27 January 2019 - Catholic Service Appeal - Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

       As we hear about one of the first events of Jesus’ public ministry, of Jesus reading from the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth, we mark our Diocese’ Catholic Service Appeal today.  The Catholic Service Appeal is an important part of funding many different programs in our Diocese.  From Hispanic ministry and campus ministry to college students, to formation for our seminarians and funding the programs of Catholic Charities, from youth programs to our mission parishes, the Catholic Service Appeal touches a lot of lives in our Diocese. Our parish has been very generous in past years in giving to the Catholic Service Appeal.  I have every confidence that we will support our Diocese again this year.   Since October, serving as the interim director of temporal affairs for the Diocese, I have working very closely with a lot of the Chancery office staff and have seen their dedication to the programs of our Diocese.  We here at St Jude in Pearl are known as a parish that always supports the Bishop and the Diocese, that always is there for the different ministries and programs of the Diocese.  Bishop Kopacz can thanked me many times for the support our parish gives to him and the Diocese.  For the second year in the row, we have hosted Bishop Kopacz’s Christmas part for the Chancery staff and Catholic Charities.  We host most of the training programs of the Office of Hispanic ministry in the Diocese.  We also host the Diaconate program for the Diocese, which Deacon John McGregor coordinates and which Mark Bowden is a participant.  Our first call as Catholics is to support our parish community.  Our second call is to support our Diocese. I want to thank all of you who have already given to the Catholic Service Appeal.  We would like to have a high rate of participation this year.  And any amount that we raise over our goal will stay in our parish to fund our own ministries. If you have not turned in your service appeal contribution yet, you have time to mail it in or you may turn it into the parish here next week or in coming weeks.  We will now hear the Bishop’s message.