Faith and Finances
This week we present the yearly financial reports for each of the four parishes in St. Joseph, Pillar of Families Parishes. I am so incredibly grateful to each of you who support our parishes financially. Your generosity enables us to continue to build our people’s Faith in Jesus Christ and His Church. Not only is it our duty to provide for the material needs of the Church (precept of the Church) but we also see in scripture that “God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7) Our financial giving is not just payment for services but a return to the God that has given us everything. What do we have that we have not received? (1 Corinthians 4:7, John 1:6, Psalm 24:5) All is gift and our heavenly allows the sun to shine on all. (Matthew 5:45)
This change in perspective helped me to change the way in which I viewed giving when I was in seminary. I remember being challenged by a spiritual director to start giving in order to better understand in a tactile way what it means to give to the Lord. Oddly enough, I came to recognize that giving had spiritual benefits for me and not just for those that I supported monetarily. The willingness to sacrifice a bit opened me to other opportunities to be charitable to others. I have heard others witness the way that financial giving has expanded and opened their hearts to the Lord and others in profound ways. (Luke 6:38, Philippians 4:14-19)
You can call the parish office (937)498-2307 and talk to Jill Schulze or Jeff Replogle to get envelopes or to set up an EFT to begin giving. You can also find an EFT form on each parish website that can be turned into the parish office or put into the collection. Thank you again for your generosity.
In the next couple of weeks, we be celebrating the patronal feast days for two of our parishes. First, on Friday, September 29th we will be celebrating the feast of St. Michael the Archangel the patronal Feast Day for St. Michael in Fort Loramie. That day we will have an extra Mass at 7:15 AM for the feast day and then on Sunday, October 1 there will a celebratory social after the 8 AM and 11 AM Mass at St. Michael in St. Michael Hall (Saturday night the hall is already booked). Then on Monday, October 2nd Holy Angels will celebrate their patronal feast day of Guardian Angels. Mass will be at 6 PM at Holy Angels and a social will follow. Happy Feast Days to both St. Michael and Holy Angels! Let us rejoice in the wonderful patrons that each of our four parishes have to build up St. Joseph Pillar of Families Parishes as the Body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:25-26)
We will have pastoral council elections the weekend of October 21 & 22. Thank you to our nominees who said yes to the call to serve their parish and our entire Family of Parishes. Each parish will have a ballot of three people and the weekend before the elections we will have bios for each in the bulletin. Reminder if you will not be at Mass within our Family on the weekend of October 21 & 22, you can call the parish office the week before to vote. Also, if you bring Holy Communion to the homebound you can also bring them a ballot so that they too can vote.
Please note that starting October 16 and going until November 17, Holy Angels church will be undergoing a change in the wiring for lights in the church. The current wiring is from the 1940’s and needs to be replaced. This means that we will move adoration to the connector to allow the workers more time to get their work done. Also, the Friday all School Mass will be in the Holy Angels School Gym. So, if you are a parishioner, I would encourage you to attend Mass at another parish that day because the school is locked for safety and each visitor needs to be checked in to come into the school. There will also be a few days where there will be no lights in church. We will try to give you a heads up when those days will be. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Thank you to our generous benefactors who provide their time, talent, and treasure to Christ and His Church. Your giving is so appreciated by our parishes, myself, and of course the Lord. May God bless you and keep you always.
Peace in Christ,
Fr. Jarred Kohn