That’s right. I enjoy going to church.

This is my new church - it's a really great house of worship.

I’m sure that there are scores of CCD/Sunday school students, kids, and teenagers who would read that comment and say, “Blech! Church is SOOO boring!” I know. I said the same thing just a few years back. But it’s true – I enjoy attending mass each week.

Before some of you think that I’ve turned into a holy roller or a crazy religious person let me be very clear that that hasn’t happened at all. From time to time I’m unable to go to the weekly mass service and I don’t get hysterical when that happens. Sometimes you just can’t make it to church and as long as your reason for not being able to attend isn’t frivolous, then God understands. However, as I get older I’ve found that I’ve grown into a routine. We all have our routines. You wake up to a certain rhythm, you get ready for bed with a certain rhythm, you arrange your office to a certain rhythm, etc. Over the last few years I’ve found that after I added regular spiritual worship to my weekly routine via weekly mass and (more recently) the occasional penance service, that I really do enjoy attending these services. They’re short, to the point, and a good chance to get out and be part of something bigger than yourself.

And if there is anything that is bigger and more worthy of our attention than ourselves then it obviously has to be the Church.

The church that my Grandmother attended when she was young.

One thing that I’ve been missing in my worship is a dedicated church and parish to call my own. To fix that problem, I spent the better part of each Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning over the last few months trying out different churches. Below you can find some thoughts on what I was looking for in my search for a new church.

Here are a few of the important items that I looked for when I was searching for a new church to attend:

• Interior Church. Let’s face it – we are all greatly influenced by our surroundings in all that we do. When it comes to worship I think you need to be in a place where you feel a good mixture of comfort, reverence, austerity, and ritual.
• Proximity to Current Area. Even though I haven’t moved to a new apartment in three and a half years, I still move around a lot more than other people in my age group. Not having a set place to call home really bungles up some things in life including finding local communities in which to participate. Finding a parish that was near to my current location was important to me because I’ll probably wind up staying in this general area for the next few years.
• Volunteer Opportunities. Many folks who read this blog wonder why I spend so much of my free time volunteering. Well, I enjoy the whole volunteering process including helping people. Understand where I’m coming from, though – I have a few large-scale, national volunteer obligations coming to an end in the next year and I think the next time I dedicate a great portion of my “time, talent, and treasure” to a cause I would like for it to be closer to home. So, the availability of volunteer opportunities is important to me.
• The Process of the Mass. This item may seem a little bit weird to those of you who have not been to multiple Catholic churches, but one of the things that I’m looking for is a little bit of commonality in my masses. Sometimes I got to a mass and I can’t follow the basic parts of the service because the particular church that I’m attending has their own music, process, and/or added verses. For example, I can’t tell you how many different times I’ve heard the “Gloria” sung with different words, added words, different melodies, different tones, etc. It gets confusing and, frankly, a bit annoying. Makes me wonder about the fuller impact of the Third Roman Missal, but that’s a blog entry for another time.
• The Songs. The parish that I wound up registering at has an excellent selection of music for each service. They don’t choose obscure songs in the hymnal, but instead choose songs that the people will probably know. For example, during the Christmas season at my church we’ve sang Ode to Joy, Hail Holy Queen, Silent Night, Angels We Have Heard on High, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, etc. There’s no reason to sing some ancient, old song that no one “gets” these days. The church that I registered at understands that fact and gives the parishioners the opportunity to sing songs during mass that are known in most households.

The first picture in this entry is a picture of St. Catherine of Siena Church in Farmingdale. It is a great place to worship. The second picture above is from Our Lady Star of the Sea Church in Long Branch. This is the church that my Grandmother attended as a child with my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother. Of all the churches that I attended, I would prefer to attend Our Lady Star of the Sea simply because of the family connection. However, this church is a bit far from where I live – about 25 minutes away – so I only plan to attend services at that building every once in a while.

There you have the summation of my great church search during the latter part of 2011. I’m very pleased with the church that I wound up registering at which is only about ten minutes from my house. The interior of the church is beautiful and they keep it very clean and tidy. There seem to be ample volunteer opportunities if at some point in the future I decide that I want to volunteer for the church locally. There is a very consistent, very by-the-book process for the mass. The songs are all well-known and not obscure, random songs that don’t connect with the congregants. It appears to be a great parish to grow in faith and I’m looking forward to continuing to attend services there in 2012.

