Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Hangin' in the rectory


New rectory receptionist Carol Gangnath joins Father Gallaugher in learning about all the parishioners on our tree. 
Several months have passed since Corky Hart left our rectory staff to “tread the boards” at the Kennedy Center.  We had a lot of invaluable help from Karyn Zanger, but she could only give us that much time for the interim.  So Carol Gangnath, our new receptionist, started on January 4.  Just into her second week, she is learning the many and varied responsibilities that fall to the person who sits in her chair.  She is also just beginning to learn the many and varied people she encounters in the course of a week.
Providentially, she started just as the Christmas season was ending, and right there in front of her was one of the best resources there is to learn about the people of our parish: our “Parishioner Tree”.
This is not the first time I have let you know how much I enjoy getting family picture Christmas cards from parishioners, and that I am not the only one.  In order for everybody in the rectory to be able to enjoy them, we hang them in the front office, on our festive tree decked with lights, ornaments, and smiling parishioners. 
Everybody who works here enjoyed seeing the photos, oohing and ahhhing over the cutest little ones.  My one request would be that parents not leave themselves out of the picture, or off the card.  Especially since so many of the card services now offer the opportunity to have inset photos or supplements montages on the reverse side, surely it is not too much to ask that mom and dad be included somewhere?  We still enjoying seeing you, too, even if you don’t get the same oohs and ahhhs you did when you were ten months old.
There is also a practical aspect that this year has come in particularly handy.  It is a great way to see everybody in family groups, and learn who belongs to whom.  Maybe it even gives us a name we hadn’t been able to catch!  Fr. Gallaugher has only been here for six months, which is just long enough to have encountered a whole lot of faces and names, but not necessarily to have hooked them all together properly.   And now Carol is just getting started.  So even now that the tree has come down, all those cards are a helpful resource.
So next time you are passing by, stop in to meet Carol, welcome her, and let her see your face and hear your voice.  How better to reveal that as much as you enhance our appearance at Christmas, your role here is not merely ornamental.

Monsignor Smith