I want to inform everybody about some great news for our beloved St. Moses parish. First, a little history: Joy Academy, a charter school, used to rent the school property at both St. Gregory and St. Moses. While the income from the rent helped, it did not cover the entire cost that the parish had to pay for the school’s heat, electricity, repairs, etc. The month before I arrived as your pastor, the St. Gregory property was purchased by Joy Academy, and they decided to finish out the academic year and consolidate at their new (St. Gregory) site in the fall of 2016. Since then, the school building at Moses has been vacant. To bring in some additional income and assistance with ministry, we invited the Friars to use our empty rectory. This necessitated our food/clothing pantry to move out of the rectory and into the school.
Well, now we finally have a buyer for the school! The Parish Finance Council has gone over the numbers with a fine tooth comb and given the thumbs-up. While all the papers are not signed yet, we are negotiating with the AOD to assure that the needs of the parish are met. In other words, we are trying to make sure that the monies do not simply go toward our debt, but rather go towards addressing current repairs, ministries, and the many other needs we have. We are looking at several options for the food/clothing pantry. The purchase should not change any of our current arrangements with our Friar friends.
Thank you for your unity, prayers, and support! Please continue to pray about this and I will continue to keep you informed as things progress.
And! We hope to see you on Ash Wednesday: Mass at the Cathedral at 8 AM, Mass at Moses at 9 AM, or a Liturgy of the Word at Moses at Noon.
Fr. J.J.