Greetings, Saint Joseph,

 

My name is Dillon Scherer. I grew up at Saint Joseph’s. I was baptized here, received my First Communion here and last year, I was confirmed here. This parish has helped me to grow into the person I am today and has greatly affected me and my faith. I have served as an altar server here at Saint Joseph’s and I am currently a lector at the Life Teen Mass. For three years I worked in the religious education program and have been involved with Life Teen for the past three years, this year being on the Life Teen Core Team.  With Life Teen, I have gone to Natural Bridges to see the Monarch butterflies with the Stars group. I have helped out with the satellite Shelter on Monday nights and in January, I was fortunate enough to go with a small group to Bayou La Batre, Alabama to rebuild houses that were hit by Hurricane Katrina. All of this has had a great affect on me as I have grown up and has given me a great love for this parish.

 

It is because of this love that I have for our parish and our community here at Saint Joseph’s, that I agreed to be the chair person of this year’s Annual Bishop’s Ministry Appeal. Father Matt asked me to speak to you about what we would like to do to improve our parish. This year we would like to update and improve our church’s sound system.

 

It has been ten years since our sound system was last updated and it is in need to be updated again. Now, you may be thinking that the sound systems sounds fine to me, and sometimes it does sound fine, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be improved. Like all technology, sound systems become outdated and technology improves. Also, in the past ten years, we have learned how difficult it is to amplify a space like this. With the very high ceilings and large space, it is hard to amplify such a big space and not all of our church is amplified. The two sides aren’t amplified at all and it is difficult to hear from these two areas. So, since the last update, ten years ago, we have learned how to better amplify a space like our church.

 

I think that it is so important to update this system because sound plays such an important part to our liturgy. Sound carries our music of praise to God; it carries His Word, as it is proclaimed from sacred Scripture and it carries our prayers. We hear the words of consecration that turn simple bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ, which is at the center of our Mass. Imagine if we didn’t have a functioning sound system. We wouldn’t be able to hear any of this sound, which means so much to us as a Catholic community of faith. It is because of this that this update and improvement is so important.

 

Now, we don’t have just one sound system in our church, we actually have two. This first is the big speaker ball that hangs from the rafters. This speaker is for the priest and for the ambo. The other sound system is the two speakers up behind the altar. These speakers are for the music. These two sound systems are independent of each other and do not work together. So, one of the improvements we would like to make is to integrate these two sound systems. Integrating these systems would make it easier to control these systems, making it better for all of us.

 

Another problem with our sound system is the location of the soundboard, which controls our music’s sound system. The soundboard is located next to the organ, amongst the singers and musicians. Obviously, from this location the soundboard operator does not hear what we in the congregation hear. If the operator doesn’t hear what we hear it is difficult to make the needed adjustments, so that the music sounds the best that it can to us. So, we would like to move the soundboard somewhere where the operator can hear what we hear. The best place for this would be upstairs in the loft. From here, the soundboard operator will be able to hear what we hear, so that adjustments can be made, so that the sound is the best that it can sound.

 

This next improvement is perhaps the most important one, apart from the general updating and improvement of the sound system. That is to improve our wireless hearing assistance system. For those of you who don’t know about this system, it is for our fellow parishioners who are hearing impaired. Our system consists of these little headsets, which link into our sound system. When you walk into the back of the church, there is a box to your right, which has these in them. I think it is a great system, because it allows everyone to hear and to participate in our Mass. Unfortunately, I’m told that these headsets don’t always work, which is obviously a problem. We have also lost many of these devices and must replace them from time to time. We would like to improve this hearing assistance system so that it meets the needs of all of our parishioners. This improvement does not just benefit those who are hearing impaired, but everyone in this Saint Joseph’s community, because then everyone can participate.

 

This last improvement may seem small and unnecessary, but it really isn’t. It puts the finishing touch on our update and improvement. We would like to get new microphones for our new sound system. A new sound system, with the same old microphones, won’t sound as good as it could. With new mics, our sound system will sound the best it can. This would be a small investment to end our improvements, but brings everything together, so that our sound system is the best that it can be.

 

Now, this project that we would like to undertake this year may not be as tangible as last year’s pew project, but I think that you will agree with me that it is just as important, if not more so. I hope that you will share my desire to get our sound system updated and improved, so that our experience here at Saint Joseph’s will be the best that it can be, so that our celebrations and praise of God can be what He truly deserves.