November 2007
Month of the the Poor Souls

Adult Faith Formation is on!
Check the schedule for this fall's program.

News: November 4, 2007
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

CATHOLIC SERVICES APPEAL -- EMERGENCY
We have been informed by the Archdiocese that we made an accounting mistake on our Catholic Services Appeal. We thought that our required target was $11,002 but it is actually $15,257. At the present time we are $3,855 short of our goal. Of our 244 registered parishioners, only 65 contributed to the CSA. If the 179 parishioners who did not contribute would come forward now, each one would only have to contribute $22.00 in order for us to reach our goal. If we cannot reach our goal, the money will have to come from our operating account and we really cannot afford to take money from that account to pay our CSA assessment. Our operating account (Sunday collection) pays our utilities, our share of Fr. Borkowski’s salary, the wages of our custodian and parking lot guard and miscellany.

We still need more helpers
Men or women 18 years & up.
Ushers, to volunteer call Justin Karr (313) 821-0778.
Altar Society, call Christine Gray (248) 652-4897.
Lectors, call Joseph Ivers (586) 245-5702.
Altar Servers, call Fr. Mark Borkowski (313) 831-6659.
Wedding Coordinators, Call Fr. Borkowski.
Wedding coordinators conduct the wedding rehearsal the evening before a wedding, and open the church for the wedding ceremony and help the couple and their attendants.

Important Restoration Update
Progress continues on the replacement of our storm windows. The original price of $166,000 to replace all storm windows and also restore the Death of St. Joseph Window in the church has been adjusted slightly upward.

We had to pay the City of Detroit for a permit to replace the storm windows. The cost of the permit was $3,430. There was also an adjustment in the contract. Much rotted wood has been discovered that was not visible until the old storm windows were removed. This is an added expense that could not be estimated beforehand.

Our contract has been adjusted with an additional $3,000 to replace this rotted wood. This project is made possible by a bequest in Leonard Gabriel’s will of $80,000, an anonymous gift of $30,000, various individual donations, and the remaining balance in the window restoration fund that was raised from 1999-2001.

Besides the replacement of storm windows, we have 13 windows in the church that need to be taken down and re-leaded. Six windows have had this restoration. The cost to re-lead a window can vary from $27,000 to $53,000 apiece, depending on what studio is available to do the work. Our Death of St. Joseph window will be restored at a cost of $17,000. This low cost is because we are dealing with a smaller company that is also replacing our storm windows. The St. Joseph window may be gone for as long as a year because the studio is small and has other work ahead of ours. We cannot afford to pass up this opportunity to have this window restored at such a reasonable price. If we are to restore the remaining stained glass windows in the church, we will need at least $330,000.

We have applied for one federal matching fund grant but were not among the finalists. There may be other grant money available but it requires a lot of research in order to find it. We encourage all of our parishioners to investigate the possibility of getting grants for this restoration.

Duct tape!
Please take a look at the condition of our stained glass windows from outside the church along Orleans street. Now that most of the storm windows have been removed, it is easy to see the serious condition of deterioration in which we find our windows. It is much more noticeable from outside the church than it is from the inside.

Anyone interested in the pursuit of obtaining grants for our church can consult with our bulletin editor, Patrick Degens, who has already applied for a Federal matching fund grant and completed all the research required. Portions of our windows are now being held together with duct tape both on this side of the church and on the rectory side. You can also help replenish our window restoration fund by making out a check payable to St. Joseph Window Restoration.