Picture: Rite of Election February 28, 2021 @ the 12:00 Noon Mass
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Jesus lays aside all culture rules in dealing with Samaritan women in this week’s Sunday Gospel. After her encounter with Jesus, the Samaritan woman departs to tell others about Jesus. What are we doing in our lives to spread the good news of Jesus? When we encounter Jesus in the Eucharist, our duty is go forth from the Mass to share our encounter with others so that they may come to a greater relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Governor Abbott issued an order last week which allows Texas businesses to reopen and relax the mandate to wear masks effective Wednesday, March 10. Cardinal DiNardo has given formal guidance in regards to the Churches of Galveston - Houston and St. Hyacinth Catholic Church will maintain the current COVID-19 protocols: Mandatory masks, social distancing, and sanitizing of the hands of those entering the church will continue to be in effect. We will keep you updated on this matter. I have attached the letter from the Cardinal's office to this Flock note which is at the bottom of the page and can be found on Church website as well.
Jesus lays aside all culture rules in dealing with Samaritan women in this week’s Sunday Gospel. After her encounter with Jesus, the Samaritan woman departs to tell others about Jesus. What are we doing in our lives to spread the good news of Jesus? When we encounter Jesus in the Eucharist, our duty is go forth from the Mass to share our encounter with others so that they may come to a greater relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Governor Abbott issued an order last week which allows Texas businesses to reopen and relax the mandate to wear masks effective Wednesday, March 10. Cardinal DiNardo has given formal guidance in regards to the Churches of Galveston - Houston and St. Hyacinth Catholic Church will maintain the current COVID-19 protocols: Mandatory masks, social distancing, and sanitizing of the hands of those entering the church will continue to be in effect. We will keep you updated on this matter. I have attached the letter from the Cardinal's office to this Flock note which is at the bottom of the page and can be found on Church website as well.
Next, there is an ongoing need for food items in our greater community. To assist a greater number of people in need of food, we are asking everyone to bring in donated food items on a regular basis for the St. Vincent De Paul food pantry. The SVD food pantry is always in need of nutritious nonperishable items such as peanut butter, tuna, canned meats, vegetables, pasta, pasta sauce, canned fruit, rice, beans and shelf stable milk. Thank you for your great generosity.
Next, one of the projects we have been working on for the New Year is to provide livestreaming of the Masses here at St. Hyacinth. Please go to our website, our Facebook page or Viemo.com to view the current livestream mass. Be on the lookout for the 10:00 am livestream mass on our website, FaceBook , YouTube, and Viemo social media pages.
Our next goal in 2021 is to increase the number of families using Faith Direct. Currently we have 200 families using Faith Direct and hopefully by the end of the year we can have at least 325 families of STHY on Faith Direct. The number of 325 families represents 20% of our parish population of registered parishioners.
However, I do want to address the approximately the over 1044 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 moving toward electronic giving. In this way we can account for all those who are a part of the parish that are truly giving and it is an expense of the church for envelopes to be mailed to registered families. 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.
Faith Direct is an easy and secure way to see that your offertory contributions to the church are made on a timely basis. It is an easy and wonderful way to contribute to the church. You can register in less than five minutes by logging on to www.faithdirect.net and entering our parish code of TX526 or by just simply scanning the QR code found on the poster in the Narthex.
For 2021, Cardinal DiNardo has assessed our parish DSF goal at $80,000. DSF supports more than 60 ministries and programs that serve the faithful of the Archdiocese and us here at St. Hyacinth. Thank you in your generosity in supporting DSF 2021.
FORMED is the revolutionary digital online platform that gives STHY unprecedented access to video-based study programs, feature films, audio presentations, and eBooks from the Church’s foremost presenters. With your free access to FORMED, 24/7 on your television, smart phone, laptop, I-pad, or Kindle, you can: Prepare for Mass, study the scriptures, watch religious movies and programs as a family, Enrich your marriage with the award winning video programs, and help your children grow in faith and character with engaging children’s materials. Our parish Password to FORMED.org is 77GVZ3.
With the season of lent, we welcome our Friday Fish Fry sponsored by our Knights of Columbus. On Fridays during Lent, the K of Cs will make available delicious fish dinners that will be available for pick up.
FORMED is the revolutionary digital online platform that gives STHY unprecedented access to video-based study programs, feature films, audio presentations, and eBooks from the Church’s foremost presenters. With your free access to FORMED, 24/7 on your television, smart phone, laptop, I-pad, or Kindle, you can: Prepare for Mass, study the scriptures, watch religious movies and programs as a family, Enrich your marriage with the award winning video programs, and help your children grow in faith and character with engaging children’s materials. Our parish Password to FORMED.org is 77GVZ3.
With the season of lent, we welcome our Friday Fish Fry sponsored by our Knights of Columbus. On Fridays during Lent, the K of Cs will make available delicious fish dinners that will be available for pick up.
Next, on all the Fridays during Lent, we will have Stations of the Cross that can be viewed virtually on Sthyacinth.org website. I hope many of you will want to spend 30-45 minutes on Friday with this popular Lenten devotion on line. Please follow on FaceBook , check the YouTube channel, and or the Viemo social media page for the Livestream.
Finally, STHY will have our annual Lenten Penance Service on Thursday March 11th at 7:00 pm in the Church. We will have multiple priest confessors available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation that night. I encourage you to come and experience this most powerful and healing sacrament. Especially if you haven’t been to confession in a long time, now would be an ideal time to come and be reconciled to God and the Church. It would be a great way to end the Lenten Season and get yourself in the right frame of mind for Easter.
God Bless,
Fr. Reginald Samuels
