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Care for the Afflicted (September 2, 2018)

9/11/2018

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Hello, my name is Anita Maceda and I am the Pastoral Assistant for Administration for St. Mary of the Valley. Most of you have seen me around but for those of you who do  not know who I am, I am Anita. J  I have been working in the parish office since January 2007, which is 11 years. I received the sacrament of first communion in 1992 and throughout the years I have been involved in the Hispanic choir, Hispanic youth group, Hispanic religious education as an Aide and as a Teacher. I received the sacrament of confirmation and marriage here. I have been married for 12 years and have 3 children.
I have been very blessed to find a positon here in our wonderful parish. Through out these 11 years I have learned how the parish works, and it has opened my eyes to all its blessings and trials. It has been a learning process for me and I have grown to love our Parish and the people in it. Together we form the church and if we all work together as one we can do many things in Gods name.
 
That is similar to what the Annual Catholic Appeal is. The Annual Catholic Appeal is an opportunity to remind us that we are part of a Universal Church; that is, not just part of our local parish. When all the parishes work in unity to support more than 60 ministries and services, great things are achieved that alone we could not achieve. It is the duty of each parish to financially support the Archdiocese of Seattle to support these ministries and services. This campaign is completely different from Stewardship.
 
One way or another St. Mary of the Valley needs to fulfill the $63,102 asked by the Archdiocese. If we meet our goal anything over that amount will go towards our Playground, which will cost $21,729 just for the play set alone. There is a diagram of the playset located at the north entrance if you would like to take a look. The money that is pledged and fulfilled  for the ACA does not count as income to the parish in our Parish assessment. The parish assessment is what the Archdiocese uses to get the ACA goal for each parish in the Archdiocese. The income that is used for the parish assessment is our weekend mass collection, children’s collection, holy day collection. So if you give to the Annual Catholic Appeal, whatever we give over does not reflect on the parish assessment, and we can use the money that comes back to us as rebate for our new playground. So the sooner we fulfill our pledge to the Annual Catholic Appeal the faster we will get our rebate.
 A new playground is a great opportunity to form friendships for our children and support systems for parents and guardians. The playground will not be locked, so parishioners would have access to the playground during Parish events. Our playset that we have right now is not really safe four our children to play on and it looks bad, but if we could get a new one, I think we would have more children playing on it, I mean who doesn’t like new things? For example,  If you come to the chapel with your children, you could tell them if they behave, they will be able to play in the playground afterwards. Or after mass we can play in the playground if you sit still, just some ideas.
 
 
 ANNUAL CATHOLIC APPEAL
 

  • Occurs in the Spring of each year
 

  • Archdiocesan Appeal (Denominational)
 

  • Pledge to the Archdiocese – May to April
 

  • Supported by Catholics and Parishes across Western Washington
 

  • Donations processed through Archdiocese
 

  • Monthly reminders sent from Archdiocese
 

  • Tax Statement provided by Archdiocese
 

  • Supports over 60 ministries and services
throughout Western Washington

 
My mom always said that it was important to tithe, to give my first fruits to God because he deserves the best and he is the one who gives us all that we have. I practiced this when I had my first employment, but I did it because that is what my mom said I should do, and you know what happens when we do not listen to mom. As I have grown and had my own family, I stopped this practice. I worked for the parish and still did not take my tithing seriously. Until one day, it hit me and I thought about what my mom said and what God has asked of us. Tithe, as cited in the Catechism (No. 2043), the Precepts of the Church maintain that each person has the duty to support the material needs of the Church. Of course, a person fulfills this obligation according to his abilities. In addition, I thought to myself if God has given me so much, why can I not give back. Therefore, Juan and I started giving to both St. Mary of the Valley and to the Annual Catholic Appeal. In my mind, this is how I see it, we will give intentionally what we think we can, we make my pledge, and we have it withdrawn from our account through EFT. We never see or miss the money, but we know that we made an intentional plan to give. We do not worry about what the parish or the ACA does with the money because it is no longer ours. We entrust our tithe to God as thanksgiving for all that we have and for all he has done for us. I also started helping out in our Hispanic religious education as a teacher. I try to come and help when we have our Parish clean up, help during our Lenten soup nights and so on. I try to practice Treasure, time and talent because that is what Stewardship is. All three need to work together I cannot just choose the ones that are convenient to me. I take it as an opportunity to teach my children what God asks of us and what we are supposed to do as children of God.
 
STEWARDSHIP OF TREASURE

  • Occurs in the Fall of each year
 
  • Parish renewal (Congregational)
 
  • Yearly pledge to the parish – Jan to Dec
 
  • Supported by Parishioners
 
  • Donations processed through the parish
 
  • Quarterly reminders sent from the parish
 
  • Tax Statement provided by parish

 
Thank you so much for your time, for your treasure and talent. Our parish is growing thanks to you and we are able to provide more services and programs because you give to St. Mary of the Valley. Thank you!
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