Dear Parish Family,

Happy Catholic Schools Week! As we celebrate the blessing of our Catholic schools, especially St. Mary School in Chardon, we can be thankful for the gift of a well-rounded Catholic education for our students, the treasure of our teachers and their daily sacrifices, and the commitment of our families to raise their children in the faith of Christ.

As part of the Keeping the Faith initiative to provide irresistibly Catholic, academically excellent, operationally sound, and geographically accessible schools, Bishop Malesic has reminded us that every parish is responsible for supporting Catholic school education, regardless of whether or not that parish has a school on campus or not. We are always seeking ways to strengthen the partnership between St. Mary School with the St. Mary Parish and St. Patrick Parish communities through collaborative projects,  prayer, and connecting school families with the life of the parish and parish families with the life of the school.

We also have a wonderful opportunity to financially support our school through the Angel Scholarship Fund (ASF). With this tax credit scholarship program, we can direct the money we owe in state income taxes to St. Mary School in Chardon to help families with tuition assistance. This "donation" doesn't cost a dime since we already owe this money to the state at tax time, and we get back dollar-for-dollar what we contribute to the Angel Scholarship Fund. It's a win-win for all!

The Angel Scholarship Fund (ASF) is making a huge difference for our families. In 2022, 200 donors helped us raise $139,000 for ASF scholarships for this current school year. I'm excited to announce that in 2023 over 250 donors helped us raise $196,330 in ASF contributions to be used for scholarship assistance for the upcoming school year! This marks a 41% increase over last year's contributions, and will go further to making our Catholic school even more affordable for our families.

In case you missed donating to the ASF tax credit scholarship in 2023, don't worry! You have until April 15 to claim a contribution for the 2023 tax year. You can also make a contribution for the 2024 tax year at any time this year. Pick up a contribution form and more information in our gathering space, or visit https://www.catholiccommunity.org/give/catholic-education/angel-scholarship-fund to make a contribution in the 2023 or 2024 tax year. No amount is too small to make a big impact! Thank you for your support of our school.

Music Director Position

A full-time music director position will be opening for us soon. Both Joe Trivisonno and Tom Burke have expressed their readiness to step down from their roles as music directors at St. Mary's in the near future, and those at St. Patrick's are aware that Julie Slattery retired from her music director position last year. After consulting those involved in our music ministries, we will be posting a job opening for a full-time music director at St. Mary and St. Patrick Parishes to serve and coordinate our music ministries. We will continue to utilize our current accompanists, cantors, choirs, and Mass directors as needed based on the qualifications and availability of the person we hire. More information on the position can be found at https://stmarychardon.org/jobs. Please ask the Lord to bless the hiring process and to bless us with good candidates for the position!

I am yours in Christ,
Fr. Scott Goodfellow