In the Bulletin Week of June 16th

Confirmation Program Enhancements
This summer, we have begun to look at our Confirmation program.  As many of you know, we are one of the largest programs in the state. If everyone who was in 8th grade last year follows through, we will have over 120 in the class. I promise to keep you posted on our progress, but here are some of the things we are looking at: Increased preparation for our catechists, a new sylabus patterned to the needs and skill set of our students, the possibility of a service day to help our students get their service hours in, keeping the program fresh by using a variety of teaching methods, increased accountability for both catechists and staff with weekly online quizzes and a final assessment before allowing a young person to proceed to the 10th grade program.  This is all in the development stage, but it looks good and I am most grateful to the people who have stepped up and are willing to be the catechists for this most important ministry.

KGS - Committee
We continue to work toward coming up with a comprehensive campus plan for our parish, including the KGS property. As I said before, we are developing the site plan so that we can immediately make better use of the KGS property and keep our options open for the future.  At  the last meeting, the KGS Committee felt that it would be good to have some informational meetings to get input from the parish at large. Keep your eyes on the bulletin for the dates and the times of these future meetings.

Marriage Convalidations
We are happy when a couple asks to have their marriage “blessed” by the Church. When a person asks to have their marriage blessed, they are actually asking to have their marriage convalidated, or recognized by the Church. To have your marriage convalidated, the couple must have no previous marriages recognized by the church. For example: If you and your spouse are both Catholic and  were married by a Justice of the Peace, it is indeed possible for your marriage to be convalidated. If you or your spouse were married previously and divorced, and  if that previous marriage was annulled or if your previous spouse died, there is a good possibility that your current marriage could be blessed or convalidated.  A convalidation ceremony is usually private in the company of two witnesses. If you have any questions please feel free to call the Parish Office and we’d be happy to discuss the possibility of having your marriage convalidated here at St. Paul’s.

Church Security Enhancements
Maximum Security is in the final design stages of the fire/security enhancements we have planned for our Church. These projects were paid for by the End of the Year Appeal. We are making sure the design is exactly what we need and we are in discussion with the Fire Marshall to make sure he is in agreement. The whole project should start in the next month or so. The project includes,  a new fire and security alarm, access control on key doors, and CTV to catch anyone who might vandalize the Church. We are very fortunate that we can keep our church opened all day. I have discussed this project with members of the Berlin Fire and Police Departments and they feel that we are being very proactive and making a great move to keep everyone safe in our beautiful little Church.