E-mail Math
As of writing this Pastor’s Note, I have 320 un-dealt-with e-mails in my inbox. 305 of these are from Christmas forward. And yes, this is after I have deleted the low-hanging fruit of mailing lists, advertisements, and the like. And despite that I spend most office intercepting mail as it comes in. These are the e-mails that seemingly require something of me, that I said I would get to later, or that came in when I was out of the office. Some are FYIs that I just need to read, most require a small decision or response.
I am not telling you this for pity. And I am constantly thinking through whether there is a solution to make things saner, so I’m also not looking for problem-solving. Instead, I am telling you this for math. If every e-mail were a “read-me” e-mail that took 30 seconds, I could clear out my inbox in 2 hours and 40 minutes. If every e-mail were a project or letter-writing e-mail that required 30 minutes of my time, it would take me 160 hours (or 6 days and 16 hours) to clear out my inbox. Even a reasonable average of 5 minutes per message (accounting for some easy messages, and some longer needs/responses) would take me 26 hours and 40 minutes. For context, in this relatively light week, I had a maximum of 14 hours of e-mail time, so that 5-minute average would take two working weeks to get through.
Good thing we have competent staff! Otherwise, I’d worry about anything ever getting done. 😉
…and now we’re at 322.
Board Game Vacation
Next week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I will be in Port Angeles for my 2nd annual board game vacation. I, Fr. Jacob Maurer, Fr. Josh Nehnevaj, and Fr. Chad Hill all got together last year to sit around and play board games together for five days and it was awesome. I could not do the full five days this year, but I am really excited even about the three. At least one day will be dedicated entirely to Twilight Imperium. I am so excited!
School Auction
I am also pretty excited about the upcoming school auction (March 01). I am hoping, with Partners in the Gospel, that all of our communities will begin to feel ownership and pride for our local Catholic school. I really believe in Catholic education and am delighted with the work our school is doing in these young lives. If you would like a full course introduction to the incredible ministry that is our Catholic school, consider attending the auction. You can purchase tickets at https://assumptionschool.ejoinme.org/2025growinggreatkidsauction
Fr. Moore 