5th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Cycle B
February 8,
2015 All 8 Masses
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air
Image: O’Dwyer Retreat House
This
morning, I am thinking of the Monsignor O’Dwyer Retreat House in Sparks, in
north Baltimore County.
This
past October, about 150 of our parish youth, all tenth graders, made a retreat
there. About 50 of our youth went each
weekend for three successive weekends.
Our
parish Youth Minister, Kristin Rupprecht and a number of adult and peer
ministers from Saint Margaret’s, accompanied the youth on each of these
retreats. The Retreat House is operated
by the Archdiocese.
I am
thinking of that this morning because it is one of the many, many services
supported by the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal.
This weekend, at all of the Masses here at Saint Margaret’s and in every
parish of the Archdiocese, Archbishop Lori is speaking to us through a recorded
message.
He is a
very gifted and talented person but hasn’t been able to be in 150 locations all
at once. So, I now will stop and
together we will hear Archbishop Lori’s homily.
CD of Archbishop Lori
Commitment
I think Archbishop
Lori gives us a helpful way to understand this Annual Appeal.
We are now asked –
you, and me too and all of the priests – to make a financial commitment to
this. On behalf of the Archbishop, I
thank all of you who have given to this in past years.
This year, to
date, the parishioners of Saint Margaret’s have already contributed $20,000 and
I also thank you for that. Now, no
question, our first responsibility is to support our parish offertory and then
comes our support to Archdiocesan ministries.
So, I would now
ask one member of each household to take a pledge envelope. The envelopes and pencils are at the end of
each row of seats (were distributed to you as you entered this morning).
Please take a pledge
form even if you have already contributed or know you cannot contribute. I will guide us through the process of
completing the form and try to make it as simple as possible.
As you open the
form, please first fill in your name and then your spouse’s name. Then your full address, and if this is a new
address, just circle the word “new” on this line.
Then, fill in your
email address and telephone number. And
by all means, fill in the parish name – Saint Margaret Parish here in Bel
Air.
If you are a
member of another parish, please put that name here. Then, at the bottom, please check the
appropriate box.
If you have
already contributed to the Appeal, or cannot contribute, just check the box
saying this and give no further information on this form. If you are now making a gift and are giving
the gift information, check the first box
And that takes us
to the right side of the form. In the
top set of boxes, check the amount that you want to give.
Please note that
there is a space for “Other.” And, by
the way, as the Archbishop has said, no amount is too small and all gifts will
help to do good things.
Now please go to
the section below and in the first line write in the total you are
pledging. Below that write in the amount
you are enclosing today, but please note that you do not have to make any down
payment today.
Then subtract the
amount enclosed, if there is any, from the Total Pledged and fill in the amount
of the Balance. The Balance amount will
then be billed to you over ten months unless you designate otherwise.
Also, if you want
to pay by credit card, please complete the necessary information there. When you finish, please seal the envelope and
just place it in the collection basket when it comes around in a few
minutes.
Please place the
pencils, not in the envelopes, but at the end of the rows (Please also place
the pencils in the collection basket). On
behalf of Archbishop Lori, I thank you for considering this and going through
this process with me.
