The Parish Pastoral Council represents all parishioners and strives to make our parish community and our Church of St. Petersburg truly be what we have received, that is loving stewards of all that we have received from God. We wish to thank you, to ask for your assistance and to witness to you.
We members of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Community are a very generous. Hundreds of parishioners each week are involved in numerous ministries. Visits are made to the nursing homes and our parish shut ins. Our St. Vincent de Paul Society distributes hundreds of pounds of food to the needy that we have donated each weekend. Parishioners knit prayer shawls for the parish sick. Many serve as catechists and sponsors to our parish children, youth and RCIA participants. Our Ladies’ Guild holds functions to raise money for the parish. Our Knights of Columbus and Ladies Auxiliary serve as cooks at numerous parish functions that help build a sense of community. Our prayer group and prayer line pray for us on a regular basis. We have numerous musical ministers. We could go on and on. We are most generous with our time and talents. We, the members of the Council, are most grateful to all for these services.
Because of our financial support we have place a new and better roof on our church, repainted its inside, paved the parking lot, sealed the parish center against water damage, installed a new sound system in the church, substantially paid down the parish debt, and most recently expanded our Parish Early Childhood Center. We have not neglected those most in need. Several weeks ago we looked beyond our parish boundaries and contributed $20,000 to the victims of the earthquake disaster in Haiti. We thank you for your generous support.
We ask your further financial support. Again we think beyond our parish boundaries to our mother Church of the Diocese of St. Petersburg. We are now engaged in our Annual Diocesan Pastoral Appeal Program. The theme for this year is Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord. We see a parallel to the theme for the third year of our LIVING EUCHARIST Program which is Gathered, Nourished, Sent. We note that the Diocesan Annual Appeal theme also parallels our parish’s mission statement Learning, Living, Sharing the Good News.
Recently we all received information about this appeal in the mail. The brochure outlines how our contributions to our Diocesan Church are spent. Two weeks ago our diocesan vocation director explained how our support helps the 30 young men in training to become priests. Last week Father gave other examples of how we assist our Diocesan Church and how it assists us.
Our Diocesan Catholic Charities has 23 programs that provide family counseling, adoption support, refugee employment assistance, housing programs, crisis pregnancy assistance, and several others. Some services provided to the parishes include employee benefits, construction guidance, and management of wills and bequests. The Diocesan Ministries of Lifelong Faith Formation guide our parish religious education, sacramental preparation, RCIA and other faith formation programs. In addition it ensures the high quality of education to our over 10,000 students in our Catholic secondary schools, elementary schools and early childhood programs. On going education is provided for all our priests, deacons and seminarians. We also provide assistance to our elderly and retired priests and religious. Our Diocesan Church also spearheads family and life issues, prison ministries, scouting and our Eucharistic Initiative. We can see how our Church of St. Petersburg is reaching out in so many ways.
Our Diocesan Church needs both our prayers and financial support. Each parish is assessed a certain amount to assist these programs. Our assessment for this year is about $180,000.
The Diocesan Annual Appeal provides us with the opportunity to go beyond our weekly contribution to the parish to contribute to our Church of St. Petersburg on a one time or monthly basis. If we do not make our assessment through the Annual Pastoral Appeal Program, funds must be taken from our regular parish revenue. This could mean that expansion of programs would be curtailed and possibly programs eliminated. Our appeal is for every family in the parish to make some contribution to this program. This assessment is the responsibility of all of us.
We ask that you return your pledge card in the offertory collection, send it directly to the diocese, or drop it off at the parish center. If you prefer you may use the green striped envelop in your monthly package of envelopes and contribute something each month. Additional brochures and pledge cards may be picked up in the narthex or parish center.
Our Gospel for this weekend presents the beatitudes. While these are a guide for living, they also challenge us to care for the poor, the hungry, the persecuted. We assist our Diocesan Church to carry out these mandates by supporting the Annual Pastoral Appeal.
We are in difficult financial times. Some parishioners may have seen their retirement funds decrease. Others have lost their jobs. Nevertheless, we appeal to everyone to make some contribution. We are only stewards of the resources that God has given us. Now is the time to practice this stewardship. Know that members of the Parish Pastoral Council have already made their pledges and we humbly and prayerfully ask all to join us.
All the members of the parish council thank the parishioners for their past support of our parish and diocese. We ask for the prayers and support of all for the success of this year’s appeal.
February 14, 2010