Today concludes the Paschal feast that bean fifty days ago on Easter Sunday. In the gospel, Jesus gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit by breathing on the disciples. The gift of the Holy Spirit enables us to know that the gifts that God gives us are unique to us and we are called to use those gifts for the Glory of God. S. Paul reminds us that all gifts come from God. Instead of comparing our abilities and talents to those around us, let us focus on how we can use our gifts for the good of all.
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.
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.
There will be several projects that STHY will be working on during the next few months. First, we are working to sealcoat and restripe the Center Street Parking Lot, $10,680. Repair the Walk – In Refrigerator in Guyot Hall , $4,800. Clean gutters systems for the entire complex, $2850. Repair and paint underside of breezeway $4,060. Replace the youth room carpet, $2400. We will be replacing and putting up new signage for the complex, $4,599. Trim trees on the property $4635. We will be working on replacing our aging phone system at a total of $6500. These projects should be completed by August 2019. Thank you for your generosity in supporting the parish.
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.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who helped me celebrate my 10th anniversary of priesthood this past Sunday. The fun and fellowship that we shared was wonderful. It has been a wonderful pleasure serving this community for the past 7 years. Thank you for being a blessing to me, and may God continue to bless you.