Pastor’s Corner — August 15th, 2021
Parking Lot Update/Reminders
At the end of the Mass last Sunday at the 9:30 and 11:30 AM, I made an announcement that was initially aimed at those who attend those two Masses because they are usually the most well attended. But since then, I believe the whole parish could benefit from an improved parishioner experience in the parking lot. Here are ways we can alleviate parking lot congestion/flow issues at the parish, so that we aren’t frustrated before or after coming to Mass.
1.) New Parking Lot with Better Traffic Flow: At the end of August (week of Aug 30) we are repaving the back Grand River parking lot. The new lot will have a new redesign which allows for better traffic flow from and back to Grand River Ave.
2) Drop Off Location: If you are dropping someone off for Mass, please use the Car Port entrance by back of the Church, not the main entrance (Door B) where the elevator is. The parking lot traffic lane by the main entrance is a place of heavy congestion. If we returned to using the Car Port structure to drop people off, which has an extra lane for this purpose, we would alleviate congestion around Door B where most people enter the Church.
3) Carpool: We only have a limited number of parking spaces available. We could ease some of the parking lot congestion if families and friends chose to carpool to Church. Coming to Mass with others would affirm that the worship of God at Mass is a communal event as well as help free up more space for other parishioners or guests to our parish.
4) Park Well: It’s more common than I’d like to admit; some people don’t park very well. On Sunday I saw a compact SUV taking up two parking spots. Other people aren’t parking in the lines. If we parked well, we’d have more spots available.
5) Come to Mass Earlier: It’s common that most people come to Mass within the 10 minutes before Mass. Everyone coming at once overwhelms the traffic flow and people who get here for Mass on time end up coming in late because it takes them a long time to find a spot or because everyone is trying to find spots at the same time. My encouragement is that if even half of these people chose to come 3-5 minutes earlier, it would alleviate significant congestion and help more be on time for Mass.
Confession Line Improvements at St. Pat’s
While we’re at it, we also redesigned the chairs in the back chapel and displayed diagrams that clearly show where the lines are for the two confessionals. I didn’t realize how confusing and difficult the old way of doing it was. Now it makes much more sense and I hope this helps make going to confession a little easier.
Raffle Tickets and St. Pat’s Oktoberfest
Keep an eye out for the St. Pat’s Raffle tickets in the mail this week and try to sell all of them. We will be drawing the winning ticket at the parish/school Oktoberfest family event on the afternoon of Sunday, September 26. More details to come.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias