Dear Parishioners,

This week we begin the season of Lent. Pope Francis once stated, “Lent is a fitting time for self-denial; we would do well to ask ourselves what we can give up in order to help and enrich others by our own poverty. Let us not forget that real poverty hurts: no self-denial is real without this dimension of penance. I distrust a charity that costs nothing and does not hurt.”

This quote challenges us to reflect on how much of ourselves are we willing to give to God and to one another. Pope Francis went on to state, “As long as there is a brother or sister to whom we close our hearts, we will still be far from being disciples as Jesus asks us.” This Lent, as we journey to Easter, let us truly be disciples who truly love God and one another.

We are almost finished with the first phase of the preservation work on the church. This phase includes all of the work that we have finished on the front façade, including the repointing of the marble, repositioning of the cross, repairs to the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the filling the fractures on the rose window. It also includes the restoration exterior doors of the church. Our contractor, All Trades Historical Restoration, is almost done with the ADA doors at the Twiggs Street entrance. They will move on to the northern set of front doors next. To date, this work has cost the parish just north of $486,000.

Additional preservation phases are planned, but are yet to be funded. They include the following projects:

• Dome restoration on northwest corner
  • Rinse and sand deteriorated panels
  • Sand and paint panels
  • Repair brickwork
• Repair leaks on the exterior of the southeast portion of the apse
• SW Vertical Wall Restoration
  • Investigate leak
  • Remove deteriorated mortar
  • Repoint joints as necessary

These future phases are estimated to cost the parish $182,000. One area of repair not listed is the tile adjacent to the sanctuary. You might have noticed that some of the tile has come loose near the choir area. We are currently looking for similar tile and as well as the utilization of the existing loose tile. This is being researched further, and will be addressed in the coming months.

We have been moving forward steadily with the planned renovations to the kitchen at the North Campus. Much of the preliminary work is done. As I have mentioned before, this project will include the installation of all new plumbing for both the kitchen and for the adjacent bathrooms. Many of the pipes are brittle or broken, and have not been retrofitted since their initial installation during the original construction. Recently, while the architect and engineers were looking at this building, it was determined that a new roof is needed for this building, which houses the cafeteria, auditorium, and Alumni Hall. The estimated cost for the new roof is in the $200,000 range.

This important work cannot be researched and accomplished without the dedicated volunteers on our Parish Maintenance Committee. With the amount of projects currently underway or in the planning stages, additional hands are needed. If you or someone you know has who has experience in construction, contracting, planning, engineering, or anything within the field of building maintenance, and wish to help the parish, please let me know. I will happily invite you to join our committee.

Lastly, I wish to let you know about a recent change to our Parish Advisory Board. Our chair, Laura Prather, has stepped down, with current board member Lynda Marsh taking on the role as the new chair. We will use this transition as a way to reorganize and to strengthen the Parish Advisory Board, and its connection with our parishioners. The board serves a vital role in helping serve our parish, and I thank Laura for all of her efforts in steering the board over these last few years.

Peace and all good,
Fr. Mike

Dear Parishioners,

As we get closer to the Lent, I wanted to share with you a decision that the parish has made about the weekly Stations of the Cross hosted on each of the Friday evenings during the season. Over the past few years the attendance for Stations has decreased. I believe there are several reasons for this. First, is that we do not have free parking available on Friday evenings near the church. The city previously allowed free parking on the street after 6 p.m., however that changed several years ago, and now, of course, you have to pay at a station of via the app. Second, the increase in activity downtown can make it difficult to find any parking, especially spaces that do no have surge pricing due to an event. Several older parishioners have informed me they don’t like driving in downtown Tampa at night. Last year, we also had stopped the Soup Suppers due to attendance.

The staff has looked at other alternatives, such as changing the timing or frequency. However, we always have to consider our busy wedding schedule in relation to in-church events on weekend evenings. Our wedding schedule allows for a Friday afternoon wedding where the church is occupied from 1 to 3:30 p.m.. Then we run into rehearsals for the Saturday weddings, which can be scheduled at any point between 4 and 7 p.m.

The staff came up with a solution that I am excited about, especially in relation to the increase of visitors to the church as part of the Jubilee pilgrimage. Signage will be placed in the back of the church inviting parishioners and visitors alike to take part in a self-guided prayer service of our stations. This will be available to all during our normal hours of operation.

I recently read a letter that Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, wrote this past December. In it he talks about the renewal of the church ushered in by the Second Vatican Council. I would like to share this with everyone.

“By recognizing this relationship between how we worship and what we believe, the bishops at the council made clear that the renewal of the liturgy in the life of the church is central to the mission of proclaiming the Gospel. It would be a mistake to reduce the renewal to a mere updating of our liturgy to fit the times we live in, as if it were a kind of liturgical facelift. We need the restoration of the liturgy because it gives us the capacity to proclaim Christ to the world.

“Thus, for instance, the council called for the full, active and conscious participation of all the baptized in the celebration of the Eucharist to reflect our belief that in the sacred liturgy the faithful become the Body of Christ that they receive.

“Our ritual for receiving of Holy Communion has special significance in this regard. It reminds us that receiving the Eucharist is not a private action but rather a communal one. For that reason, the norm established by Holy See for the universal church is for the faithful to process together as an expression of their coming forward as the Body of Christ and to receive Holy Communion standing.

“It is important to recall that processions have been part of the liturgy from the earliest days of Christian practice. They give us a sensible experience of what it means to be a pilgrim people, helping us keep in mind that we are making our way together to the fullness of the heavenly banquet Christ has prepared for us. This is why we process into the church, process up to bring the gifts, process to receive Holy Communion and process out at the end of Mass to carry the Lord into the world.

“Nothing should be done to impede any of these processions, particularly the one that takes place during the sacred Communion ritual. Disrupting this moment only diminishes this powerful symbolic expression, by which the faithful in processing together express their faith that they are called to become the very Body of Christ they receive. Certainly reverence can and should be expressed by bowing before the reception of Holy Communion, but no one should engage in a gesture that calls attention to oneself or disrupts the flow of the procession. That would be contrary to the norms of the church, which all the faithful are urged to respect and observe.”

You can read Cardinal Blase’s full statement here.

Peace and All Good,
– Fr. Mike