Letter from the Pastor
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October 16, 2021Today our Parish begins an Offertory Increase Campaign, entitled: “Beyond Sunday Morning.” The Archdiocese has asked that all the Parishes to conduct this campaign.
The goals set by the Archdiocese are:
1. To encourage intentional, sustained giving from our entire community, in gratitude for God’s blessings to our parish family.
2. To help our parishioners move to our online giving platform, if you wish, and
3. To invite you to prayerfully consider increasing your financial sacrifice to our parish community.
I am so grateful for your sustained generosity. I know how difficult it is for many of our families to make ends meet.
I know, for many, you are living paycheck to paycheck. I also realize there are a number of you who live on fixed incomes. Some of you have lost your jobs, or your hours have been reduced. Also looking at the world economy, we see inflation increasing each month. In spite of all the difficulties our Parish is only about 8% down in our income from pre-pandemic days.
Sadly, there are parishes down 25-33% from pre-pandemic days! In many of those parishes a number of their parishioners moved away, and no new Catholics moved into their parish.
Next week, you will be receiving a letter with my signature through the mail with more information about the Campaign, and you have the opportunity to increase your gift to St. Margaret’s.
If you can give just a few dollars more in the Offertory Collection, it would help with the income deficit. A better and more efficient way is to sign up for Parish Giving or LPI, which automatically gives your donation to the Parish. If you are interested, please call Helen at the Parish Center. I want you to know our bills are being paid, we are still putting money each week into our saving account and still investing money with the Archdiocese.
Also know of my deep gratitude for the many sacrifices you make for our parish – both financial and otherwise! I pray for all of us to continue learning how God invites us to give our “first fruits” to Him in love and gratitude.
October 24, is World Mission Sunday. There will be a second special collection for it next week. World Mission Sunday is an opportunity for churches around the world to reflect and pray for the global missions.
In 1926 Pope Pius XI instituted Mission Sunday for the whole Church with the first worldwide Mission Sunday collection taking place in October 1927. The Mission Sunday collection is always taken on the next to last Sunday during the month of October. That day is celebrated in all the local Churches as the sign of our Catholic and Universal closeness to Catholics throughout the world. It also recognizes our responsibility with regard to the evangelization of the world.
We are called to support mission dioceses in Africa, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and parts of Latin America and Europe, where priests, religious and lay leaders serve the world’s most vulnerable communities.
Please keep the missions in your prayers and be generous in next week’s collection for the
Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
