Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: January 21, 2018
I announced here last week that our longtime Director of Administration and Bookkeeper, Mrs. Sheila Juneau, will be leaving us at the end of the month. She says she is overwhelmed by the outpouring of gratitude and good wishes which so many of you have been sharing with her! She deserves it: over the past 21 years she has put in long hours and sacrificed many brain cells helping to make our Cathedral Parish the wonderful Church community that it is. We can now share with you that she’ll be taking over as Director of Administration at St. Thomas More Parish here in Baton Rouge, a significantly larger community than us, assisting Father Michael Alello there.
If you would like to see her before she leaves us and offer her your personal thanks, may I suggest two opportunities? On Monday evening, January 29, we’re having another Parish “Pot Luck” Supper at 6 pm. Sheila will be there, so prepare a side dish or salad or dessert or something, and join us! She’ll be “mingling” at every table!
And then on Sunday, February 4, at a reception after our 10 am Mass, we’ll add some punch and cake to the usual coffee and doughnuts and send Sheila off in style! Again, everyone is invited to share their appreciation and best wishes to her as she moves on.
As a follow-up I have some good news, though: we’ve already hired Sheila’s successors. Yes, we’ve found both a Bookkeeper and an Operations Manager. I’ll be introducing them to you in next week’s issue of The Carpenter, and sometime next month we’ll have an opportunity for everyone to meet them.
I did not know either before meeting and interviewing them, but I’m excited about working with them. Each is qualified and experienced, which is important. Yet each Parish is a bit different, so we’re going to have to depend on everyone to be a bit patient as they become familiar with those various things which make our Cathedral and its workings unique. By the time you read this both will be working with Sheila to become as familiar as possible with our setup by the end of the month. And of course even after Sheila moves on to St. Thomas More she’ll be available for telephone consultations as needed – in fact, if we never, ever call her for help she’ll probably be disappointed!
All this being said, I think the transition to a new “team” in our Parish Office will likely be pretty smooth. I hope so, anyway! Your cooperation and understanding will be an important part of this.
Sincerely yours in the Lord,
Fr. Paul
