For your information: St. Clement’s twinned parish is Good Shepherd in Campton, KY. Mea cupla, mea culpa . . .! In the scavenger hunt at the festival last weekend, I had the answer as Holy Trinity in Jackson. Wrong! Several parishioners caught my error. Holy Trinity in Jackson is the parish in the next town further up the highway. We had friars ministering there when I was provincial and I would visit there regularly. Thus, my error! That will surely be my last mistake. Folks seemed to have a good time searching for the answers and Jan Carberry won the prize package which, in addition to several spiritual books and DVD’s, included $50.00 in coins from Wiedemann’s Brewery.
As a result of the “scavenger hunt,” I learned that one of our parish children has the same middle name as I do, i.e., August. I thought that “August” was an antiquated name that dated me. No way; I’m actually quite Avant Garde! Whether you played the Scavenger Hunt or not, I hope you had a really fun time at this year’s festival. I’m confident we broke records. Our grade school kids certainly broke their record of ticket sales by more than $1,000. And last year’s $5,000.00 was already a record. The weather, of course, was grand. The opening Mass was awesome—what a wonderful way to begin this important parish activity. Thanks to Marty, Bro. Kenn and the choir for providing music for the Mass. Last week, I thanked by name each of the Festival Committee members who, under Barb Kalb’s passionate leadership, put in many hours to make this year’s edition the best ever. A special thanks to the many who spent time working in one of the booths. And thank YOU for your presence and support. I know you all can’t win. But I hope you all had a good time. A number of you came two days—several, even three. Barb will surely keep us posted as the financial results are determined.
This week we celebrated the Mass of Christian Burial for three parishioners: Elaine Holt on Monday, Robert Rumpke on Friday and Catherine Dustin on Saturday. I knew both Elaine and Robert but first met Catherine’s family when they came to plan the celebration on Tuesday. On behalf of the parish community, I extend our deepest sympathy to Willie Holt and Dolores Rumpke and to Catherine’s family. I had the privilege of spending time with both Elaine and Robert prior to their passing. I am a better person because of my witnessing their deep faith. May their grieving families experience their presence still with them alive in new and wondrous ways.
This weekend we bid farewell to Marty Cunningham. If you are able, please stay around a bit for the reception in her honor after the 10:30 a.m. Mass held in the church commons. There will be refreshments and the opportunity for a tribute. I extolled her contribution to St. Clement in my letter last week. I know she will be missed, but we extend a warm welcome to our new Music Minister Stephen Sullivan who will be providing music for the first time next weekend. I am confident that we will be pleased with his service. He is surely taking on this responsibility with fine energy. His ministry is one of the most vital in our parish life, for it is core to our community worship. May Stephen enjoy many happy years with our community.