St. Anastasia Roman Catholic Church
From the Office

The list of expenses and work involved in putting on Art for God’s Sake is long and included: set up of the temporary walls, special lighting, table covers and treatments, catering for all three days, beverages, Splat Experience, wine tasting, Artist prizes, items for sale, web site activation and maintenance, printing (posters, promotional flyers, etc), Special Event Insurance (the value of the art exhibited was just about ½ million dollars), Liquor License fee, City of Troy permits, musicians, musical composition fee, and incidentals. We still have some monies coming in so the excess cash number will probably go up to some extent but not by too much. The final number of excess cash over expenses – meaning available cash after all expenses covered is $14,454.13 for St. Al’s and St. Anastasia.

Holy Mystery

Jesus says that he will ask the Father to send the Spirit. There, in one phrase we have the core mystery of our faith.
We give God many names: Father, Mother, Friend, Savior, Creator and so on. But those are just nicknames. God’s real name, God’s only name is “I am.” It means roughly: “I don’t have a name because I am not one of many nameable things; I do not exist, I just am.”
We should take this name calling very seriously, as seriously as God does.  God’s first commandment prohibited having strange, peculiar gods alongside the real God: and God’s second commandment forbade misusing the very name of God. So when we get too enamored of one of God’s nicknames, when we think that name defines God, we are idolaters and blasphemers.
God is total, absolute Mystery.  And that does not mean simply mysterious or vague, something that is not yet known but will become clear. Mystery means, by definition, essentially unknowable. Even when we are in heaven, face to face with God in the Beatific Vision, God will remain Holy Mystery. But we won’t mind, because then we will appreciate just what Holy Mystery is.
Have a great week,
Deacon Ron

ASK NOT WHAT YOUR PARISH CAN DO FOR YOU . . . Vote, Vote, Vote! That incredible 16 foot statue of the Holy Trinity out by our entrance is not ours YET. We only borrowed it for Art for God’s Sake. You have to vote to keep it. It is valued at $50,000 and it can be ours. As I write this, St. Anastasia parish is in third place. We want first place. All you have to do is go to Mt. Elliott Cemetery Association’s web site: www.mtelliott.com and place your vote on the Cheer for your Church page. The contest ends on August 15^th and there is only one entry per email so get your friends to vote.

We have a wonderful Prayer Shawl ministry here at St. Anastasia. A dedicated group of women meet and pray and create lovely prayer shawls for those in need. If you have a loved one who is ill, sad, in need of prayers, mourning, suffering in any way and needs to feel the Loving arms of Christ wrapped around them, we have a shawl for you. Please contact Kim Houseman to arrange for pick at 248.689.8380 x112. May the peace of Christ fill your heart.

A Novena for Life

It starts June 2nd and ends June 12th

Please consider praying for LIFE.

Holy Spirit,

At the dawn of creation,

You brought order out of chaos,

Light out of darkness,

Life out of nothingness.

Breathe on us once again,

And change this culture of death

Into a Culture of Life.

Inspire in your people

A spirit of generous welcome

For each and every life,

No matter how unexpected or dependent

That life may be.

Holy Spirit,

You are the Advocate.

As you fill us with Yourself,

Make us advocates

For the unborn and all the vulnerable,

Until we are all united

In the endless life and joy

of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

One God, forever and ever. Amen.

Well “Art for God’s Sake” is over and along with it comes a tremendous feeling of satisfaction after two years of hard work by a team that started at zero and brought to fruition a wonderful show. Of course that team would not have gone any place without the leadership and vision of our Pastor, Father J.J. whose vision for an Art Show started the ball rolling. We sincerely hope you enjoyed the show and that you received some inspiration from the art works themselves. I saw many people over the course of the three days become emotional as they contemplated the meaning behind some of the art pieces. The rough numbers in terms of money are in as of this writing and they look good. I prefer not to put those numbers out there at this point, but will have the final numbers for you next week. In retrospect, with all the work put in by all the volunteers, let’s not forget the ultimate planner of this event and through His graces it was a success…GOD!

WOW…AWESOME…FANTASTIC…GREAT…HOLY…

THESE ARE THE  WORDS TO EXPRESS THIS PAST WEEKEND!

Last weekend we experienced an art show called Art For God’s Sake and St. Anastasia shined! There were depictions of Christ’s suffering, His Crucifixion and His Rising; there was a sculpture of Christ hugging a New York firefighter, reminding us of 9-11. You could sit on a bench and pray or just gaze at sculptures of the Holy Family or a painting of Mother Theresa or Blessed Pope John Paul II. There was something for everyone, including food and drink. The artists were numerous, including our own, talented pastor, Fr. J.J.

Art for God’s Sake is over for gosh sakes!

There is no way we can possibly communicate all of the amazing things that we heard, experienced, witnessed, and celebrated last weekend. If you were able to attend any aspect of the Art for God’s Sake weekend, you may have some idea of the energy that was felt. From the minute the artists began to drop off their works on Monday morning the excitement began to grow. Upon seeing the temporary walls, comments like, “Wow, this is gonna be classy,” could be heard over and over. Archbishop Vigneron said that we as a parish should be very proud. Another priest attended Friday’s gala and texted that it was truly inspiring and was not only a GREAT event for our parish, but for the whole local church. He then went on Facebook to spread the word. One of the reporters from a local newspaper asked, “Where else in the United States has this been and where is it going next?” (not realizing that this was only happening here). Some would not believe that this was our first show ever. Several artists who have been involved in art exhibitions for years informed us that this was the best art event in which their work was ever displayed. Whether it be the musical performances, the dance or theatrical performances, the food, the amazing work of the volunteers and staff, or simply the positive attitudes, it truly was a job well done.

See our Telly’s Greenhouse Coupon on the Event Flier page, to raise funds for our Garden and food for St. Aloysius!

Just a quick update on the financial position of “Art for God’s Sake”. As I mentioned in a previous article the show has to stand on it’s own two feet and cover expenses. To date we’ve been able to accomplish that…no funds have been allocated from the St. Anastasia coffers to cover costs for “AFGS”.   I can’t mislead you, it has come close—but at this point, barring any unexpected expenses or issues, we should be able to cover all the costs based on advance ticket sales, perceived walk-ins, and sales at the show of food, beverages, prize drawing, and hopefully robust sales of the art itself. Remember—we get 30% of the price of any art item sold. That’s pretty much the norm in the art world. Getting back to covering expenses, we should be solid…and in my estimate, make some money for St. Anastasia and for the Canticle Café. Once the show is over and  expenses are covered, two checks will be issued from “AFGS” closing out the bank account (separate account and books)…one to St. Anastasia and one to the Canticle Café.