Greetings in Christ, all!
I feel so blessed at our worship…I look out and see what appears to be many of you inviting people to Church. We see more new faces all the time and I’m so blessed. The more we understand how radically blessed we are to pray this way, the more we will be tempted to share that blessing with others.
I also wanted to thank you for how many of you have offered words of encouragement for me about my attempt to lose weight. As of today, I am down 27 pounds from my weight on Ash Wednesday. I’m doing really well and feeling better. The meal plans we have been using have been a blessing to Dad, Fr. Le and I. I’m going to keep this up and strive for a better way of eating and living. Thank you!
Now, I’d like to look at Confession and Collection.
Let’s start with confessions…
First of all, praise God for our incredibly active confession times here at Holy Family; I’m so grateful to be priest at a parish where so many go to confession. It’s one of my favorite things about Our Family.
I’d like to brush us all up on a couple things to make the experience we offer the best we can.
One thing I’d ask us to consider is that we think about how we might be able to help those in line who need it. For example, if you see a mom or dad struggling with multiple kids or if you see a person who is disabled, you could offer to hold their place in line so that they can go sit down as they wait.
Another thing to remember is that our policy is that we go to the next priest in line; this is a policy that I stand by as very important for the integrity of the Sacrament. If it is a policy you do not prefer, it was/is not the decision of the ushers helping, it is mine. Please keep that in mind.
Next, I’ll ask us to remember this phrase: Be Brave, Be Brief. Our lines are long and it is important for us to be sensitive to that. The primary purpose of this great sacrament is to reconcile us to God: it is not a time for counseling or discernment (strictly speaking). We do not need to remember every venial sin, but make our best effort and trust that God “got it right”.
Be Brave, Be Brief!
Now, we move to collections…
Once the quarantine started, we stopped taking up collections at mass and many of you responded with great generosity by setting up online giving. I cannot tell you what a difference that has and continues to make.
For those who do not give online, we put a transparent box out before and after mass and some of you place your donations/envelopes in there; thank you!
We have noticed that while mass attendance is up quite a bit, our collections from that box have gone down and frankly, we run a lean budget and could use some more help. If you have not been giving, I’m asking you to please consider doing so; we could use the help.
There are a lot of things that we need to address at our parish and we have some big projects coming up; any help you can offer would be so greatly appreciated. I hate talking about these things; thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully respond to it.
God bless you all, I just love being your priest!
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