Update on Maintenance and Improvement Projects

My Dear Parishioners,

I am so happy that I am beginning my second autumn with you. I am also looking forward to the many happy events scheduled for this fall. Please share the handout from last week’s bulletin with your family and friends and neighbors, so that they too can be part of the wonderful things happening here in our parish.

Please also keep in your prayers our children and grandchildren who are returning to St. Joseph/St. Roberts School and our CCD program along with their teachers and catechists. May they have a blessed and richly rewarding year.

Just a little update on some of the maintenance and improvement projects that we have planned.

• After some negotiations with the township, it seems that our new digital sign is going to be approved and will be moving forward. The sign will replace the current one on the corner of 611 and County Line Roads. The total cost of the project is around $45,000. I do think that this is money well The new sign will increase our visibility in our community. It will also help those new to the community to find us. I don’t know exactly when it will be installed, but it would be nice if it is in by Christmas. We will see.
• We do have some very rough plans for a new rear (parking lot) entrance to our church. As we know, because of the layout of the property, most people use the rear The new plans include a wheelchair lift. The new rear entrance will be both more attractive and also more accessible. Hopefully, we will have more detailed plans available soon for all to see.
• We have completed the resurfacing of the parking lot around the new The project was an expensive one of around $58,000 but needed for both safety and aesthetic concerns. We will probably be looking at some roof work in the new school building. FYI, our tenant, Merakey, just renewed their lease for another 2 years—they are very happy with us and want to continue their relationship with us.
• The roof of the rectory is now 30, yes, 30 years old. We have gotten more than our money’s worth out of it, but it will have to be replaced this fall. Also, the rectory has some plumbing issues which we will also be addressing this fall.
• Interestingly, we have been paying property taxes on our parking lots. Yes, we have been paying property taxes on church parking lots. Through a parishioner, we do have an attorney looking into this and appealing the property We will let you know how it goes.

As other maintenance and improvement projects come up, we will do our best to keep everyone up to date.

This weekend we hear from St. Paul’s Letter to Philemon. It is the shortest and the most personal of St. Paul’s Epistles. Because of its brevity and personal nature, it is a wonder that it ever made it into the New Testament. I believe it did because this Epistle is a masterpiece of persuasion: the art of convincing someone to do something specific or to believe in something specific without trying to force them to do or believe in that something.

The Epistle to Philemon involved a Christian slave named Onesimus and a Christian slave owner named Philemon. It seems that Onesimus was a runaway slave who was with St. Paul during his first imprisonment in Rome. This dates the letter from between 60-62AD. It is obvious from the tone of the letter that St. Paul was also familiar with Philemon.

For whatever reason, St. Paul chose to send Onesimus back to his master. Before doing so, St. Paul sent this letter to him. St. Paul used the art of persuasion to convince Philemon to not only treat Onesimus as a brother in Christ but also alludes to the suggestion that he should consider freeing Onesimus. Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man^* and in the Lord. So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me…… With trust in your compliance I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say (Philemon 1: 15-17, 21)

Was Onesimus set free? We don’t know for certain. Some later traditions do hold that Onesimus was freed and then became a priest and a bishop and a Martyr.

What a blessing we have in this short and personal Epistle! St. Paul teaches us to use honey instead of vinegar to get others to do the right thing.

The Epistle to Philemon then gives us the way to bring others to our one True Religion and to bring others back. Simple, loving, caring, inviting persuasion can do so much more than wielding a hammer. Yes, it takes patience, and a lot of prayer, but it works!

Let us continue to lay siege to Heaven for our families, our neighbors, our nation, and our world, and for the beautiful gift of persuasion.

St. Joseph, Patron of the Church, and our Patron, pray for us!

Fr. Michael J Pawelko, Pastor