Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
In our Gospel this week, we witness Zacchaeus climbing down from a tree to receive Jesus with joy. As Jesus came to seek what was lost, he sought out the soul of Zacchaeus as he seeks our souls as well. Yet, we have to acknowledge that the crowd in the gospel in surprised and dismayed by the actions of Jesus. We ask, just as the crowd asks, Who is this God who seeks to the lost? As with the parable of the prodigal son we are left with the question, can we be happy at the repentance and forgiveness of a sinner? If not, we are not fit for the kingdom of God as revealed by Jesus in the Gospel this Sunday.
One of our goals of STHY is to increase the number of people using our electronic formats for the dissemination of information from our parish. We have our website: Sthyaicnth.org, which is updated daily with information about the activities that go on in the parish. There is Flocknotes, which is our information delivery service for the parish, in which we email and or text information about the activities of the parish. Go to Flocknote.com/sthyhouston and join the group “Parishioners”. We are on Facebook, go and ‘like’ our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/StHyacinthchurch .
Next, I need to address the approximately the over 986 registered families here at STHY that we have no record of your giving to the Church. We do acknowledge that many are giving to the Church through the weekend collection; however, STHY needs you start using your envelopes or move toward electronic giving. We currently spend close to $10K a year on offertory envelopes and if we could use our electronic giving, this would reduce the expense of mailed offertory envelopes dramatically.
Everyone’s gift of a weekly tithe in the offertory is a great act of Stewardship. And remember, you can do in two ways, through your parish envelopes that are mailed to you or electronically through www.faithdirect.net by entering parish code TX 526. It’s fast, easy and, yes, very secure, and a great way to support the work of our parish.
There will be several capital repair and improvement projects that are currently on the schedule for STHY. First, we will be working on additional Guyot Hall repairs to the roof (waterproof /seal) at a cost of approximately $7000, in addition to making improvements to the lighting and electrical systems around Guyot Hall at a cost of approximately $11,000. Next, we need to replace the carpet in the Guyot Hall youth room at a cost of approximately $2500. Next, we will focus on the making the necessary continued repairs on the ‘P’ Street Parking lot. We are currently working on accepting bids from contractors. The Center Street parking has been repainted and sealed and now we need to move to improving the ‘P” street parking lot. The bids for the parking lot are coming in at a cost of approximately $12,000. We are currently looking at having these projects completed by Spring/Summer 2020. Once these items are taken care of, then we will have to focus our attention to the Center street doors of the Church and the main doors to Guyot Hall. We are currently examining contractors for the building and replacements of the doors. Thank you for your generosity to our capital improvement fund.
National Vocation Awareness Week (NVAW) is an annual week-long celebration of the Catholic Church in the United States dedicated to promote vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life through prayer and education, and to renew our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these particular vocations. During November 3rd - 9th, please take the opportunity to specifically pray for the Deacons, Sisters, Brothers and Priests of the Church who are called to a vocation.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who participated in our IGNITE receptions for the Archdiocese IGNITE capital campaign. Thank you for your time and generosity. We will have one more IGNITE reception on November 12th at 7:00 pm. Please, come out and ask questions and gather information to help you determine your sacrificial gift. Please RSVP for this important event. Now is the time to truly think about how we are going to support this great effort of our Archdiocese.
God Bless
Fr. Reginald Samuels
In our Gospel this week, we witness Zacchaeus climbing down from a tree to receive Jesus with joy. As Jesus came to seek what was lost, he sought out the soul of Zacchaeus as he seeks our souls as well. Yet, we have to acknowledge that the crowd in the gospel in surprised and dismayed by the actions of Jesus. We ask, just as the crowd asks, Who is this God who seeks to the lost? As with the parable of the prodigal son we are left with the question, can we be happy at the repentance and forgiveness of a sinner? If not, we are not fit for the kingdom of God as revealed by Jesus in the Gospel this Sunday.
One of our goals of STHY is to increase the number of people using our electronic formats for the dissemination of information from our parish. We have our website: Sthyaicnth.org, which is updated daily with information about the activities that go on in the parish. There is Flocknotes, which is our information delivery service for the parish, in which we email and or text information about the activities of the parish. Go to Flocknote.com/sthyhouston and join the group “Parishioners”. We are on Facebook, go and ‘like’ our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/StHyacinthchurch .
Next, I need to address the approximately the over 986 registered families here at STHY that we have no record of your giving to the Church. We do acknowledge that many are giving to the Church through the weekend collection; however, STHY needs you start using your envelopes or move toward electronic giving. We currently spend close to $10K a year on offertory envelopes and if we could use our electronic giving, this would reduce the expense of mailed offertory envelopes dramatically.
Everyone’s gift of a weekly tithe in the offertory is a great act of Stewardship. And remember, you can do in two ways, through your parish envelopes that are mailed to you or electronically through www.faithdirect.net by entering parish code TX 526. It’s fast, easy and, yes, very secure, and a great way to support the work of our parish.
There will be several capital repair and improvement projects that are currently on the schedule for STHY. First, we will be working on additional Guyot Hall repairs to the roof (waterproof /seal) at a cost of approximately $7000, in addition to making improvements to the lighting and electrical systems around Guyot Hall at a cost of approximately $11,000. Next, we need to replace the carpet in the Guyot Hall youth room at a cost of approximately $2500. Next, we will focus on the making the necessary continued repairs on the ‘P’ Street Parking lot. We are currently working on accepting bids from contractors. The Center Street parking has been repainted and sealed and now we need to move to improving the ‘P” street parking lot. The bids for the parking lot are coming in at a cost of approximately $12,000. We are currently looking at having these projects completed by Spring/Summer 2020. Once these items are taken care of, then we will have to focus our attention to the Center street doors of the Church and the main doors to Guyot Hall. We are currently examining contractors for the building and replacements of the doors. Thank you for your generosity to our capital improvement fund.
National Vocation Awareness Week (NVAW) is an annual week-long celebration of the Catholic Church in the United States dedicated to promote vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life through prayer and education, and to renew our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these particular vocations. During November 3rd - 9th, please take the opportunity to specifically pray for the Deacons, Sisters, Brothers and Priests of the Church who are called to a vocation.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who participated in our IGNITE receptions for the Archdiocese IGNITE capital campaign. Thank you for your time and generosity. We will have one more IGNITE reception on November 12th at 7:00 pm. Please, come out and ask questions and gather information to help you determine your sacrificial gift. Please RSVP for this important event. Now is the time to truly think about how we are going to support this great effort of our Archdiocese.
God Bless
Fr. Reginald Samuels
