October 9, 2016

1. What a wonderful past couple weeks we've had! The United Parish Picnic on September 25th was great. And, this past weekend (October 2), I joined many of the Slovak community at Slovak Heritage Festival in West Windsor in New Jersey. It was a great privilege to celebrate this important liturgy. As you know, this was my first attempt at saying the Mass in Slovak! Thank you to all who have helped me and supported me in this long preparation! I am so impressed with the work by Eva Lysáková, Ján Lysák and Ľudmila Hlinková who cooked in our school kitchen in preparation for this event. Their dedication is an inspiration! Also thank you to all the other dedicated cooks, volunteers, vendors and performers who helped to make this festival a success.

2. Thank you to all the young altar servers who serve at the liturgies on Roosevelt Island. Your dedication and service are inspiring and a blessing to our parish.

3. Beginning this weekend (October 9th) we have added an addition Mass to the Roosevelt Island Cabrini Chapel Mass schedule. We will now have an 8:15 and 9:15am Mass in Cabrini Chapel as well as the 11:15am Mass in Good Shepherd Chapel.

4. Welcome our two new priests on staff: Fr. Martin Kertys, C.O. is a Slovak priest, who joins us from the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Tappan. Also welcome to Father Antonio Ferrere who joins us from Staten Island. Please give both Fr. Martin and Fr. Antonio a warm welcome. Like Fr. Stefan, Fr. Antonio is also being incardinated in the Archdiocese of NY.

5. This past week I attended the International Catholic Stewardship Conference held in New Orleans accompanied by Dustin DiSalvo (Young Adult Ministry), Lisa Calabrese (Parish Manager), Mark Pacoe (Music and Communications), and Renata Bukovicova and Katarina Novakova, trustees of the parish. It was an excellent education and immersion into parochial management tools, and stewardship of time, talent and resources (treasure).