Although it rained most of the week, the church lawn and the cemetery lawn did get mowed.
I was able to have Mass at Clarks Point (Saint Peter the Fisherman) on Friday and King Salmon Naknec (Saint Theresa) on Sunday. After waiting for the fog to lift in Dillingham, I was flew over to Clark's with about two minutes to spare before mass. We celebrated mass in Clark Point's brand spanken new community center. We hope to raise money for a new Catholic Church building to go next door to the new center. The old church, built by Mariano's father (Mariano Floresta pictured below) is around fifty years old and falling apart.
Above, Judy and Mariano.. Juliana also attended.
Here is a short video as I was flying over to Saint Theresa from Clark's Point.
YOU CAN ALSO CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO.
The cemetery is looking very nice after all the rain and a little tender loving care.
I am currently getting ready to travel to Bethesda, near Washington, DC, for mission talks to raise money for our Saint Paul Mission. We have confirmed on weekend, September 17 and 18, and are working on September 10 and 11. Here is a brief outline of some of the points I will be talking about. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment:
CATHOLICS:
Alaskan
Catholic Population:
136,000
square miles (twice the size of Texas)
33,000
Catholics
4.2
Catholics per square mile
29
parishes/missions
21 in remote
areas
10 Archdiocesan
priests, 11 temporary and ordered priests
8 priests
short
CHALLENGES
Roads: No
roads to connect some 30 villages in the Mission
Airplanes:
Villages rely on airplanes for food, supplies, ministry
Geography:
Catholics live far apart
Anchorage to
Dillingham is 350 miles
Anchorage to
Dutch Harbor mission 796 miles
Weather:
Weather is unpredictable, severe, -30, gail winds, ice, snow, freezing rain
Culture:
Yupik Eskimo, some Hispanic, Filipino, and Caucasian
Mass
Frequency: Sometime never, once a year, once a month
COST OF
TRAVEL
$1,300 every
visit, i.e. Anchorage-Dillingham-King Salmon Round Trip
$1,000 Round
Trip to Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
$15,000 per
year to budget Airplane for priest pilot
PRIEST
SHORTAGE
Every
Catholic, by law, has the right to the sacraments
We are eight
priests short
We have two
seminarians
Cost per
seminarian: $50,000 each/year
CONCLUSION:
Where does
the money go?
1.
Travel to
remote villages.
2.
Education
for seminarians
3.
Your donation
will help Catholics in remote areas to receive sacraments.
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