My Dear Parish Family,

   Here we are once again…nearing the end of the summer season and starting a new school year. I hope your summer was a time of relaxation for you all. Personally, I had a full summer with some travel, catching up with friends and former parishioners, and working on various projects for our entire parish. For sure, God is good.

   Just a little over a week ago Dolly Parton went home to God at the age of 80 years and left behind an incredible legacy of her music, movies, philanthropy and much more. From the time I was young I remember seeing her with her big blonde wigs and outrageous outfits. I didn’t really like country music but somehow Dolly made it (and herself) darn likeable. As I grew older Dolly had become very much a part of our culture and everyone knew who she was. Apart from her professional career, though there was her philanthropic work with the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. She credits her uneducated father as being one of the smartest men she ever knew, but his inability to read limited his dreams.

   Dolly’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, no matter their family’s income. What began as a local effort in Dolly's home-town has grown into an international movement. Today, over 3 million children are registered for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library across five countries, and more than 300 million books are mailed to children every month.  When asked how she would like to be remembered, Dolly quoted St. Mother Theresa’s “When I stand before God, I want to be able to say, Lord, I used everything you gave me.” A beautiful song was performed by Ed Sheeran and I recommend you take a listen: search YouTube for ‘Ed Sheeran Tribute to Dolly Parton: Tribute to a country Queen.’

   God bless you all. Welcome back to students and staff and Oremus pro invicem.

Fr. Scott Shaffer