"The Envelope, Please!"

Sunday ‘Envelope Talk’ by Fr Al

February 15 and 16th, 2014

 

“The envelope, please!” We all know that expression: “the envelope, please.” But no, Fr. Al is not here to talk to you about the Academy Awards or anyone named Oscar! I want to thank you for your stewardship in support of our parish. You gave us a marvelous Christmas season. You were very generous and we are very grateful and very encouraged. So, yes, I am here to talk about envelopes. These envelopes!

The Finance Council and the Parish Pastoral Council have asked me to come before you this weekend to tell you that, upon their counsel, we are moving to an envelope system for weekly offertory collections. Beginning the weekend of March 1 & 2, all registered parishioners, and even those who are not registered but are making a consistent weekly gifts to our parish, will be receiving a packet of collection envelopes.

We have come to the conclusion that the introduction of collection envelopes will help enhance parishioners’ experience of making gifts to our parish. Some of the benefits of this decision include: a nice friendly reminder, the recording of cash donations for year-end tax recognition and the inclusion of envelopes for special collections such as BUILD and many more.

Not only will this enhance the experience of gifting to our parish, but it will also be very helpful to our staff as we move to an online database to record gifts to the parish. Moving to an online database comes from another effort to serve our parish community better. In moving to an online database, we will be able to record more efficiently your generous weekly gifts and provide more accurate year-end tax letters.

The collection envelopes will be mailed to you in packets containing two months of envelopes, including special collection and Holy Day envelopes. They may begin arriving this coming week. Should you forget to bring your envelope to Mass, we will have extra envelopes in the narthex. Simply fill out the information on the envelope if you want your gift to be recorded for tax purposes.

And, yes, we will continue out EFT giving online. We are in the process of creating chips that read “I give by EFT.” You will pick one up in the narthex and drop in the collection basket as it passes by your row.

Students, this includes you, too! I have spoken with many of you, asking you to give $20.00 per month or $5.00 per week. Take a blank envelope when you arrive for Mass, insert your donation and include your name on the envelope.

I want to thank you once again for your tremendous support of our parish Newman Center. Together we support Christ’s Church and share our lives for God’s Greater Glory. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, once again!

Reverend Albert J. DeGiacomo, Pastor

Holy Spirit Parish Newman Center

15 February 2014