GOING THE LONG DISTANCE

Congratulations to Ashley Anklam who was the top American woman at this year's Boston Marathon. She ran the 26 mile course in 2 hours, 48:43 minutes. Ashley is now at the University of Minnesota Medical School but grew up in Bloomington. While attending Nativity Grade School she became a
member of the Catholic Church here at St. Edwards. Ashley also graduated from Holy Angels High School.

ANOTHER EMPLOYMENT SEEKER

Tim Singhel moved to Bloomington from Long Island at the beginning of 2007 with his wife Beverly, sons James (kindergarten at Nativity of Mary) and Timothy (nursery school at St. Michael's), and daughter Carolyn (loving life at 20 months old).  Beverly is from Coon Rapids and an alumna of Epiphany School.  When Carolyn was born right before the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, they wanted to make a change so Tim could stop commuting to work across the street from the World Trade Center.  Tim is an attorney by profession and took a position as the Chief Labor and Employment Counsel for a manufacturing company in Bloomington.  Unfortunately, Tim's job was eliminated after that company was acquired.  He has been in job transition since the end of last year and is looking for any opportunities, either full-time or on a contractual basis, with a company as an in-house counsel or human resources executive, or with a law firm.  You can contact Tim at home - (952) 426-1774 - or by email at TSinghel@optonline.net.  All of your prayers and support are also appreciated and welcome.

A WORD OF THANKS

One of our parishioners has been on a lengthy job hunt. I just got an email with the following message: "I was hired for the job and started today.  It is a temp to hire, so I am hoping that it lasts.

I am so happy!  Thank you so much--and the whole of St. Edward's..."

ADS THAT ADD UP

The last two pages of our bulletin contains ads and begins with the phrase, "Support our Advertisers." I know that you often express your satisfaction with them. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of our advertisers for the bulletin support and to point out to the parish at large that in addition to supporting the church bulletin, many of these advertisers also do much more. 

For instance,

• Dan Kreye of High Five Erectors, also is Sacristan for many funerals and in addition is contact person for our great team of ushers. 
• Curran's restaurant assists our Young at Heart Group each year with several events, not the least of which is the St. Patrick's Day lunch. 
• Clover Cleaners does a wonderful job dry cleaning some of our altar cloths and vestments at no cost to the church. 

These are just partial examples of the great works our advertisers do in addition to supporting our bulletin.  So again, thank you for supporting them, as they support our parish in so many ways.

CONGRATULATIONS, SHELLY

Shelly Bjick, our Pastoral Care Associate, was just named Valedictorian of her 2008 College of St. Catherine's graduating class. I know how hard a worker Shelly is, but this is a truly outstanding accomplishment, even more so when combined with her family and St. Ed's responsibilities.

EARTH DAY 2008 THE BIBLE AND POPE BENEDICT TOLD ME SO

One very interesting development in the world of religion has been the renewed appreciation for environmental awareness among evangelical Christians. A growing number of their pastors and theology professors are talking about "Creation care." Catholics have been much more comfortable in professing a concern for the environment. After all, St. Francis is the patron saint of ecology and recent popes have stressed the need to be good stewards of Creation.

But the Bible itself has a profound message for this Tuesday, April 22, which is Earth Day. God's first words are a blessing of creation with the refrain, "it is good."  God then challenged the first human family to be stewards of his Creation. When God made a covenant after the great flood it was with all
the living creatures and not just with Noah. It is impossible to read the psalms without being powerfully reminded of Creation's relationship with God: the heavens declare the glory of God.

For us as Catholics with our sacramental imagination it is very natural to see the sacredness of the created world. This is very evident in celebrating the Eucharist. Thanksgiving for Creation remains at the heart of the Church's understanding of the Eucharist. "In the eucharistic sacrifice, the whole of Creation loved by God is presented to the Father by means of the death and resurrection of Christ"  (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1359). Happy Earth Day!

This past week we also had the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States where he continued to make  appeals for the protection of the environment. Happy Earth Day.

GOING ORGANICALLY

Since the Parish Pastoral Council has approved going ahead with the Organ Renovation project of our 40 Anniversary Fund we have been in contact with the Austin Organ Company which originally built our present organ. At the time of its original design in 1980 the parish decided not to add an additional division of pipes that had been part of the plans. In addition to refurbishing the present pipes and installing a completely new digital console, the organ will include the added division of 12 ranks of pipes. Thankfully, the Austin Company kept the original drawings. They are very excited about this project. In fact, this summer the A.G.O., American Guild of Organists, will have their annual convention in the Twin Cities and there is a very elaborate Convention Guide book.

A FEW GOOD MEN (NEEDED)

A most wonderful ministry in the parish is that for funeral lunches. Right now we have some very dedicated members of this ministry team. Most of them are women of the parish. We have a few men too and last week I was asked to invite more men to consider this ministry. It includes lunch! The rotating schedule has the teams serve the funerals over the course of a month.

ANOTHER GOOD MAN

A parishioner is looking for a new position as his last employment was downsized. His background is in the customer service field with over 20 years experience.  His most recent position was with a local college as a Financial Aid Officer.  He really liked working in an academic environment. In the past he has worked for both the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Minnesota in their library systems.  At UNL, he was a Library Assistant II for 4 years at the main circulation desk and was responsible for opening and closing the main library building, as well as managing the circulation desk and several student workers.  At the U of M, he was a Library Assistant II for 12 years, first as a copy cataloger in monograph processing, and then worked in the Serials Acquisitions department.  In that capacity he was a liaison between the subject librarians and national and international vendors in placing orders, paying invoices and handling any problems in the set of subject fund accounts.

He would love to find a job in either Financial Aid or at a library.  But, at this point any customer service position would be wonderful.