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March 7, 2017
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Doubt, cunning and deceit are daily enemies that we all face. With the help of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, we are able to move beyond all the things that try to bring us down. However, we have to be vigilant in our faith. This week, the Church wants us to ponder on the reality of evil and the reality of Jesus Christ. We must use the gifts of the Holy Spirit to fight the good fight of faith.
Our 2017 STHY parish mission will start this Monday evening with our mission host, Deacon Keith Strohm. Deacon Strom is a noted inspirational speaker and retreat director who have given talks at diocesan-wide events, parishes, retreat centers and ecumenical Christian gatherings reaching thousands of men and women with the message of Christs love and their role in His mission of salvation to the world. Please welcome Deacon Strohm to our Parish this week.
Last week we gave out copies of Matthew Kelly’s book, “Resisting Happiness” with a bookmark of our Capital Campaign Prayer. I want to encourage everyone who received this book to take time read and reflect on our own personal relationship with Christ and to pray for our parish and the success of the Capital campaign.
During this season of Lent and As we approach the first anniversary of the start of our Building Faith, Family and Future Capital Campaign Capital Campaign, I send out my sincere thanks to all who made a pledge. I truly appreciate your generosity and support. If you have not made a pledge for the campaign, Please consider making a pledge. Blue envelopes are in the Narthex along with our collection box specifically designed for our Capital campaign or you can do so online through the parish website. This year, we ask every family to consider an equal sacrifice, not an equal size gift. Every pledge, of every size, is most needed and welcomed. Thank you for doing your part to help us reach our goal.
However I do want to address the approximately 886 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 using your envelopes or move 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.
Everyone’s gift of a weekly tithe in the offertory is a great act of Stewardship. And remember, you can do in two ways, through your parish envelopes that are mailed to you or electronically through www.faithdirect.net by entering parish code TX 526. It’s fast, easy and, yes, very secure, and a great way to support the work of your parish.
With the season of lent, we welcome our Friday Fish Fry sponsored by our Knights of Columbus. Those of you who have attended in the past know that this dinner is not to be missed. Every Friday during Lent, from 5-7:30 p.m., the K of Cs will be serving a a delicious fish dinner in the Parish Hall. The K of Cs serve a lot of dinners a night, and the line moves quickly so come early and bring your family and friends. You can also get your meal to go if you’d like. Be sure and thank the Knights for their hard work on the dinners. It’s a great testament to stewardship in action, so thank you brother Knights!
Also following the Lent Fish dinners, every Friday we will have Stations of the Cross in the church beginning at 7:00 p.m. I hope many of you will want to spend 30-45 minutes on Friday nights with this popular Lenten devotion. It’s a great way to spend a Friday evening and come for dinner and stay for Stations.
Finally, STHY will have our annual Lenten Penance Service on Wednesday March 29th at 7:00 pm in the Church. We will have multiple priest confessors available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation that night. I encourage you to come and experience this most powerful and healing sacrament. Especially if you haven’t been to confession in a long time, now would be an ideal time to come and be reconciled to God and the Church. It would be a great way to end the Lenten Season and get yourself in the right frame of mind for Easter.
God Bless,
Fr. Reginald Samuels