Posted on September 13, 2024 View all Pastor's Letter
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,
Last Sunday, we joyfully welcomed the children of our Religious Education Program, who, as
vineyard workers, have embarked on a crucial journey of formation to know Jesus. Their deep
intention to learn is not just a source of joy, but a vital part of our parish’s mission. I want to
express my heartfelt gratitude to the catechists and volunteers for their love of this ministry and
their unwavering commitment to nurturing our children and young people. I stand in full support
of you. This year, we are blessed with several new catechists, whom I encourage to let
themselves be guided by the Holy Spirit. For me, catechesis is the heart of the parish, as it is
where our future Christians are being formed. Next Sunday, the 22nd, we will celebrate the
catechists’ public profession of faith, bless them, and officially invite them to work in this parish
vineyard.
I want to take a moment to express my deep gratitude for your past support. Your generosity has
allowed us to continue our important work in the parish. Being a parish pastor similar to being a
father and head of a family. As a parish pastor, I watch over the salvation of souls, which is my
first priority. Then comes the administration and the pastoral care and attention that this entails.
Within this second aspect are finances, which are crucial in healthily developing everything else.
As I mentioned a few months ago, our finances are a little low, and if we do not seek to improve
them, we could enter into a deficit, which would be a big problem because it would hinder all our
pastoral work. Therefore, we will begin a program this weekend to increase the offertory. I call
with much love and charity for you to help me by increasing your weekly offertory by 10%. In
the coming weeks, we will give you more details about this.
Our parish can only overcome this financial challenge if we stand together as a united
community. This requires us to love and feel a sense of belonging to the parish, to consider it our
home and spiritual family. Currently, we have 1,769 families registered, but 875 of them do not
contribute to our offertory, which hampers our financial stability. I urge these families to
consider making a small weekly donation through prayer and awareness. I strongly encourage
them to create an online donation account or use the corresponding envelopes. As your pastor, I
am fully committed to doing my best to keep our parish afloat. The parish needs us to unite and
find ways to increase our weekly offertory. I believe that a more direct and dynamic way is to
make your donations online via Pushpay, the platform we use in the parish. Here is the link
where you can access it: https://queenofapostles.org/donate/. In the next few weekends, we will
have staff members who can assist you in this process if you wish to do so.
Finally, please mark your calendars for Bishop Michael Burbidge’s invitation to conclude the
Diocesan Jubilee for the 50th Anniversary of our diocese’s founding by participating in the
Diocesan Marian Pilgrimage to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in
Washington, DC, on Saturday, October 5th. This pilgrimage is a significant event in our
diocese’s history and a wonderful opportunity for us to come together as a parish community.
The parish will provide bus transportation at $35 per person. Call the parish office for more
information on how to register, or visit the parish website to register.
May God bless you as we look forward to a future filled with hope and unity!
Fr. Alex
