The COVID-19 Pandemic has been challenging mentally, financially, and spiritually for many members of our community. While the Holy Spirit staff has been reviewing the impact of closing our doors during the lockdown and the drop in Mass attendance throughout 2020 as a result of the pandemic, there was one striking item of note that demonstrates this impact.
While tithing is down across the board (cash, checks, online giving, etc.) the below information highlights the decrease in one of our revenue streams, cash donations placed in the collection baskets.
In 2019 we received: $109,667
In 2020 we received: $30,303
This resulted in a loss of nearly $80,000 in cash donations between years.
The mission of this parish is important as it is founded on the love of Jesus Christ. The parish staff is working diligently to minimize costs during this pandemic and the resulting drop in tithing. Our parish operations are sustained through your generosity. This parish family is an amazing one and we want it to continue for generations to come!
True Stewardship
Everything we have is a gift from God and all we have belongs to God. When we give in our place of worship, that gift is an act of worship in and of itself.
Plan, Prioritize, Percentage, Progress:
Just as we plan our budgets and make priorities in them for certain things, we should be planning our donations and making those gifts to God a priority. The biblical standard for a tithe (Gift to God) is 10 percent. Take it to prayer and ask God what percentage of your income He is calling you to gift. If you already give a percentage, prayerfully discern progressing in that percentage this year, moving closer to the 10 percent “tithe”.
The Mission of Holy Spirit
While cash is crucial to fund our mission and ministries, our parish mission is about far more than that.
·It’s about loving God and serving Him in our generation.
·It’s about loving others and helping them fall in love with their savior.
·It’s about transforming the world little by little through love.
We serve God, who owns all. With your financial support, we will be able to make an eternal impact and carry out our mission of God’s love!
Holy Spirit School Registration!
Parishioners who do not currently have children at Holy Spirit will have the opportunity to enroll, beginning Tuesday, January 19th for Preschool through 8th Grade. On February 1st, the school will begin accepting out of parish applications. Please give the school office a call for more information or to schedule a tour 913.492.2582 or email apauls@hscatholic.org.
Final Sale
You can still purchase delicious peanut brittle and help support the Holy Spirit Music ministries. Come to the Narthex after Masses next weekend, Jan. 16th and 17th. Pay $15.00 per box with cash or check.
Worldwide Marriage Encounter is coming to your house! Great marriages are made
when husbands and wives make a lot of everyday choices that say “I love you” rather than
choices that say “I love me”. Now is the time to tell your spouse “I love you” by giving them the
gift of an intimate retreat right in the comfort and security of your own home.
Join us for a Virtual Weekend Experience, Feb. 26th - 28th, 2021. For more information, or to apply for the weekend, visit our website at www.wwme4youandme.org or call/email Deacon Tony & Barb Zimmerman at 816-741-4066, tonybarbz@prodigy.net. And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook for the latest updates about WWME Greater KC!
Pope Francis has instituted 2021 as the "Year of Saint Joseph"!
Pope Francis’ Prayer to Saint Joseph
Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,
Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To you God entrusted his only Son;
in you Mary placed her trust;
with you Christ became man.
Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To you God entrusted his only Son;
in you Mary placed her trust;
with you Christ became man.
Blessed Joseph, to us too,
show yourself a father
and guide us in the path of life.
Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage,
and defend us from every evil
show yourself a father
and guide us in the path of life.
Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage,
and defend us from every evil
Amen.
Pope Leo XIII’s Prayer to Saint Joseph
To you, O blessed Joseph, do we come in our tribulation, and having implored the help of your most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke your patronage also.
Through that charity which bound you to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God and through the paternal love with which you embraced the Child Jesus, we humbly beg you graciously to regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ has purchased by his Blood, and with your power and strength to aid us in our necessities.
O most watchful guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ; O most loving father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence; O our most mighty protector, be kind to us and from heaven assist us in our struggle with the power of darkness.
As once you rescued the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God’s Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity; shield, too, each one of us by your constant protection, so that, supported by your example and your aid, we may be able to live piously, to die in holiness, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven.
Amen.
(Composed by Pope Leo XIII in his 1889 encyclical, Quamquam pluries.)