Repair and Restoration in the Parish.

Mary Garden:
we are moving forward on the work in the Mary Garden. The deteriorating brick walls have come down and the new fieldstone wall is up, the arbor is built and erected, more electrical outlets have been added for new and improved lighting, the plaza area has been added, and the initial phase of the land-scaping is complete, and a watering system with all its details is being worked out. In the big picture, the Mary Garden will be given privacy from Stratton Brook Road by landscape gardening as a part of the overall plan for the property. It is important to make the garden a place of prayer where sacred silence encour-ages one to listen to God. The Mary Garden restoration work is all being made possible by a private donation from parishioner Gloria Rose, in memory of her late husband, Bill. A dedication ceremony will be planned.

The Rectory:
More than 10 years ago the parish obtained quotes for replacement windows at the rectory (currently all the windows are the original ones from 1970). Nothing was ever done at that time. Today, some of the windows do not work and some of the windowsills are rotted. A prior lack of maintenance over the years is the cause, unfortunately. Additionally, when the house was built, savings were obtained by "unique techniques" making the casements a little more difficult to remove for replace-ment windows. We have obtained four quotes from three local craftsmen and one regional supplier. I have decided to go with Lee Brown, as he has given us the best quote for the entire resi-dence. The "bad news" is that the project will cost just over $8000 for all the windows and to complete the work on the window casements. The "good news" is that thanks to the continued dedication of our parishioners to the monthly Repair and Refurbishment Collection we are able to do this project and to move forward with the routine maintenance of our facilities. As the wise will tell you, it is less expensive to do ongoing repairs than it is to replace or rebuild after neglect. Thank you for your support of the Repair and Refurbishment collection.