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March 16, 2021
Dear St Hyacinth Members,
Today’s gospel reading uses the simple imagery to describe the power and authority of God. This can be seen in the simple power of the seed, which planted in the ground eventually bears “much fruit”. We are all called to die to self in order to have new life and this means bearing fruit in our lives. What are we doing with the life and grace that God give us? Jesus has great expectations for us.
Next Sunday, We will commemorate the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, being greeted by the peoples with the waving of palms on Palm Sunday. Before the start of all next weekend’s Palm Sunday mass celebrations, we give the opportunity for everyone to have palms before the start of the Mass, however, due to COVID protocols; we will not have a solemn formal procession.
For 2021, Cardinal DiNardo has assessed our parish DSF goal at $80,000. DSF supports more than 60 ministries and programs that serve the faithful of the Archdiocese and us here at St. Hyacinth. Thank you in your generosity in supporting DSF 2021.
Let’s take a look ahead to the Holy Week schedule. Our Holy Week schedule is as follows: Holy Thursday 7:00 pm; Good Friday Service 3:00 pm; Easter Vigil, Saturday Evening 8:30 pm. Easter Sunday 8:00 am, 10:00 am, 12:00 Noon. (Due to social distancing protocols, Meeting Room One and Guyot Hall will be set up for livestream services)
With all those masses and services we will be stretched thin on ministers to help cover the many needs of the Holy Week Liturgy. In particular I am asking our Eucharistic Ministers of Holy Communion to please sign up to assist at one (or two) masses if at all possible. Same goes for our Sacristans, Acolytes, Altar Servers, Ushers and Greeters. We will have a lot of visitors with us this Easter season and we need your presence, please.
One of our parish goals in 2021 is to increase the number of families using Faith Direct. Currently we have 206 families using Faith Direct and hopefully by the end of the year we can have at least 325 families of STHY on Faith Direct. The number of 325 families represents 20% of our parish population of registered parishioners. You can register in less than five minutes by logging on to www.faithdirect.net and entering our parish code of TX526 or by just simply scanning the QR code found on the poster in the Narthex.
However, I do want to address the approximately the over 1044 registered families here at STHY that we have no record of your giving to the Church. We do acknowledge that many are giving to the Church through the weekend collection; however, STHY needs you start moving toward electronic giving. In this way we can account for all those who are a part of the parish that are truly giving and it is an expense of the church for envelopes to be mailed to registered families. We currently spend close to $10K a year on offertory envelopes and if we could use our electronic giving, this would reduce the expense of mailed offertory envelopes dramatically.
As we move into the Holy Season of Easter, We will be a witness to the Sacraments of Initiation as we continue mission of Jesus Christ by welcoming our new members to the Church through baptism and the profession of faith. Please pray for the candidates and catechumens and they continue their journey into full communion in the Church.
Finally, as you are aware by now the Church and buildings have no heat due to the boiler for the Church no longer functioning and the aged boiler cannot be repaired; and along with aging HVAC/ cooling system to the Church has been evaluated and will need to be replaced. The first phase of renovation of the Church complex should start immediately after Easter with the plan to put in the new heating / boiler system to the Church and Religious education building along with updating and replacing the HVAC/Cooling system with a new system to the Church and Religious education building. During this time will replace one (1 of 4) of the main HVAC/cooling systems to Guyot Hall. The cost of replacing and repairing the heating and cooling systems for the Church, Religious Education building and Guyot Hall will be approximately $200,000.
God Bless,
Fr. Reginald Samuels
