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A Lenten Message from Fr. Patrick
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February 19, 2021My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Lent 2021
February 17 is Ash Wednesday and with it comes the beginning of Lent, believe it or not!
If this whole year has felt like one extended Lent to you, you’re not alone. We have certainly had to give up many of the simple things we typically enjoy, and that’s to say nothing of the great physical suffering and mental hardship many of us have experienced as a result of the ongoing pandemic.
As much as we may not be looking forward to Lent this year for these reasons, now is a good time to remember that Lent isn’t a matter of inviting inconvenience or denying self for its own sake.
It is instead an opportunity to accept difficulty for the sake of the other — a daily invitation to choose to love others above ourselves, to hope instead of despair, to worship God instead of one’s own personal interests.
That might mean adding penance(s) to your life for the next 40 days, or it might mean choosing to accept the daily crosses already in our lives — and perhaps even those particular to this pandemic — as opportunities to love more generously.
Either way, I encourage each of us to allow God to transform our hearts to become more like his this Lent.
Offertory Collection Returns
On a procedural note, you will notice the offertory collection returning to its usual place in Mass beginning February 20-21, as we are now confident in our ability to do so safely.
It is a fitting time to do so, as almsgiving is a perennial mark of these upcoming forty days of Lent, along with prayer and fasting.
Online giving is also still available at https://nativitystpaul.org/online-giving and is still preferred, but we encourage you to give however is convenient for you.
Catholic Services Appeal 2021
February 13-14 is the 2021 Catholic Services Appeal “Commitment Weekend,” and I invite all parishioners to make a financial commitment to support the great work it enables that wouldn’t be possible without Archdiocesan-wide collaboration.
As your pastor, I want to thank all of you who have given to this campaign in past years, or even have already responded to the recent mailing from the Catholic Services Appeal Foundation.
Contributions go directly to the designated ministries — several of which benefit our parish directly — as well as back to our parish in the form of a rebate of 50% of all funds collected over our goal, which increases once we exceed last year’s total parish gifts.
I continue to be a passionate supporter of the foundation through my ongoing service to the CSAF board of directors, and believe wholeheartedly in the good work it enables here at Nativity of Our Lord and throughout the Archdiocese. And so I ask you to make a generous contribution.
Each year, the Catholic Services Appeal funds 20 Designated Ministries, including:- Thousands with life-giving care via hospital chaplains;
- 12,000 people/week with fresh groceries and hygiene items;
- 1,200 hot meals monthly;
- Over 50 seminarians studying to be future priests of our Archdiocese with tuition assistance, room, and board;
- 635 people with housing/emergency shelter each month;
- 28,000 Catholic school students with in-person learning;
- 33,000 young people with faith-filled outreach; and
- 1,300 women and families with pro-life support.
You can also go directly to www.GiveCSAF.org and donate today — just be sure to mark your parish as Nativity Of Our Lord-St. Paul.
Thank you for your prayerful support!
May God bless your week.
— Fr. Patrick Hipwell, Pastor
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The original version of this article appeared in the February 14 parish bulletin.
