Today we celebrate St Hyacinth Feast day 54th anniversary of the founding of our parish. Please take this time to celebrate the anniversary and life of our STHY and pray for all of the people of STHY. We will have a special anniversary reception in Guyot Hall after the noon Mass today.
I would like to say what a joy and honor it is to be the Pastor of St. Hyacinth Catholic Church as we celebrate our 54th anniversary as a parish community. The Lord has been so good to us, He has blessed us in so many ways over the last 54 years and we continue to pray that He will to bless us for 54 more. For the things that have happened since 1965, it is truly the work of the Lord. I want to thank the Lord for the wonderful people He has led this way to be a part of this great work here. We have a great group of people here at STHY, and the Lord continues to add to His Church. We have proven to God and His community that we are people that love each other, serve each other, and have labored of love. As pastor for the past 7 years, I want to say "Thank You!" and I love all of you so very much. Let us continue to praise the Lord for another 54 years by saying ‘AMEN’ and continue to give glory to God for His presence in the Eucharist.
Religious Education classes will be starting Sunday September 8th , and now is the time to plan for the upcoming Faith Formation school year. With more than 600 children in some level of Religious education last year at STHY, we need to have a head start in preparing for this fall’s Religious Education classes. Registration is ongoing. (Please check the bulletin and parish website: Sthyacinth.org for more information).
Remember as well that when you are registering your child for Religious Education classes you can also sign-up yourself to be a catechist or aide. We are in great need of a number of catechists to teach our children, from the littlest ones in the early grades on through middle school and high school. It’s a wonderful way to get involved in the life of the parish and to live out the call of Stewardship of your time and talent. There is no greater gift than to pass on the faith to a child, so please consider joining this important ministry of STHY. The Faith Formation staff is happy to answer questions and get you involved.
Speaking of Faith Formation, while you are picking up your kids school supplies, please help STHY with supplying our Faith Formation programs with school supplies. A supply list is in this week’s bulletin. Please drop your donated supplies off in the Faith Formation office, or the narthex. Thank you for your generosity toward helping our young people learn about their faith.
This weekend at all masses we will offer a special blessing for all our school children, youth and young adults, as well as education personnel and staff members, who will soon be heading back to school in the upcoming weeks.
As you may know, our Diocese is in the midst of the IGNITE Capital Campaign. Every parish in the Archdiocese will be participating in the campaign at different times. Our time is now. We will be kicking off the campaign this fall. I am excited for the opportunities to not only serve our Archdiocese, but to use the monies raised for some much needed improvements here at St Hyacinth. I think we can all agree out Parish Hall would benefit from flooring and lighting upgrades. With your help, this campaign will give us the funds necessary to make the upgrades and improve our parish home.
The IGNITE campaign is composed of 6 distinct case elements. Five of the elements: Seminary renovations, Catholic Education Scholarships, Faith Formation Funding, Harvey Relief, and a Future Disaster Fund will touch every Catholic in out Diocese, today and for generations to come. We will also be keeping one third of all the monies raised in out parish. That’s the 6th case element. Each parish will be able to make improvements as their needs dictate. As we know, our needs dictate the Parish Hall updates. By working together, we will be able to replace the flooring and lighting, making the Hall a more hospitable gathering place for us as a parish community.