I’ll See You Next Year! 

Starting on Monday, I will be on vacation.  I will not be here for the next three weekends.  I will be back with you on Labor Day weekend.  Most likely, I will not be writing these letters throughout the rest of August, even into the first part of September (because of the bulletin deadlines). 

I do not intend to do as much driving as I have in prior years.  I hope to visit my brother up near Oneonta, NY, and then travel out to my home in Appalachia.  I will take a good stretch to just relax and come back refreshed as the new year gets under way.
A new year!  As a parish, we tend to have four new years.  Yes, I said four!  Of course, we celebrate the calendar New Year, as does the rest of our society.  We live and witness in that society.  Jesus would remind us that we are in the world, if not of the world.  So, we follow the calendar year in many ways.

But we have other new years.  July 1 marks a new year for us in this diocese, in regard to our handling of our worldly goods.  It is the beginning of our fiscal year.  It also has become the starting date for many of the clergy assignments.  Then there is our liturgical year, which begins with the First Sunday of Advent that usually falls sometime between Thanksgiving and the first weekend of December.

But the new year I referred to earlier in this letter is an operational new year.  The school calendar and our catechetical calendar need to match somewhat.  Of course, the summer season of vacationing is also there.  And so, we find ourselves starting our operational new year around the beginning of September and Labor Day.  We gear up for that year throughout the summer months and St. Michael Parish never really stops being here for us, any more than Jesus ever stops being with us!

After I see you this weekend, I can say, I’ll see you next year!  God Bless!