Fr. Tony has been assigned Administrator of St. Charles, effective July 1. You can reach him at the parish office at 503-281-6461 or by email at [email protected]. He grew up in Holy Redeemer Parish and is a graduate of Central Catholic High School and the University of Portland. He is a father (dad) of two and a grandfather. He was ordained priest in 2021 and comes to us after serving a year at Holy Trinity Parish in Beaverton. We will have a special blessing a reception for Fr. Tony after masses on the weekend of July 9-10.

Church Heating System. The Administrative Council and Leif want to apprise you of an issue with our church heating system. We learned last winter that two of the four furnace units that heat the church need to be replaced.

To address this problem, we have consulted with our longtime HVAC maintenance contractor and with the Property Management office of the Archdiocese. We obtained two competitive bids for the job, both were nearly identical in scope and price. The cost will be approximately $110,000.

We investigated the more environmentally friendly heat pump solution, but learned that it would be prohibitively expensive and time consuming.

Along with the Pastoral Council, we have consulted with our former priest/administrator, Fr. Jerry, and with our current Administrator, Fr. Tony Galati. All recognize that this is a necessary project. We don't have a choice but to keep the heat on in the church.

So, we have signed a contract with Heinz Mechanical for the work. The contract has been fully vetted and approved by the Archdiocese, and the initial payment of $40,000 has been sent. Due to supply chain challenges, obtaining the necessary equipment may take up to 18 weeks, so actual work won't occur until early November. Of course, we will need to dip into our savings (approx $340,000) to pay for this project, but this is what our savings is for -- planned and unplanned expenses.

​We welcome your comments and questions. Talk to Leif or anyone on the Admin Council: Sandy Bossom, Dave Pierce, Barbara Keepes, Barbara Schulze, Angie McKinney, Steve Moore.