St. Anastasia Roman Catholic Church
What Do We Say?

You can picture the scene.  A parent and child are interacting with another person when the child’s manners pull up noticeably short of acceptable.  The parent leans down and prompts, “What do you say?”  A heavy silence descends.  The earth stops spinning. Birds are still.  Bees cringe.  Then —  whew!  It is heard.

If this column gets a little mixed up, it’s because I just got back from the Dentist and had a Root Canal and I’m still enjoying the effects of the drugs used to numb what feels like my whole face and of course the great pain killers.  The Dentist got so excited during the procedure as it turned out I had 4 canals in the one tooth, a condition he indicated you don’t see that often…of course it happens to me. I asked if there was an extra charge for the 4^th canal…well, why wouldn’t I ask that question…wouldn’t you?

WE ARE NOT LOSING, WE ARE GAINING! :  Just some clarification.  I put in the bulletin last week that Fr. Varghese Vallikkatt, a priest from Tiruvalla, India will be coming to live at St. Anastasia.  He will reside here and help out while he is getting a degree at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, but we are not losing Fr. Mark (your petitions did not work!?!).  So there will be three priests in residence. Just to clarify, Fr. Mark is our associate Pastor, and Fr. Varghese will be a student in residence, and will help when he can.  I was also notified that Fr. Varghese arrival has been delayed and he will most likely arrive here at St. Anastasia sometime in early September.  Keep him in prayer.

I don’t know about you, but this summer just seems to be zooming on by. When I was a young boy, summer seemed to go on forever, now it’s over just as soon as it starts; probably a function of getting older…the older you get the shorter the seasons seem. We’ve been very busy this summer, cleaning all the carpets in the entire complex, washing all the windows inside and out (on a regular schedule now—did you ever realize how many windows this place has!!!!), concentrated on the outside landscaping, machine washed and polished the Gym floor, installed new carpeting around the baptismal font, and we’ve just about finished the enlarged and modernized conference room. All that’s left is the furniture (chairs/ tables) and that should be here by the end of August, in plenty of time for the Catholic Bible School of Michigan to begin their classes. I do want to compliment Bill Scally and his crew (Tim, Dan, Zach, and Kevin) for the great job they did…we had to go outside for very little; they saved us a lot of money. Projects still to be completed before Religious Education kicks off are replacement and repair of the vinyl siding over the Administrative Offices entrance, relocation of the Food Pantry, repair of several door locks, addition of a lock or two as well as door realignment in some cases. We’ve also moved some staff to different offices in an attempt to make the layout more efficient and make better use of the available space we have.

ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE! We are going to have a full house. Fr. Varghese Vallikkatt, a priest from Tiruvalla, India is coming to live in residence here at St. Anastasia. He was ordained the day after Christmas in 1991 and has had a wealth of experience. He ran a Mission Hospital and was in charge of the Human Resource Department. He has served in many parish experiences and taught Industrial Sociology for five years. I hear he is a very good speaker (in fact, he speaks three languages and speaks English well). He is very well educated. He has a BA in Philosophy, and a Bachelor in Theology, an MA in Sociology, and an MBA in Health Service Management. Fr. Varghese will be studying at Sacred Heart Major Seminary for the next three years in the STL program. (The innovative STL program is the first of its kind in the United States. Students receive thorough training in modern methods of evangelization, along with courses in Christian anthropology, Catholic social analysis and spirituality. Graduates of the program—priest, religious and laity alike—will be prepared to lead efforts in the New Evangelization in their parishes, dioceses or ministries. They will also be prepared to teach at Catholic seminaries and universities). Fr. Varghese will help us out here when needed. He is supposed to arrive this week, but as can often happen, there are delays in paperwork and visas. When he does get here, we will give him a chance to get settled and then celebrate his arrival. As you have been so gracious to all of the priests who have come here to St. Anastasia, I invite you to welcome Fr. Varghese in the same manner. I would encourage you to take him to dinner, drop him welcome notes, and show him that good ol’ St. A’s hospitality, but afford him some time to get adjusted to having to live with Fr. Mark (believe me, it might take 2 ½ years for that to happen!?).

Given the antiquity of our faith, and the manner in which worldwide literacy has developed over the centuries, it’s not at all surprising that there was a time when Roman Catholics did not own or read The Holy Bible.  Well, friends, that time is over.  And I know you’re glad.  This is a pretty savvy parish, full of folks who attend Scripture Studies (Check out our fall listings!), subscribe to Biblical publications, spend daily quiet time with the gospels, and at the very least can retell a handful of parables.  All good! However…. One facet of Bible study that many of us have neglected is memorization.  Perhaps we have been overwhelmed by the task itself, or intimidated by an acquaintance who seems eager to recite verses backwards and upside-down.  Perhaps we feel too busy, or don’t see the point of trying.  I could write pages of rhetoric refuting those points, but I’ll just let Proverbs 4:5 sum it up for me. (See how handy this is!?)  The Word there commands us: “Get wisdom, get understanding!  Do not forget or turn aside from the words I utter.”

To this end, all of our religious ed programs will be incorporating an age-appropriate level of Scripture memorization into their lesson plans this year.  It’s as easy as singing a favorite lyric, and more important than knowing our own names.  Please start considering how you can support this effort, so that the word of Christ will dwell in us richly (cf. Colossians 3:16)!

As this summer keeps heating up and the humidity seems to be as high as the temperature, we thought it might be a good idea to let you know our utility costs for the last fiscal year (7/1/09 to 6/30/10). Our electricity costs for that time period were $50,484.59 with roughly $20,000 of that occurring from the end of May to mid-September. This year so far our electric costs are up as it’s been so doggone hot and muggy. On the reverse side, our heating costs (gas) for last fiscal year were $29,926.89 with $17,500 occurring from December to March. Our water bill for last fiscal year was $6,707.07, with most coming in the summer months. We do have a sprinkler system and have it activate early in morning hours. So please keep in mind as you attend Mass in the Church, gather in the Social Hall, have an activity or special event in the Activity Center or Davidson Center, or have some business in the Admin or Pastoral center and you’re thinking it’s “too hot” in the summer or “too cold” in the winter or look outside the windows and think the “grass is getting yellow, don’t they water it”  that we try to reach a happy medium where you’ll be comfortable and  the landscaping will look nice and green…and we won’t break the bank.  If you add electric, gas, and water bills from last fiscal year up, they total $87,068.85…that my friends is just short of one month’s worth of weekly donations. Keep in mind that as our facility gets older, it virtually becomes less energy efficient as materials lose their integrity and joints get bigger. We do as much maintenance as we can, but just like your home, do we ever really get to the point where it’s all done? 

God bless, Franz

THOSE THRIFTY ACRES ARE BENEFITING US!   A year ago, Meijer started a program called “Simply Give”. They match donations that customers make and then donate to area Food Pantries. The Rochester Store (Rochester Rd. and Auburn) gave us $750 in gift cards for the St. Anastasia Food Pantry (which serves the Troy area). We will utilize these cards to purchase perishable items such as bread, milk and eggs to supplement the non-perishable items that we give. We also receive money from Meijer when you swipe your card when making a purchase. Be sure to indicate that your charity of choice is St. Anastasia when you sign up. We support a Michigan company when we do this. Thank you to Meijer and Medelin Villarama, our parishioner who made this available to us.