Before ascending to the Father, Jesus commissions the disciples to take the seed of faith that has been planted in Israel and bring it to the whole world. The disciples are to proclaim the good news that God became man, was crucified, died and rose again on the third day. Now Jesus offers his life and light to us. The light and life that Jesus offers in his Ascension comes to us through “repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” The saving action of the Ascension of Jesus is for all times, all places and for all peoples.
As you know, for over three years, we have been conducting a capital campaign for the construction of a new $6 million sanctuary. In Late 2016, the Archdiocese revealed plans to launch its own capital campaign, called IGNITE, to renovate the seminary, fund an endowment for Faith Formation, Catholic Education and disaster recovery. Every parish is involved in this campaign, with staggered start dates from 2016 to 2019. Because we were already running a capital campaign, the archdiocese graciously pushed our IGNITE start date to 2019. Now, our time has come. We will be telling you more about the IGNITE campaign in the coming months.
In the meantime, we have been allowed to put the St Hyacinth capital campaign on hold. For those of you who have invested, your investment is safe. Legally, those funds from the capital campaign cannot be used for anything other than their originally intended purpose. For those of you who haven’t yet made a sacrifice, you will have your chance. We will renew the St Hyacinth capital camping after we fulfill our commitment to IGNITE.
In both campaigns, the archdiocese has asked each of us to reach out in faith to build the future for our Catholic family. I send out my sincere thanks to all who made a pledge for our Building Faith, Family and Future … our Sanctuary, our Home… Capital Campaign. I truly appreciate your generosity and support.
Next I want to thank everyone who has wished me well as I celebrate 10 years of Priesthood on May 30th. Come out and celebrate the anniversary of my ordination this Sunday with a Mass of Thanksgiving at the Noon mass a reception in Guyot Hall.
We are in the process of organizing a Pilgrimage to Italy for October 2019. We plan to visit the cities of Venice, Padua, Siena Macerata, Florence, Assisi and Rome. From the dates of October 7th -18th, 2019, we will be visiting historical religious sites and museums along with celebrating Mass throughout the tour. Tour information flyers are in the Narthex, or our website: Sthyacinth.org and click Parish Pilgrimage 2019 under the Parish Life tab, and or you can contact the parish office at 281-479-4298. There will be a special information session about the pilgrimage on Tuesday June 5th at 7pm in Meeting Room 2
Summer is almost here and that means Vacation Bible School. Registration has begun for this yearly event which will be held July 8-12 in Guyot Hall. This year’s theme will be “Roar: Life is Wild - God is good.” This VBS event is a wonderful time for our young people to explore their relationship with Christ and the Church. Last year VBS had over 170 kids participating along with over 50 teen and adult volunteers helping our young people grow in their relationship with Christ and the Church. Please continue to pray for the young people of our parish.
The summer can be a very busy time for families and during the vacation season it is easy to forget that STHY needs your donations. Setting up recurring donations with Faith Direct is an easy way to make sure STHY still receives your donations while you're away. Enrollment forms are available in the Church office or you can visit Faith Direct’s secure website at www.faithdirect.net to enroll on line. Our parish code is TX526.Thank you for your continued support of our parish family with your time, talent and treasure!
As we gear up for the summer, I want to make you all aware of the 2019 Annual Archdiocesan Youth Conference which takes place this year on July 26th -28th at the Hilton Americas Hotel/ George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston under the theme “Surrender to God” The primary focus for A.Y.C. is to rejuvenate the faith life of our youth, to help them get serious about life in Christ and His Church, and to learn the truth of the Gospel. Registration for A.Y.C. 2019 is currently underway.