Saint Elizabeth Roman Catholic Church
Upper Uwchlan Township, PA
January 17, 2022
Dear Parishioners of Saint Elizabeth Church:
Greetings to you and your family for this New Year 2022!
The Parish Stewardship Council and I are writing to inform you of an exciting call to a renewal of stewardship service. The council has prepared a wonderful program for 2022 that will continue to highlight and strengthen our shared ministry of service to the parish and to the local community.
The Living Beyond Sunday: Growing, Praying and Serving (GPS) program was originally launched in the fall of 2019 as part of the implementation of goal #4 of the 2017-2021 Pastoral Plan: Continue to Grow our Stewardship Identity. Since that time, we have called on the Holy Spirit as our Spiritual GPS, to guide us in Growing our faith and stewardship identity and Praying our way through the many challenges of our day. With the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we are already Living Beyond Sunday!
As we enter the next phase of this series: Serving, we are called to reflect on the question: “How can I imitate Christ by helping others?” In his Regina Caeli Address on Freedom, Pope Benedict XVI told us: “True freedom lies in placing oneself at the service of others.” It is by this selfless sharing of our time and talents that we move towards a deeper experience of true freedom.
Our reflections during the Serving phase will be two-fold. First, we will highlight how parishioners have practiced stewardship by serving others, despite a pandemic, through various parish ministry activities during 2020 and 2021. Second, we will challenge each other to extend our serving of others in new ways in 2022 and beyond. An interactive banner located outside the sacristy off the church narthex will provide a visual portrait of concrete examples of serving others in stewardship under the theme: Serving is Faith in Action! This same theme was promoted in the spring 2021 Spirit Newsletter. Watch for updates in our parish bulletin, digest announcements, website and other social media platforms.
God’s generosity has provided us much for which to be thankful. In gratitude for God’s generosity, we encourage you to reflect honestly on how you might serve others, especially the less fortunate, with the gifts of your time and talents beyond an hour spent attending Mass on Sunday. At Saint Elizabeth Church, we acknowledge and accept the call to serve others each day in our places of work, in our homes, in our schools and in our community. Mother Teresa said, “The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace. And peace begins with a smile.” Make your gift of service a tangible part of your daily connection to Jesus both at home and in the community.
Sincerely yours,
Fr. Tom Mullin & the Parish Stewardship Council
Read more