|
 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Today we celebrate the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
I welcome all of you to our Masses this weekend. It is always good to be here
together united around the Altar of the Lord. We are glad that you are here
with us!
You may have noticed in the stewardship section of last
week’s bulletin that we have begun a new fiscal year. While so many things
start over on January 1st,
and around here with a Catholic school and a massive Parish Religious Education
Program (PRE), so much of what we do is geared towards the school calendar, our
finances and business operation is set-up on the fiscal year from July 1st
each year to June 30th
each year. So Happy New Year! The fiscal year 2008-2009 was a tough one. Like
almost all parishes, we saw our collections go down. Ours didn’t go down as
much as they didn’t go up, to keep up with our growth and additional numbers.
Spending and wage freezes, cut-backs on budgeted expenses, and some very
intelligent and creative new thinking, helped our business office keep us as a
Parish in the black. For the new fiscal year 2009-2010, we are being cautiously
optimistic that our economy will get better, while at the same time putting the
protections in place to make sure that we as a Parish family can take care of
all of our needs and responsibilities. You will notice that the targeted weekly
number for us to stay on budget will stay exactly the same. This is no small
feat. And it is only able to happen because many people made some big
sacrifices. I thank our staff and faculty for those sacrifices. And yet it is
also true that our Parish didn’t have to lay anybody off this past year or
eliminate any positions. This is a particular priority for us even as we head
into this new fiscal year.
So what’s our plan for 2009-2010? We’re going to stick
with being a tithing parish. Together, all of us must keep working towards
giving our true tithe, as defined by Sacred Scripture, back to God. Sacred
Scripture defines a tithe as 10% of our gross annual income being given back to
God. Here at St. Maria Goretti, we recommend that you give 5% to your parish
family, 1% to 2% to our Diocesan campaign (Fruitful Harvest), and the remaining
3% or 4% to your other favorite ministries within the Church. If we all tithed
in this fashion, we would never have another financial issue ever again. It is
very clear that we all must keep working towards a true tithe.
Ever since I was ordained, I have told God that the
financial issues were His. I would do my job as a priest to the very best of my
abilities, we would stick with His truth and the official teachings of His
Church, and that I wasn’t going to worry about money, as long as we were
honestly being good stewards and people of true Faith. For the most part I have
held true to that commitment. And so has God. We don’t talk about money a
lot. I don’t write about money very much. It’s not the heart of what we are
supposed to be doing as Catholic Christians. And yet, we do have to pay the
bills. For there to be Christ Renews His Parish, and PRE, and a Catholic
school, for all of us to access to the Mass and the other sacraments, for us to
continue to operate a food pantry and help those in need, we’ve got to be
tithing. It is part of our Faith. Every time we give a gift to God in the
collection basket, it is an act of Faith and trust, and it is done knowing full
well that God will bless our gift, and multiply it, and bring good out of our
generosity. These are tough times for everybody. And yet, it is exactly in
times like these that we most need to trust and tithe. That’s what we must do
in fiscal year 2009-2010. And working together, with God and with one another,
God will get us through this next year too. Happy New Year! Use your envelopes
please!
Last weekend, with all of the visitors here on Saturday
night for 4:30 PM Mass, I was watching our Ministers of Welcome. Man, do they
do a great job of welcoming our visitors for Mass. I was so proud of the
compassion and hospitality that they showed to folks as they came in. I’d like
to thank Mark Worcester, who heads up this liturgical ministry, and all the
guys, and even a couple ladies, who help make our Masses nicer! Thanks to all
of our Ministers of Welcome who serve all of us every week!
That’s about it for now. Thanks for joining us this
weekend. Stay cool out there this week.
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning
of true faith is the end of anxiety.
|
