Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

September 18, 2018

by Fr. Reginald Samuels

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

On July 1, 2018 we began a new fiscal year at STHY as did all of the parishes in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. One of the chief responsibilities of a pastor is sound management of the Church’s temporal goods and prudent and balanced management of all financial responsibilities.

I can report that STHY financial health is stable to good, but can always be better. The Church bills are being paid; we are in good standing with all of our Archdiocesan obligations. However, STHY’s finances going forward in 2018 and 2019 will be challenged by the increase in the cost of ministry obligations and the increase in the cost of the maintaining the aging infrastructures of the main Church and parish facilities.

I want to reemphasize that our Church bills are being paid; we are in good standing with all of our Archdiocesan obligations. The people of STHY are primarily responsible for that being the case. You continue to be generous stewards of God’s gifts to you and in turn we do our best to be good stewards of the gifts you share with the Church. I thank each of you for your continued sacrifice, week in and week out, to support the ministries and operations of our parish. Only with your support are we able to do the work of the Gospel. Thank you very much.

We watch the budget very carefully just as you do your family budget. Just as cost of living expenses hit us at home so too do they impact our parish family. The staff does a great job throughout the year of being prudent with spending. Like you, they want to be good stewards.

The projected FY 2019 budget is drastically conservative in nature, with collections forecast to increase only by 2% for the year. Copies of the FY 2018 Financial report are included in this week’s bulletin, printouts in the Narthex and or online at Sthyacinth.org. Due to the challenges we face here at St. Hyacinth in the coming year, the budget cannot account for all of the major increase in the costs and expenses for ministry and to take care of our 48 year old Church building and our 34 year old Guyot Hall building. The Main Church building, Guyot Hall, Guyot Hall kitchen, Religious Education Building, and parking lot infrastructures are aging and need major attention and repairs in the very near future. This is main reason and objective goal for our Building Faith, Family and Future…. Our sanctuary … our Home… capital campaign. I pray that you’re continued giving will exceed our forecast. As our parish and ministries continue to do the work commissioned by Christ, we must all continue to be good stewards of God’s gifts so we can effectively serve those who seek to encounter Christ at STHY.

I ask that you prayerfully consider reviewing your weekly giving to the parish, and if it has remained at a constant and consistent level the past few years, please consider increasing it.

However, I do want to address the approximately the over 1008 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.

I want to share my sincere thanks to all of you for your generous financial stewardship toward STHY. Thanks as well to our dedicated Finance Council for their wise counsel and planning. I am especially grateful for Elena Rodriguez, our Bookkeeper and her detailed work on the financial reports and parish budget.

God Bless,
Fr. Reginald Samuels