Happy, Holy Lent!
I’m sitting here rejoicing this week in our Parish Mission with Sr. Teresa. She has been absolutely amazing and I thank God with all my heart that she is here.
I am also grateful beyond words for the sheer number of you that turned out. I’m so very blessed that you made this a priority and I know from conversations with many of you who have come that it is bearing great fruit in your hearts. Thank you, Jesus! I’m very blessed to be in a parish where God’s People are so responsive to the invitation to grow spiritually.
This week I’m going to quickly cover two magnificent opportunities to give during Lent. This is a way you and I can meet our Lenten requirement to give. Let’s dive right in.
DSA
DSA stands for “Diocesan Services Appeal.” It’s an effort every Church in the diocese is to make to be good members of the Diocesan family. As a parish within the Diocese of Lansing, we are dependent on the Diocese to function. For example, our insurance, all the free consultants for our building project we did, the guaranteeing of our loan to build the Church…all of that, is funded by each parish doing their part.
Last year we did the best we’ve done in a long time in meeting our DSA goal and I invite everyone reading this to pray and give to our DSA efforts. We’ll place the envelopes for you to fill out in the gathering space and in the pews beginning the first week of April.
School Endowment
Part of our Parish is our school. As a Church with a school, we sacrifice joyfully to keep it running. When you think about our funding, think of it this way:
For each student, we charge a certain amount of money to attend. This is called Tuition. For each student, there is a specific amount of money it costs us to educate that student. This is called (conveniently) Cost to Educate. The gap between these two amounts is pretty significant and it is covered by the Church. Why? Because this is our mission! In a day and age when the world is collapsing into false ideologies and to educational theories that can cause permanent damage to our children’s beautiful souls, we need to provide a refuge where they can learn about the world around them under the standard of Catholic Morality and Principles. More than ever, the world needs saints and it is our job to make them at Holy Family Catholic School.
Tuition is hard for many people and some want to come to a Catholic school but can’t afford it. A few years ago, a fund was created by our Parish and an Anonymous Donor called the Tuition Assistance Endowment Fund.
An information sheet outlining this fund will be mailed to your home next week to invite you to help grow this fund. A summary of the endowment can also be found in today’s bulletin. This is a high priority for our parish as the larger this fund gets, the better able we will be to welcome kids into the school who may not be here only because of finances.
Please prayerfully consider giving to these two efforts in this Lenten Season. I pledge to you that I am going to give to both.
Thank you…I hate asking for money and I appreciate you taking the time to read this and pray and think about it.
I’m so grateful to God for you all.
fjk
