TLDR: I have been asked a number of questions this last few days that I feel I should answer to all of you. I will answer them in order of appearance and not in order of importance.  Please read below:

What’s With the Armed Security On Easter?

Let me start with an apology. I should have informed the entire congregation way before Easter that you would see security on our campus for the major feasts of Holy Week. Sadly, this became necessary in 2022 when we had a series of break-ins in our church by folks who were using our hallways for bathrooms, fountain for showers, and entryways for sleeping quarters. Brother Allen and Hope Center’s Hot Team helped us a number of times, but some of the visitors were coming after hours and we would find their presents in the mornings. We then saw a few folks during our high feasts and festivals, and sadly some were becoming belligerent and posed a security risk to our staff and parishioners.  At some point, the Vestry decided to have security for our Street of Shoppes, Fun Run, Easter Evening and Day, Holy Smokes, and Christmas events. The people we are contracting are all off-duty police and Sheriff’s officers who walk the grounds, answer questions about parking and bathrooms, and ensure that ambulances are called in case of emergency (as they did for us on Easter Sunday at the 11:00 o’clock service.)

Please understand that this is not our attempt at “getting rid of the homeless.” We welcome our houseless friends to join us for church and coffee hour, and to become members if so desired. But churches are becoming targets of violence and we felt it necessary to have someone patrol our grounds so we can worship in peace. Please know that you will see some security at major events. Introduce yourselves to our security friends and thank them for their service. If you have any questions, please contact Craig Patterson (who coordinates this for us) or the rector directly.

I Heard We Had Over 900 People in Church During Easter. Tell Us More About This.

This is partly true, and there is a good reason why we haven’t communicated this yet. Between Palm Sunday and the last service of Easter Sunday we had a combined in person and online attendance of 1,521 people. Of these, 1044 people attended in person and 477 people attended online. The best attended services of the week were Palm Sunday (477 combined) and Easter Sunday (634 combined). This is good news, but an even bigger news is the steady increase in our Average Sunday Attendance. We are consistently surpassing the 330-360 combined number, with our in person attendance in the 250 to 280 range and our online number between 80 and 110 people every week. We haven’t seen these numbers in a few years and this brings great joy to us. Please continue to invite friends to our services and continue to be as hospitable as you have been to our visitors. Together we can double our in-person Average Sunday Attendance within the next five years. We can and we will, because he can and he will!

We were having problems with Facebook Live analytics (their problem, not ours,) which were solved while I was on vacation. I had to postpone this announcement until this week. In either case, thanks to all who made our Holy Week services truly remarkable.

Give Us an Update on the Restorative Justice Program in Colombia

May marks the two-year anniversary of our financial support program to the Departamento Del Cauca Restorative Justice Program in the city of Cali, Colombia. We funded the first year through an inhouse campaign to which many of you contributed. We funded the second year through a generous donation from the World Mission Fund at Saint Dunstan’s. This fund had been set a few years back to fund international missions, and the committee decided to fund the project for a year while we waited for a return to the Dominican Republic, which we are doing this year from July 8-15.

The project funds part of the salary and operation expenses for a full-time chaplain who covers three different Juvenile Justice Facilities in Cali, the third largest city in Colombia and the epicenter of the country’s gang problems. Fr. Daniel Mafla has been working in these prisons for ten years providing counseling, case management, advocacy, spiritual direction, and expert testimony in local courts. He has been responsible for the release and reintegration of a number of promising youth who are now college students in the city. He has graduated nearly a dozen students in both technical and college fields over the last five years.

Now that we are entering the third year of the program, we will be funding the project through private donations and contributions from clergy discretionary funds. During the Summer, we will do another campaign and Fr. Mafla will be invited once again to speak at all of our Small Groups via Zoom as he has done a number of times in the past two years. To contribute, please write a check to Saint Dunstan’s Episcopal Church with a memo line “Restorative Justice Program.” If you have more questions about this, please let the Rector know. The total budget for the program is $600 dollars a month, which Dede Johnson manages for us.  

What Is This We Hear About a Vehicle Donation Program?

It is not a program, yet. Early this year a Cuban Family recently relocated to our area by the State Department joined our 1:00pm service. One of their biggest needs was transportation to enable the head of household to find employment. In early February we asked the Diocese to send us a set of guidelines and instructions regarding a vehicle donation program. Our goal is to be able to provide a tax credit for the donor, while making the process simple for the recipient. When Michael and Naomi McElroy heard of the family and their need, they volunteered to be the first donors to the program. It has taken a while for the Diocese to do the needed research and as of this day we have not received their instructions. In the absence of guidelines from the Diocese, Michael and Naomi decided to do a direct transfer to the recipient without the church’s direct involvement. This vehicle already has been a huge blessing to this family. Our goal is to wait for the Diocese’s guidelines and to create an official vehicle donation program. We are meeting a number of legally relocated people to our area with serious transportation issues. If you have a vehicle in good working order you can donate, please email Fr. Roldan. We can either facilitate a direct transfer to the recipient (if you don’t need a tax certificate) or we can put you on the list until we receive Diocesan instructions on how to do this through the church.

I think I have answered all recent inquiries, but if I forgot something, please let me know.

Blessings to all,

Fr. Roman+