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Second Sunday of the Year
16 January 2010
Dear Friends in Christ,
1. As you know, the Caribbean island nation of Haiti has been crippled by a devastating earthquake that reduced most of its capital city to ruins. Untold thousands are dead and many more thousands are gravely injured and near despair. To help respond to this tragedy, every Catholic parish in the United States has been asked to take up a special collection that will be given to Catholic Relief Services and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to help them provide direct assistance to the suffering people of Haiti. We are taking that collection today at each of our Masses, but without prior notice of this you may not be able to give what you’d like to offer. In that case, you can send a donation directly to our Bishop Robert. Make the check payable to the Diocese of Charleston (indicate Haiti Relief on the memo line and the envelope) and post it to 1662 Ingram Road; Charleston, SC 29407. All donations to this fund will go directly to relief for the suffering people of Haiti.
2. This week all of the priests of the Diocese of Charleston will be gathered in the See City for our annual Convocation of Priests. Our topic this year, in the Year for Priests, is encouraging vocations to the priesthood. Of your charity, please pray for us during these deliberations.
3. Because of the Convocation, the Wednesday afternoon Holy Hour with Confessions is cancelled, but the weekday Mass schedule remains the same.
4. On the weekend of 23 and 24 January, all of the permanent deacons of the Diocese of Charleston will be on their annual retreat with their wives just outside of Columbia. Please pray for these dedicated servants of the Gospel and for the gift of their spiritual renewal.
5. After a careful review of our capital needs for this new calendar year, I have identified our goal for capital gifts in 2010 as $950,000, and every household in the parish will soon receive a letter explaining the six projects that will be paid for by these funds. Please read that letter carefully, and then return your pledge card for capital donations in 2010. In most of the last eight years, our capital donations have been well over $1 million dollars, but we can take a bit of a breather this year because of the extraordinary progress we have made in transforming our campus.
6. From January 28th to 31st, St. Mary’s is hosting a conference of the Society for Catholic Liturgy, a professional association of scholars, musicians, architects, and pastors dedicated to the study of the sacred liturgy and the promotion of authentic liturgical renewal. All parishioners are invited to join us for the several liturgies that will take place during the conference: Morning Prayer at 8.30 am on that Friday and Saturday; Mass at 11.15 am on that Friday and Saturday; Vespers at 5.00 pm on that Friday, and Compline at 8.00 pm on that Saturday.
Father Newman