Dear Parish Family,

  I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your great generosity during the Christmas Season. 2020 has been a difficult year for so many people and I am truly thankful for all of you who have addressed the needs of our parish family.

  This Sunday, we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. By our baptism, we are all called to be holy. We are called to share our time, talent and treasure to make Christ known, loved and served in our world. Ultimately, we are made by God and for God to know, love and serve him in this life so as to be with God forever in the heavenly kingdom.

  Recently, St. Mary Parish participated in a Diocesan initiative called “Heart of a Shepherd.” This initiative is meant to accomplish four goals. First, it is meant to raise 20 million dollars to renovate the Diocesan Seminaries (i.e. Borromeo and St. Mary’s). 7 million dollars is meant to provide for the Priest Pension Fund and 3 million dollars is meant to assist clergy tuition debt relief.

  Finally, additional funds that are raised will assist the parish with a number of projects that will benefit us in the long term. When we began this project in September of 2020, the goal for St. Mary’s was to raise $358,230. This represented 35% of our parish income for 2019-2020. Half of all funds pledged would go the HOS campaign and half would go to St. Mary’s. 80% of all funds raised over that goal would go to St. Mary’s and 20% would go to the HOS campaign. At the present time, 173 families here at St. Mary’s have pledged $598,545, which is 167% of our target.

  I am so grateful for the generosity of so many people. May God bless you and keep you.

God bless you.

Fr. Dan Redmond
and your loved ones safe, healthy and holy in 2021!