February 10, 2023 - We have heaps lined up for 2023!
...and want to share some of what we'll be working on. In no particular order, here's what we're striving for:
1. Tabernacle section refresh. This has been on our list for awhile, and we finally have a somewhat efficient method to accomplish this in a way that will house the majority of useful information of each tabernacle in one photo. We've also created a new area of our warehouse exclusively for photography, which will be very helpful for many future categories of items being listed.
2. List more items in general not shown on the website. There will still be a few categories shown for reference only and not regularly updated (censers, kneelers, etc). However, other categories of items that are difficult to find yet most critical to Parishes will be getting 'more'. We may even add a new section or two depending on how our upcoming website migration goes.
3. Chalice section redo. We're going to focus only on the best of the best chalices. While we have hundreds to choose from, the majority of Seminarians and Priests reaching out to us are looking for the better ones, with nice photos and detailed information. Those chalices are of unrivaled hand-made quality that cannot be reproduced in today's standards of "cut-and-paste" reproduction. They all have a deeply meaningful and heartfelt (even if unknown) history that have fervently served Priests and Parishioners over the last 100 years or more. We'll be starting with those, and working back. While the lower-end chalices still have that long history and (for the most part) unrivaled quality of production by today's standards, we just have too many to go through initially.
4. One of the more demanding (and not so exciting) projects briefly mentioned already would be the website migration and update. While our site will look and perform the same overall, several technologies we use will be going 'legacy' and will require significant changes and updates. We''d like to make a few additions to the site in various areas, however this depends on the difficulty and time required to make the necessary changes.
Those are some of our goals this year. Finally and most importantly throughout is Future-proofing. This is a general term, which for us means several things and affects us on deeper levels. It means making certain what we've done and what we plan to do, will be learnable and replicated. It also means maintaining a willingness and ability to incorporate new technologies or ways to reach our fellowship. The goal is to continue our mission beyond our own mortal years by those we entrust this to. Businesses or otherwise, there are sadly few talking about, learning about, finding history about, or saving the physical yet crucial history of our Church. These items didn't just serve a purpose at the time, or exist out of need, they were created for Holy reasons, governed by Canon Law, to be handled by our Clergy in service to Our Lord, enlightening and enriching all of us in the process. For all time.
November 21, 2022 - Holidays are here!
We truly appreciate your heartwarming support and kind words day after day, year after year. With the past couple years of us all living in uncharted territory, this year feels completely back to normal, what a wonderful blessing!
These months are particularly busy for us, so please be patient with us when reaching out to us for your parish needs.
I'm typically prompt with getting back to people via email quickly, however I'm human (no automated messages here!) and occasionally miss them. Feel free to remind me if you haven't seen anything back from me in a couple days. Weekend emails are typically addressed on Monday, and a warehouse run is scheduled mid-week if people need additional information, photos, etc.
We're fortunate that you, our customers, friends, and family in Christ, are with us. We pray you radiate and are comforted by Christ's peace, love, compassion and grace this holiday season and beyond.
August 4, 2022 - Always more to do!
It's been a year since I've posted tidings -- and while it's not a crucial area of our website, its good to post some updates and insights now and again.
The last year in a nutshell? Very busy. So thank you all for that -- we welcome the continued interest, compliments, well-wishes, and feedback - and are always glad to help! I also truly enjoy the photos our Priests and fellow parishioners send of items reinstated throughout their beautifying or restoration projects. It gives me great joy to see these once 'out of fashion' irreplaceable items appreciated and back in good service once again. I save each and every photo sent.
Speaking of projects, that is what our future here holds... more projects! We have some goodies lined up, and can share a bit of what's coming.
First I have quite a few new additions I'll post soon, altars, statues, lights, crucifix, and a few more -- so keep a lookout!
More importantly we've been having our son help, we *really* need his help, there's so much more we can accomplish with another helping hand. As mentioned in the prior tidings, our family business is quite niche and requires a good amount of both general and specialized knowledge in many different fields. Its challenging to assign the time to train, and overwhelming for him to learn, yet we're working through it and making great progress. Our first project is to redesign the Tabernacle area -- he'll be responsible for photographing, measuring, and making notes on each tabernacle in stock. We'll then start picking other categories of items for him to do the same so it becomes second nature. It may seem a somewhat trivial task, however we have an explicit detailed method that goes far beyond what many would expect.
Categories we'll be looking at after Tabernacles is Candlesticks, Stations of the Cross, Votive stands, Missal stands and Chairs. We'll ultimately work through every category, even though some categories like Statues are fine: we just have many additions to add to the site.
Eventually I'll show him the flow of getting those photos to the website, organizing them on the computer, and structuring throughout so our customers get the information they need in a timely manner. All just a few cogs in our wheelhouse, but it's a great start so far and I'm really glad he's taking an interest -- we'll be around for another 50 years God willing!