FATHER'S TWO CENTS WORTH

Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi, also known as the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.  In many places, it is accompanied with processions through town or city, with stopping points to celebrate benediction before returning to the church.  The Feast wants to impress upon all of us the existence and importance of the Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Holy Communion—uniting us to Christ and to one another through Christ, our own importance in that Christ came to save us from our sins and to be with us in the continual process of living life and avoiding sin.  In other words, going to communion has great implications far beyond just receiving the host at mass—we are uniting ourselves with Christ and for all that He stands for.  On Friday, we celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus—the heart being the center of His love for us.  Saturday is the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, also emphasizing Mary’s love for us.

This past Wednesday, we laid to rest Lorita Middendorf, a member of our parish who worked hard during her lifetime.  She was a resident of Cedar Ridge in Lebanon the past years, suffering from a heart condition.  She and her husband raised eight children and sent all of them to Holy Childhood School.  She was a woman of great faith.  May she receive the blessed rewards of heaven!

This past Thursday, we had our summer Blood Drive for the Red Cross.  I want to thank all who came to give blood, and all who worked and promoted the blood drive.  As I write this column (Wednesday), I cannot give any results or figures.  However, if you missed the blood drive this past week, Holy Childhood will host a “Make Up” blood drive on Saturday of this week, June 12^th, from 9 A.M. to 2 P.M.  The need for blood is always critical and especially during the summer months, when there are no school blood drives, people are traveling and skip their local drives,  and plum forget about it.  Also, during summer, there seems to be more accidents that generate a larger demand for blood and its components.  So please come and give blood if at all possible.

On the week of the 21^st, we are going to seal our church parking lot and re-stripe it.  The lot has been down for two years now, and it is beginning to show signs of wear and tear.  Taking care of it now is a preventive measure, and will help insure its lasting beauty.  It is the nature of asphalt to shrink and crack due to the oil products evaporating.  With sealing, we can delay this process.  We will also be doing the school playground around the same time.  This will be more extensive, since it has cracks in it already.

The concrete railings in front of church have deteriorated to such a degree that Insurance has told us to remove them.  They are a great danger now to anyone who might climb on them.  Weather, expansion and contraction of freezing and just plain aging, have pulled them apart to the extent that they cannot be repaired.  I know that they have been an icon of our church for many a year.  But to replace them as they now exist would be prohibitive if not impossible.  Several of us are looking at up-grading the front entrance to church so that it would be safer for all and also attractive.  The immediate problem is to remove the danger that exists.  In the meantime, pray that we can do what is best and right for our church and our parish.