Dear Brothers and Sisters,
There will soon be some major changes occurring at Holy Family. The first one I wish to discuss with you is the issue of making the entire campus of Holy Family a smoke free environment. I have been contemplating this change for some time. There are a number of reasons to make this change. The first is too keep our buildings safe. Even though we have no smoking within the buildings, there have been numerous instances around all three buildings, the Church, the Aquin and the Offices, of cigarette butts put out near the buildings, possibly creating a very dangerous situation of a building catching fire. There are cigarettes put out on the mulch within a foot of all three buildings. This will stop. Any persons not complying or any ministry \ meetings that gathers that does not comply will be dissolved and no longer meet at Holy Family. My other reason is that I do not want our children to see or to be around smoke and there are children around our campus quite often, i.e. Youth group, rel. ed., and during the mass times. Beginning July 1st of 2019 Holy Family will be an entirely smoke free campus.
The other major change is that we will lock all the side doors one or two minutes after each mass begins, starting on the weekend of July 14-15. The only entrance after mass begins will be the front \ main central entrance. Folks can still exit from each entrance\exit, but will not be able to enter from the side entrances. There are two reasons for this, one to reduce distractions during the Liturgy, instead of five possible distractions we will limit it to one. The second reason and more importantly is for security. It is more difficult to keep aware of five entrance points than one. I know this is an inconvenience, however, it offers us a great opportunity to get to mass on time, again more importantly to begin security measures which are unfortunately needed in our day and age. I ask that you do not let anyone in from those entrances once they have been secured.
We are now beginning a three-year security plan with the guidance of our Sentinels Ministry. The ministry is comprised of active and retired law enforcement personnel, ranging from township police, county police, FBI, military and corporate security. All of these good folks are our parishioners and offer us great advice and service to our parish. In our three-year plan, with the help from our Catholic Strong Campaign, and possible government grants which we have applied for we will be able to install a modern and robust camera surveillance system, update our alarm panels and capabilities, install secure glass, doors and locks and fence around our perimeter, and also for larger events hire one or two police officers. 
We want to remain a welcoming parish but we also need to take steps to help keep us safe. There is no 100% security system, but with at least some measures, we can improve our situation without too much inconvenience. I ask that you please bear with us as we begin to make these changes for the good of the parish. Thank you so much and God bless you, Fr. John