve committed ourselves already to do this on both Friday and Saturday next year!
 
A HUGE thanks goes to our General Festival Chairpersons: Patty Kesner, Dina Ciaffone and Emily Berschback.  They do an amazing job keeping us on track, organized, calm AND laughing.  I couldn’t ask for a better team of people to work with!  They are absolutely awesome!   Patty and Dina have been Festival Chairs now for an amazing 25 years!  Dina now gets a bonus for being our Business Manager AND Festival Chair.  I also want to thank the awesome team of Festival area chairpersons.  They are listed on page 11 of the bulletin.  Please take the time to thank all of these amazing people for their hard work with the Festival.
 
I would like to thank the SJA staff.  In particular, I want to thank our maintenance staff: Steve Angst, Paul Angst, Matt Barthel, Greg Ruvolo, Vern Dave and Paul Csaszar.  They did an OUTSTANDING job responding to our many requests before, during and after the Festival.  I want to thank our Parish Center staff:  Lorraine Jonas, Jackie Bugarin-Scheuer, BeBe Frahm, Kristina Kaiser along with the other pastoral staff not already mentioned: Fr. John, Fr. Bob, Fr. Rich, Deacon Tom, Sr. Rose, Kathy Kalich, Mary Pat Brennan, Jean Hartman, Don Pomaville and John Perna.
 
I want to give a HUGE shout out to parishioner Chuck Moore of Chuck Moore Commercial Sign Service in Roseville.  Chuck has been extremely generous to us for many years by donating ALL, yes ALL, of the signage seen throughout the campus during the Festival.
 
The people portion wouldn’t be complete without thanking Blake Huston and the wonderful staff of North American Midway Entertainment (NAME).  They are great people and we enjoy working with them.
 
I also want to thank the countless volunteers who gave of their time and talent to help in the various areas of the Festival.  Thank you also to the numerous people who purchased raffle tickets.  Thanks to all who came out and supported the Festival!
 
We also have GREAT neighbors!  They are very patient and understanding during all of the Festival activities.  The week before and the few days of the Festival bring their own set of inconveniences and noise.  I thank them for their patience and understanding.
 
A HUGE thanks goes to our friends at the Saint Clair Shores Police AND Fire Department and to our Security Team chaired by Ryan Schroerlucke.  They did an outstanding job throughout the weekend.  Their presence and guidance are always much appreciated.
 
The 50th Annual SJA Festival was a HUGE SUCCESS!  THANK YOU!
 
Memorial Day Mass – Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish at 9:00 AM:  As part of our collaborative efforts with Our Lady Star of the Sea and St. Lucy Parishes, the only mass between the three parishes on Memorial Day will take place at Our Lady Star of the Sea at 9:00 a.m.
 
Enjoy the Memorial Day Weekend.  Know of my prayers.
 
In Christ,
 
gmb
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