This week I am continuing to share about our parish year-end financial reports and look to the needs of the current year. Last week I talked about St. Joseph Gnesen, St. Benedict, and St. John. This week I will share about St. Mary Star of the Sea and St. Michael.

St. Mary Star of the Sea did very well this last fiscal year. We did end the year with a deficit of $10,523, but with all we accomplished during the year that is not a bad place to end. The largest expense was the restoration of all of the stained-glass windows in the church which totaled nearly $110,000. Many of our parishioners may be familiar with the “Rutka Fund” which is designated for capital improvements for the church. This money is part of our parish investments which you see has grown over the last year, even with using $90,614 from the Rutka Fund during the year. You will notice on the annual report that the overall money in checking/savings/investments is only down by $3,000, which is great especially when noting all of our expenses and work we did last year. Lastly, we made our Ministries Appeal Goal last year.

Looking to the needs of St. Mary Star of the Sea this year, we have about $6,000 more to raise by December 31st to make our Ministries Appeal Goal for this year. Please be generous in giving to the Diocesan Ministries Appeal to help us make our goal once again! Ordinary giving (plate and envelope) is down a little bit this year, so I encourage you to take a look at your giving and if you are able to give an increase your generous stewardship will greatly help our parish. We have a historic church which is very beautiful. It takes a lot to keep it in good repair. We just added a security camera system this year, and we are looking at needed repairs for the steeple/bell tower. Thank you for stepping up to keep our downtown parish a place for parishioners and visitors alike to worship Jesus.

Moving on to St. Michael’s end of year report, we did end the year with a deficit of $50,000, but looking to all the work that we did, it is quite an accomplishment for our parish. We repaired/refinished all of the stained-glass windows and did tuckpointing on the bell tower. We also began the work of tearing down the Lakeside Professional Building which was determined by the finance council to no longer be viable based on the needed repairs to make it a safe building for usage. We made our Ministries Appeal Goal as well! Thanks to our strong investments we ended the year with more money in our accounts than we did the previous year.

St. Michael is transferring one of our endowments, the Catholic Education fund, to Stella Maris Academy. This endowment gives money every year to SMA for tuition assistance. This fund, like one at St. John’s, is directed to give funds to SMA as its function. Therefore, this fund and the one from St. John will be moved to SMA this year so that they can combine them for a better return to use for families in need and to have a vehicle for donors to give to who want to support tuition assistance.

The demolition of the Lakeside Professional Building has taken much longer than expected. As I noted some weeks ago at Mass, our original contractor did not follow the regulations for asbestos abatement as well as removal of fuel oil from storage tanks, and so the project has slowed down. With the exception of the outside walls of the building, all of the rubble has to now be considered asbestos and treated as such during removal. We are in the process of hiring a new contractor to finish the work.

For the current needs of St. Michael, we have about $26,000 to raise for our Ministries Appeal Goal by December 31st. I encourage you to give generously to the Ministries Appeal especially if you have not yet given a gift. Please too consider increasing your ordinary giving to the parish. St. Michael has done a great job of being good stewards of our parish, and I know with your generosity that will continue.

Thank you to all of our parishioners for your generosity in your stewardship. My next article will be the final one for the parish annual reports. This coming weekend we celebrate All Souls Day at all of our weekend Masses. All Saints Day is not a Holy Day of Obligation this year but will be celebrated at the 8am Mass on Saturday, November 1st. We pray in a special way for all of the souls of the faithful departed on All Souls Day and through the month of November, that through the mercy of God, they may rest in peace. Please write the names of your deceased loved ones in the book of the dead in each of our parishes and we will lift them up in prayer together. 

God bless. – Fr Seth

First Pancake Breakfast of the season at St. Mary Star of the Sea Sunday, November 2 9-11:30.  Adults $10, Under 10 $6. Gluten free & takeout available. 

The parish nurse will be available during the pancake breakfast for blood pressure screening and free covid test kits will be available.  

Please come to St. Ann's (across the street from St. Mary Star of the Sea) at 1:30 on November 2 to visit with our elderly neighbors. Caribou coffee and donuts provided. The residents are very much looking forward to this! Thank you for your continued prayers for the residents of St Ann's and for all our neighbors. 

The Holy Rosary Society will be meeting Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 10:00 am in the Social Hall at St. Mary Star of the Sea Church. The meeting starts with prayer and then continues with the official meeting.  All women are invited to attend, either for prayer or for the full meeting.  The meeting should conclude by 11:30 am. 

Thank you to everyone who picked up a baby bottle for the Christ Child Society.  Bottles are now due back. Please bring to your parish office this week if you have not done so already.  Thank you for your generosity!  

Beginning Thursday Nov 6, a Men's weekly scripture group will meet in St. Ben's library at 6:45 AM to reflect and pray over the coming Sunday's Gospel concluding at 7:30. We begin with prayer followed with a slow reading of the Gospel. After a pause the Gospel will be read again slowly. Participants are encouraged to first ask questions to clarify what is written and second to express what has struck them. We conclude with prayers and petitions and a blessing. Questions? Contact Jim Reinke (218-830-2231). 

Stella Maris Academy has received funds to support tuition assistance needs for Sentinel families.  This fund- the Catholic Religious Education Endowment Fund provides for the financial support of educational opportunities for the enrichment of faith and the spreading of the gospel by the laity, deacons, priests, and Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Duluth. Support and more information of this fund can be found at: https://dioceseduluth.org/creed.  We are grateful for the continued support of CREED at Stella Maris Academy.  

All parishioners can unlock free Creighton Model FertilityCare™ instruction through this special opportunity! Charting is beneficial for family planning and for monitoring and supporting reproductive health at all stages of life. Sign up for a free Creighton Model Introductory Session by visiting www.northlandfertilitycare.com.  The upcoming schedule for Introductory Classes is 

Sanctus Series: The Gospel According to Bach being performed by David Packa and friends at Cathedral of Christ the King, 1111 Belknap St., Superior, on Nov. 15 at 7PM. Featuring instrumental and vocal works from the cantatas and passions of Johann Sebastian Bach, experience the story of Scripture in a unique and beautiful way. From the Creation to the Fall, from Redemption to Restoration, "The Gospel According to Bach: is an opportunity to reflect on God's glory, grace and the great hope we have in Christ.  Freewill offering.