From the Desk of Father Martin, May 7

Praised be Jesus Christ! “Most people (during the Middle Ages) got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet while getting married.” People come up with some pretty crazy explanations, don’t they?! For the record, the quote claims things that are untrue. When we were kids we had a weekly bath and even that required a lot of flowers to keep us presentable to the public. The moral of this story is to be critical of what you read. St. Paul’s admonition to “test all things and retain what is true” (1 Thes. 5:21) is as relevant today as it was when he wrote it. What follows is a brief fi- nancial history of the parish and a chance to decide whether or not my version is accurate. From what I’ve read and learned from parishioners, Christ the King has always been a generous parish. In the beginning they were a mission church but eventually built the parish church (1938) and had their own resident pastor. The biggest renovation project was in 1994, when the gathering space was built on to the original church. Of all the improvements over the years, this was a significant one that continues to allow us to grow as a commu- nity because we have the space to get to know each other after Mass. When we pray we grow closer to God and that communion is then extended to our parish and the greater community when we spend time with each other. For the record, our gathering space is one of the nicest I’ve ever come across. In terms of future projects, we will be replacing our kneelers sometime this month. They are completely worn out and that will be in preparation for the day when we have to replace our pews. God willing, the pews will give us another 10-20 years, but the kneelers will fit them when we have to take that step. Our sound system will need to be replaced at some point too, but again we hope for a few more years with the present system. At this time in our parish history our level of giving is robust and allows us to both pay our bills and con- tinue to update our physical plant while also serving our peo- ple and the greater community. However, financial life ebbs and flows, which makes bequests very valuable as a founda- tion that steadies our ship. If you’ve never considered naming Christ the King in your will this might be the time to think and pray about it. For those who leave a gift to the parish, some make a specific request as to how it will be used (e.g. some- one recently left a generous gift to be used for our CCD pro- gram) while others choose to simply leave money to the par- ish to decide how to use it. For example, a parishioner did this last year and we’re using it to repair some of the crumbling concrete on the south side of the church. These are things you can think about and pray about; the best way I’ve ever heard is to consider the question, “If I can do more, should I?” Oh, and don’t forget to take a bath sometime this month!

May God help us to be cheerful givers!
Your friend in Christ, Father Martin