Faith
For a variety of reasons, I did not get to attend Church as often as I would have liked to last year. I hope to have almost perfect attendance this year, but that’s not the crux of this resolution. I do not believe that it is adequate enough just to attend Church and be a warm body in a seat; in the next year I’d like to continue becoming involved in the Catholic Church through a few different avenues.

First, I purchased the Catechism of the Catholic Church over 2 years ago, but I have not read it yet. In the coming year I want to read the Catechism. Second, I have not attended confession in over a decade. In the coming year I want to attend confession. And finally, my local Church in West Long Branch has a weekly listing of other items that parishioners can give money to instead of the weekly tithe. These are all items related to the school that is a part of the Church (for example, you can buy books for a student or projection screens for classroom). In the coming year I want to purchase some items for the school through this program.

Finances
Student Loans
I’ve decided to break out my financial resolutions into a few different subcategories this year. The first of these are my omnipresent student loans. Last year I successfully paid down more than $8,000 in student loan debt. Given some of my other financial resolutions that are listed below, I don’t know if it would be wise to put a dollar figure on how much I’d like to pay down my student loans in 2008 outside of the regular payments. That said, I am certainly going to try to pay down these loans as much as possible – if possible.

Savings & Retirement
In the coming year, I’ll be fully engaged in my company’s 401k and getting the maximum possible match. That’s a first for me and I’m looking forward to seeing how it works out. At the personal level, I’ve been working towards a certain dollar amount to have stashed away in my ING Savings Account by the end of 2008 and I’ll keep that dollar amount private. I am, however, going to make every effort to reach this dollar amount and it looks as though I might be able to get there sometime next fall (I have long-term financial projections!).

Usable Web Solutions, LLC
Last year I wanted to increase my website company‘s revenue by 50%. This year, I’m going to focus on a different goal. I’ve suspended taking on new accounts until all of my existing accounts are brought current (both financially and fully designed). Once that is accomplished, I’d like to gain 2 new accounts in the next year while maintaining or renewing all of my existing accounts.

I also have a few personal website projects that I’ve kept on the shelf for a variety of reasons. I’d like to get these projects moving and completed by the end of this year.

Health
This is the resolution that most people make on January 1st and then go and break on January 2nd! Well, I’m not going to lay out a specific weight that I want to be at by the end of the year and I’m not going to lay out a number that I want to be bench pressing, squatting, or curling by 2009. All I want is to be in better shape by the end of 2008. I joined a gym last week and I’ve laid out what appears to be a decent training schedule so I’m on the right track. We’ll see how it goes.

Also, I am overdue for many check-ups. In the coming year I want to get a physical, have my eyes examined, and take a trip to the dentist. Some of this will require looking to see which doctors I am currently assigned to with my health care provider, but I’ll take care of that stuff.

Personal Advancement
Actually, I find this to be the hardest area to create quantifiable goals. Isn’t achieving all of the above some form of personal advancement? How does one quantify an advancement in their personal life? Let’s give it a try… In the coming year I want to read the stack of books that I’ve accumulated in my bedroom. Sometimes you get a book and you just don’t have a minute to read the damn thing, you know?!

I would also like to teach college courses again in the coming year. I admit that this is a “gimme” goal because I know I’ve already been scheduled to teach again in the fall. But hey, why not give myself a freebie?

One of the things that I started doing in the last year is de-cluttering my living area. This is actually dually rewarding because most of the stuff that I no longer use I just donate to charity. In the coming year I want to continue de-cluttering my “stuff” which may include purchasing an outdoor storage unit and replacing one of the existing storage units in my Family’s backyard up in North Jersey. Some of our existing stock is falling down and dangerous, so there may be more than one “good” here.

Oh, I’ve also began pushing a more “sustainable” lifestyle in the last year. What does that mean? It’s a manageable mix of recycling more, using earth-friendly materials, and not creating excess waste if it can be avoided. For example, I purchased two canvas reusable grocery bags to use at when I go grocery shopping. Now I’m not sure if there is a quantifiable way to judge if I’ve made a more “sustainable” lifestyle once the coming 12 months are over, but I’ll certainly be working towards that goal.

Professional Development
I’m actually looking for some good opportunities to learn more about my job and my industry. I attended the Opportunity Finance Network conference in Miami, Florida a few weeks ago and I was stimulated to learn more about many of the other areas of community development finance that I’ve not yet been exposed to at my job. In the coming year I want to learn more about some of these areas (native lending, rural lending) and continue to do the best that I can at my job.

So that’s my full set of public New Year’s Resolutions. We can meet back here in 12 months and see how I made out!