Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

News and Notes:  This month our new Collaborative Development Committee, co-chaired by Maryanne Rooney-Hegan (SMG) and Richard Mazzola (OLA), is rolling out a financial plan to stabilize parish operations and build a savings for the future.    They are presenting a plan based on a spirituality of stewardship that hopefully will provide our parishes with a sustainable income stream and thus enable us to be a strong, vibrant Collaborative for years to come.  The heart of the plan is to ask each family in our parishes to make a pledge once a year of an amount of money they can prayerfully commit to their particular parish, in return for all that the Lord has done for them.  This habit of “intentional giving” will help us confidently fund our mission of building up our Catholic community of disciples.  Right now, only one in five families in the Lynnfield Catholic Collaborative support their respective parish through “intentional giving”---that is, in weekly envelopes; in a pledge program like OAP at St. Maria’s; or most preferably in a form of online, electronic giving such as a credit card contribution or an automatic withdrawal from a bank.  Our Development Committee is certainly not asking families to give beyond their means.  In the next few weeks, I am asking every family to pray about your current spiritual stewardship and about becoming an intentional giver if you are not already.  You will be hearing more about this initiative from the Committee members and others in the days ahead.  In the meantime, here is a quote from Psalm 116 to ponder: “How can I repay the Lord for all the good he has done for me?  I will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.” 

Blessings to all of you in the week ahead!