Jesus through the scriptures this week challenges us not to give ‘lip service’ to the Gospel: To say one thing and do another. Instead we are called to be people who have a deep belief in the way we are called to live our life. We are called to walk in righteousness and do the Fathers will.
The Fall season is here and October is Respect Life Month with today, October 1st, being Respect for Life Sunday. There will be a ‘Prayer Chain’ to witness against the horrors of abortion on Center Street. Those that are interested are called to meet in Guyot Hall at 1:30 pm and then gather on Center Street to stand silently from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm. If you are not able to be a part of the prayer chain, please pray for those who will be participating for our community.
On July 1, 2017 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 we are in good financial health at STHY. However, STHY’s finances going forward in 2017 and 2018 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 parish.
TheChurch bills are being paid; we are ingood 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 2018 budget is drastically conservative in nature, with collections forecast remaining basically flat for the year. 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 47 year old Church building and our 33 year old Guyot Hall building.The Church, 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 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 1500 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 budget.