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Rejoice Always
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Happy Third Sunday of Advent!
There really isn’t anything to add to St. Paul’s instruction to the Thessalonians: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks. Repeat. Without ceasing.
On Jesus’ list of actions is visiting the imprisoned. A fairly new prison ministry called One Parish One Prisoner has been developed recently. Our neighbor St Joseph Parish has been active in this ministry for a couple of years. For more information, please look at the article in Northwest Catholic, “For Parishes and Prisoners, a Chance for Transformation”.
We are nearing the end of our stewardship campaign. Please take a look at your budget as a spiritual exercise. Consider your commitments and your gratitude and make some decisions from your heart. I would ask you to put your generosity first in your budget and then squeeze the rest in. There are a lot of demands on your generosity: food banks are facing record demands, St. Vincent de Paul is struggling to keep many in southeast Seattle in their homes, and St. Therese needs your support.
As you know, the St Therese budget is showing a deficit. Among all the demands on your generosity, please take care of your parish! Over that last dozen years or so the budget has gotten leaner and leaner. There really isn’t anything left to cut. Closing our deficit requires about a 10% increase in giving. I know that for many of you, that is not possible but for those who can, it will help make your parish sustainable. For those who can’t, please give what you can from your resources. You can make your pledge online by going to st-therese.cc, click on Give on the banner, and then choose “Stewardship of Treasure Commitment Form.”
We need some help!
Nicole needs someone to learn how to run the livestream at mass. Contact Nicole at nicoles@st-therese.cc.
A parish gardener! Zach Mayer, who developed the garden as a school class, is moving out of the area. He has suggested that we continue the garden as a support for St Mary’s food bank. If you know something about growing vegetables and can lead a team, we can recruit more folks to help you. Contact me at jvrussell85@gmail.com.
Diane would like someone to sanitize the Parish Center mid-week. Contact paa@st-therese.cc if you’re interested.