Fifth Week of Easter

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In this week’s gospel, Jesus gives us a new commandment: “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” We are called to follow the self-sacrificing love of Jesus in our lives. This is the kind of love that brings God glory. Self-giving love means giving our own life for others. Will we love in this way?

Next, I want to take the time to thank everyone who has participated in the 2016 DSF campaign. Our goal this year at St. Hyacinth is $84,000 and we have so far collected $40,672 from only 190 families (as of the writing for this bulletin). We always strive for 100 percent participation.

The DSF raises funds to support the more than 60 ministries of the Church that no one parish on its own could ever accomplish, but that collectively we can all do to bring God’s love to all people. Most of these ministries operate behind the scenes and we don’t think about them because we just assume that the Church does them, but it can only be done through your support.

If we have 100% participation from everyone, we would make our goal easily. The average pledge is usually around $250. For those who have not given anything to DSF, could you please consider giving that amount this year? Or maybe make a pledge of $365 — a dollar a day to support those great ministries. Any amount that exceeds our goal is returned to us 50 percent (the other 50 percent goes to help inner-city parishes in need), so it’s a blessing for us and the archdiocese. Please prayerfully consider what you will pledge and we’ll see that it is processed. Let’s do our part to, as this year’s theme says, minister with “You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity” I thank you for your continued support of the DSF at STHY.

I want to say congratulations to all of our young people who will be receiving their First Eucharist at one of the two First Eucharist Masses here at STHY. May 7^th and May 14^th are the special dates for First Eucharist. I want to thank Ms. Barbara Mackie our Director of Faith Formation and Evangelization, Mrs. Pamela Johnson, Associate Director, Administrative Assistant Ms. Jennifer David, along with our team of Catechist for their work of religious formation in First Eucharist preparations.

It’s not too early to begin thinking about our upcoming STHY 2016 Parish Spring Festival, which will take place four weeks from this weekend on May 22. This year marks fourth time in over 20 years in which we have has a Spring Festival for our parish. It’s no secret that what makes the bazaar such an awesome event for our parish and community is the great number of people who volunteer their time and talent. Your help is especially needed to staff a shift or two in one of our many booths, rides and games. The help and support of everyone in the parish, both young and old, is most needed. It’s a great way to give back to the life of the community. I highly encourage you to make your commitment to helping our parish at the Spring Festival. We’ve got more than enough parishioners that if everyone who comes to the Festival were to volunteer for a shift or two; we could easily take care of all our needs. Join us for a great way to be part of STHY biggest and most fun event of the year.

Look for more Spring Festival 2016 news in the next few weeks. If you have not picked up your Spring Festival raffle tickets, they are available from members of our Spring Festival Committee members after Mass or pick them up from our parish office.  You may return Spring Festival tickets to an ushers at Mass or return them to the parish office.  Mark your calendar now for May 22. We look forward to seeing you here!

Finally, I want to thank everyone for your thoughtful response to our request for a pledge to our parish capital campaign. I am grateful to you for what I know is a meaningful and genuine concern for Our Parish. As your pastor, it is tremendously moving to me to hear such a great response from so many of our parish family. Together, great things can be accomplished. Thank you for answering the call to support our Church; please continue to pray for the success of our effort.

Your capital campaign pledge will continue to enable STHY to minister to the needs of all who come through our doors for the next 50years and beyond ; and will allow us to look to the future needs of our Church and community.

We can’t embark on this renewal project of our parish without everyone joining us in the effort. This will be one of the biggest steps St Hyacinth has ever taken. We need everyone to continue to pray about our faith journey to build Faith, Family and Future.

God Bless,

Fr. Reginald Samuels