Again, how time flies. Here we are with September into its second half already. In just ten days our pilgrimage group will be leaving for our tour of the Shrines of France. I am getting more excited as the time draws nearer. These pilgrimage are part of our archdiocese’s Journey of Hope 2001.

September has many beautiful feast days. This past Wednesday I celebrated Mass for the upper grades at our Central Catholic Grade School. It was the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady. The eighth grade participated in the Liturgy in a special way. I was impressed at their knowledge of this feast. Their religion teacher had drilled them well on the Seven Sorrows of Mary and they knew their stuff. I continue to be impressed by our teachers at Central Catholic.

The end of August saw the departure of one of our long time musicians, Tom Looney. Tom played the organ most of the time at the Sunday 12:15 p.m. Mass. He is an excellent organist and we shall miss him. I want to thank him for his service to Holy Rosary over the years. He will be back from time to time when we need someone to fill in.

It might be appropriate to say something about our organ. From time to time you may hear it hit a sour note. It’s generally not Gary Asher or Jim Alton, our music directors, or Tom when he was with us. I’m no expert on musical instruments, but I do know that our organ is aging and some parts of it simply do not work. At least they don’t work all of the time!

To top it off, during a wedding this summer one photographer took it upon himself to actually move the organ console in order to make space for where he wanted to plant his camera. Imagine! I took some comfort in the fact that the mother of the bride just about wrapped his camera stand around his neck when she heard what he had done.

Our old organ has been through a lot. Earlier this month our archdiocesan Director of the Office of Worship, Charlie Gardner, was here to play the organ for a funeral Mass. He noted that it’s about in the same shape as it was when he studied here as a Latin School student. He graduated in 1965.

When finances permit we hope to make some radical improvements or even purchase a new one. In the meantime, we will have to make do. This is frustrating to our musicians, but they are being patient. I hope we all can be.

The parish council had a special meeting this week to discuss our topic of the century—what to do about the roof! By the time you read this letter I think we will have a decision about how and when the church roof will be repaired. The roof on the school or office building as well as the roof on the C.Y.O. Center has lots of problems too. Roofing experts have pointed them out to us. But, on the other hand, neither one of them leaks. As the saying goes, "if it’s not broken, don’t fix it." Don’t worry, we won’t!

The conversation about the elevator is ongoing. We had some more experts here this past week. Both of these projects, the elevator and the roof, are so complicated. That’s what happens when you want to preserve the beauty and dignity of an older structure like ours. I think if we take our time we will get both projects done in a way that enhances our church yet at the same time meets our needs.

The new vestment closet in our "auxiliary sacristy" is complete. Our carpenter is now making some very minor remodeling of four offices on the second floor of the office complex. These rooms have not been used in years, but we shall begin using them very soon.

All of the time, money, and patience required is simply an exercise in good Christian Stewardship. In reality, all that we have belongs to God. We are stewards of the things God has given us. We shall do our best to take care of them.

The Parish Council will meet again at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, September 27. This will be our regular monthly meeting. Primary on the agenda will be our Stewardship Program for October and November. Part of this will be doing our part in the annual United Catholic Appeal. The needs of the Church are ongoing in the areas of Catholic Charities, Catholic Education, and assisting parishes who simply cannot make it on their own. Even though we would be classified as "inner city" if you look at a map, we are blessed here at Holy Rosary with many resources (at least as compared to many of our neighbors).

Remember that confessions are heard: Saturday from 4:00 until 4:25 p.m., Sunday from 9:00 until 9:55 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. until 12:10 p.m. They are also heard about twenty minutes before each of the weekday Masses. In any case, confessions must end about five minutes before Mass begins.

In God’s Providence,

Msgr. Schaedel