St. Catherine of Siena Parish

My wife, Jane, and I have been parishioners here for 25 years. A couple of years ago, Fr. Mike asked us to give a Stewardship talk. It took all of Father's impressive powers of persuasion before we reluctantly agreed. We really didn't like talking publicly about our personal decision to contribute.

But this time, we didn't hesitate at all when asked to talk to you. The situation is very different, and I'm happy to tell you why we decided to make a pledge to support this project. I'd like to say that our decision was the product of prayerful discernment, and I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit is somehow involved, but really this was a no-brainer for us.

When we first moved to Ithaca, we woke up one rainy Saturday morning to find water streaming down the inside of our living room windows. We were pretty upset, as you can imagine, and we were even more unhappy when we learned that the entire roof needed to be replaced. But we had to fix the roof, so we did it. What else was there to do?

Recently, the detailed structural study of the church showed that there are many things that need to be done. Need to be done - not "would be a good idea to do." The entire structure is compromised in many ways, and many things need to be fixed. There really isn't any choice.

As we said when we gave our Stewardship witness talk, this parish is our home. And so, this church is our house. The house needs repair.

As I said, a no-brainer.