Can you believe we have yet another BIG weekend here at our parish? Two weeks ago, we were engaged in learning about the Angel Scholarship Fund. Last weekend we celebrated the Mass of Thanksgiving for our newly ordained son of the parish, Fr. David Verbsky. And this weekend…

Deacon Larry's 25th Jubilee …We celebrate Deacon Larry Boehnlein's 25th Jubilee of Ordination to the Diaconate! A deacon is one who is a servant of God's Word, a servant of charity, and a servant of the altar. Deacon Larry emulates the servanthood of Jesus in all of these ways as he faithfully deacons our daily and weekend Masses, proclaims and preaches the Word of God, and ministers to our homebound, hospitalized, catechumens, candidates, and so much more. I am so grateful for his ministry and selfless service. I've been warmly welcomed by Deacon Larry and have felt his encouragement and support as I stepped into my leadership role this past year. Deacon Larry, we love you and appreciate you so much as we celebrate our Vigil Mass and reception afterwards with you this weekend! May the Lord abundantly bless you, and may you experience the grace of this weekend with thanksgiving for your vocation to the diaconate!

School's Out for Summer! This week was also the last week of our school year. Please keep our students, families, and teachers in your prayers as they enjoy summer break. I had a great year with our school community this year. I will miss seeing them throughout the week, but look forward to celebrating with them at Mass on the weekends!

Daily Mass Time Changes in July – Beginning the week of July 4, we will be changing our Tuesday Mass time from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., and our Friday Mass time from 1:30 p.m. back to 7:30 a.m. This new Tuesday 8:30 a.m. Mass will be the new School Mass time for the upcoming school year, and will be the only Mass of the day for the parish and school. We will keep this schedule going forward starting the week of July 4. Please see the adjusted Mass schedule in the blurb in this week's bulletin.

Angel Scholarship Fund Update – Thank you to all who have been able to donate to the Angel Scholarship Fund (ASF), a new scholarship that provides tuition assistance to our St. Mary Catholic School students through a new tax credit scholarship program from the state of Ohio. You get to tell the state where to put your tax money to work, lower your tax liability, and provide tuition assistance to students at our school all at no net cost to you as a donor! Please see the blurb in this week's bulletin, or visit www.stmarychardon.org/asf for more details. If you've already donated, please share with your friends and encourage them to donate. More contributions = more scholarship assistance for students = less financial strain on our budget = the less you owe in taxes!

If you would like to enroll your children in our school, or know a family who would be interested in doing so, please reach out to me ([email protected]) or our principal, Mrs. Friederike Wintersteller (fwintersteller@ stmaryschoolchardon.org) to start a conversation, learn about what we offer, and take a tour! We have an unprecedented level of support available to us through the ASF, and we will work with you to make sure money doesn't get in the way of your choice for Catholic education for your family!

Shared Staffing Announcements and Job Openings – Guided by our Listening Session comments, I am pleased to announce a few new staff positions which will provide a shared approach to ministry and service between St. Mary Parish and School and St. Patrick Parish. Please see the bulletin and our parish website for more information. Full job descriptions and application criteria are available at https://stmarychardon.org/jobs. If you are interested in one of these open positions, or know of someone who might be a good fit, please direct them to the employment page, or reach out to me.

• Director of Faith Formation – I’ve selected Mrs. Kara Passow to lead a new Director of Faith Formation staff position entrusted with directing youth and adult faith formation programs for St. Mary Parish and School and St. Patrick Parish. Kara will work with me and our pastoral staff to provide age-appropriate catechetical, sacramental, liturgical, and spiritual formation; offer training and ongoing formation to catechists and parents; collaborate with parish staff and ministries to support quality faith formation offerings; and promote a culture of encounter, discipleship, and evangelization in all areas of parish life. Kara comes to our parish staff after teaching at St. Mary School for 29 years. Kara will start this new position on June 13. I invite you to read her brief bio in today's bulletin.
  
  I want to thank Mrs. Heather Gady for serving as Parish Catechetical Leader these past three formational years, and wish her all the best in her future endeavors.


• OPEN POSITION – Facilities Manager: This full-time exempt position will provide strategic, high-quality oversight and maintenance for the facilities, equipment, building, and grounds of the campuses of St. Mary Parish and School and St. Patrick Parish. Experience in facilities management and/or construction required.
• OPEN POSITION – Communications Director: This fulltime non-exempt position will assist me and our pastoral staff in executing strategic communications plans for St. Mary Parish and School and St. Patrick Parish, including developing communications strategies for staff and parish leaders, creating both print and digital content, managing our communications platforms, and being present at parish and school events to share our story. A combination of experience and an educational degree in communications, marketing, public relations, or a related field, is required.
• OPEN POSITION – Part-Time Maintenance Position. St. Mary Parish is also looking for someone to work part-time maintenance during the weekday. This is a great hands-on day job for someone looking to put in a few hours around the parish and school for maintenance work, setting up and tearing down for events, and doing some light cleaning work. Contact Mike Boehnlein (mboehnlein@ stmarychardon.org) if you are interested!

Mass Intention Book Opening for First Quarter 2023 – We will open our Mass book starting June 1 for scheduling intentions from January through March 2023. The Mass book will open on a quarterly basis to help us accommodate requests that come in. Thank you for your patience in adjusting to this new schedule!