Dear St. Matthias Family,
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED!
These are unchartered waters, for most of us. The unknown and apprehension that we all feel is worrisome, to say the least. It is times like these, that we turn to our Lord for His comfort and protection and to our neighbors for support, and to give support. Many have been affected by the measures put into place to contain this virus and the financial impact on those who depend on the facilities and institutions that are now closed is growing and growing quickly.
In times of crisis, we must nurture each other and lean on each other. Please check on your neighbors, make sure they have what they need, especially if they are one of the more vulnerable groups. Check on your friends and loved ones in the medical field, is there anything you can do for them? Check on your local food pantry (St. Vincent de Paul, right behind us, in our backyard), do they have enough support and supplies to keep their operations going, during such crucial times such as these. They need help now, more than ever. What about you, do you need help? Is there anything we at the church can help you with? We have a long list of generous parishioners and staff who would be willing to help-out anyway they possibly could, just let us know; give us a call, we will do what we can, in any way that we can.
Unfortunately, our parish community has also been affected and our financial position is weakening. In the past two weeks, we have instructed staff to cut spending and costs. They have done this immediately and effectively, while still making sure the church is open to parishioners to be able to come in and pray and confess their sins, while also making the Sunday Masses available online, via livestreaming. We have unfortunately had to cut staff hours as well as office hours too. However, this has still not been enough to sustain the immediate and drastic reduction in offertory we are experiencing. The reality is that the majority of our expenses, those required for the day-to-day operations of the parish, will continue with or without a pandemic.
This past week, we received offertory envelopes from 10% of our parishioners, compared to one month ago. This 10% contributed a little over $1,600.00. We also had online donors contributing a little over $1,900.00. On a positive note, our online participation increased, but, unfortunately, overall contributions were down by 71%, from this time last month.
We need your help! With the weekend Masses being suspended, collections are suffering, as you can see from the numbers above. While we know this is all a direct result of the hardship many of you are experiencing as well and this weighs heavily on our hearts. So, we are asking, if you are not experiencing hardship at this time, to continue your offertory or consider adjusting it, to assist us through this time. We need everyone’s support, but especially those whose income and finances is sufficient to weather this storm.
If you have traditionally preferred to give through check or cash - now would be the time to modernize your offertory gift. This is the perfect time to convert your regular donations to electronic giving. We are using the Parish Soft Giving platform, and the link to sign up, if you have not already done so is https://giving.parishsoft.com/app/giving/stm302253. You can also go to our parish website, www.st-matthias.net and click on the Parish Soft Giving button, from the homepage. If you have not signed up for Parish Soft Giving, please do so now.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO SUPPORT YOUR PARISH! If you cannot or simply do not wish to give electronically, I ask that you mail your weekly donations to the parish or drop then in the offertory box inside the church. The parish needs your help to continue our mission and to help others who are hurting during this time.
Please know that we are praying for each one of you and we will keep you all updated with further developments as they arise. In the meantime, keep your eyes and hearts fixed on Christ!