Bulletin for March 3

Dear friends in Christ,

This weekend marks our final Sunday of Ordinary Time before Lent begins. Ash Wednesday is this Wednesday, March 6. Recall that Ash Wednesday is not a Holy Day of Obligation but it is an important day for us as we begin Lent “branded” with ashes. It’s a call to conversion and a sign of our mortality – “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

We will have six liturgies on Ash Wednesday. We begin with a 6:30 a.m. Liturgy of the Word service for those on the way to work or school. We will only have one Mass on Ash Wednesday at 9 a.m. We will have additional Liturgy of the Word services (all with distribution of ashes) at 12 noon, 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. All services will be in the church. There are no confessions on Wednesday nor an evening Mass. Ash Wednesday is also a day of fast and abstinence from meat, and all Fridays in Lent are days of abstinence.

We are once again participating in CRS Rice Bowl for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) during Lent. We’ll distribute the bowls next weekend and we encourage you to make it a family penitential practice. Collect your extra change (perhaps that you saved from what you “gave up”) during the 40 days of Lent, and then plan to return your Rice Bowls in the Easter season.

With the beginning of Lent we resume our Friday Fish dinners sponsored by our Knights of Columbus Council 8771. Every Friday during Lent, from 4:30-7:30 p.m., the Knights serve a delicious fish dinner in the Parish Hall. For only $8 ($5 for children) you get your choice of baked or fried fish or shrimp, three side dishes, dessert and a drink. They serve upwards of 1,500 dinners a night, but the line moves quickly so come early and bring your family and friends. You can also get your meal to go if you like. The first of the six consecutive Fridays of Lent starts this week on Friday, March 8. Be sure and thank the Knights for their hard work on the dinners. They have a great turnout of KofC members and each does his part. It’s a great testament to Stewardship in action so thank you brother Knights!

Also following the Lent fish dinners every Friday, we will have Stations of the Cross in the church beginning at 7 p.m. I hope many of you will want to spend 30-45 minutes on Friday nights with this popular Lenten devotion. I especially recommend it to those families with young children. It’s a great way to spend a Friday evening – come for dinner and stay for Stations. In addition, the church will also be open on Friday mornings in Lent following daily Mass for those who don’t want to be out at night and wish to make the Stations in the daytime hours. Friday night Stations will be led by the clergy, while Friday morning Stations can be done privately on your own schedule.

As I mentioned last week, today we kick-off our 2019 Diocesan Services Fund drive. The DSF raises funds to support the more than 60 ministries of the Church that no one parish could on its own. Collectively we can all do something to bring God’s love to all people. Most of these ministries operate behind the scenes and we don’t think about them because we just assume that the Church does them, but it can only be done through your support. Areas of support include:

Teaching, Evangelizing and Worship: This includes, among others, the Apostleship of the Sea (every ship that comes into the Port of Houston is visited by a Catholic chaplain); the Catholic Schools Office, Young Adult and Campus Ministry (to engage college-age Catholics in the faith), the Texas Catholic Herald newspaper (which you receive free with a donation to DSF), and the CCE Office (our children at CtR directly benefit from this as all our R.E. staff and teachers attend workshops and training offered by the CCE Office).

Ministering to the Poor, Sick and Incarcerated: A Catholic chaplain is assigned to every hospital in the Texas Medical Center to provide spiritual care to the sick. Every Catholic that requests to see a priest while in the hospital has access 24 hours a day in their time of need. The Archdiocese also runs programs to bring pastoral and sacramental aid to the disadvantaged, the disabled, and those in need of God’s healing grace. Whether comforting refugees or battered women, those in a prison cell or in a hospital bed, these ministries show God’s mercy to those on the margins of society.

Promoting, Preparing and Supporting the Clergy: From training our seminarians and deacon candidates (we currently have three men in formation), the DSF helps train the future clergy of the Archdiocese. We also directly benefit from it at CtR by its support of Good Leaders, Good Shepherds, a leadership training program for priests. Fr. Ralph and I are graduates of it and we can testify that it alone is worthy of your support of DSF.

Nurturing and Strengthening Families: Perhaps in no other area do we benefit from the generosity of DSF at CtR than in the support it offers our families. The Family Life Office works directly with a number of our couples preparing for marriage. It hosts Engaged Encounter and prepares couples married civilly to have their marriages regulated in the Church. It runs the St. Dominic Village retirement home for older adults, as well as an assisted living facility with a nursing home and special care unit for those with dementia. It also supports the work of the Tribunal to assist individuals with decrees of nullity so they may marry in the Church. Last year our parish helped more than 60 people in their nullity case at CtR, enabling them to reconnect with the life of the Church. What a beautiful gift! In addition our large and active Youth Ministry program benefits greatly from the many retreats, conferences and workshops sponsored by the Archdiocese.

That’s just a small sampling of the many programs we offer through DSF. You are part of them when you make your pledge to DSF. It is the work of the Lord done directly in your name through DSF. Those ministries can only happen through our support. The thing I love about the DSF is that 100 percent of all money pledged goes directly to support ministries, people and programs. The administrative costs are absorbed by the Archdiocese; DSF provides direct aid to people. Your support of DSF goes directly to helping people encounter the mercy of God.

All registered parishioners should have received a letter from Cardinal DiNardo recently along with a personalized pledge card. I know I got mine at the rectory this past week. We also have the pledge envelopes in the pews this week. Please complete the card or the pew envelope and drop it off today, or bring it with you to Mass next weekend. You can also return it in the mail or drop it off in the office. Personally, I think it’s easiest and fastest to make your pledge online at www.archgh.org/dsf. That’s what I did to make my pledge and it couldn’t have been easier. Join me in this annual drive to support the many ministries of our local Church. Your gift of any size will assist those in their time of need and help make the Gospel of Christ known to more and more people.

Peace,
Fr. Sean