Month: June 2020

Newsletter for Friday, June 26, 2020

Welcome to our final Friday newsletter! It has been three months since we began these weekly newsletters as a small way to keep our parishioners connected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, we are excited to announce that St. Mary will open its doors for one public mass each Sunday beginning Sunday, July 5th at 5:00 p.m. Gathering for mass will look and feel different. Our parish can safely accommodate 50 seats at this time. On a regular summer Sunday in years past, we might have seen as many as 1,500 parishioners across five masses. We know not every person will return for mass as soon as it is offered. However, to help keep everybody safe, we are asking you to make a reservation in advance if you wish to attend mass. Please see the sign-up link and more details below.

A quick reminder that our parish office and church are open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday – Friday. During this time the office is staffed to assist with scheduling, questions, donations, etc. You may also enter the church for individual prayer. Masks and social distancing are required.

With our decision to reopen for public mass, we are going to return to our weekly bulletin, which is supported by many parishioners and local businesses. If you would like to receive the weekly bulletin via email, please click here. Otherwise, the weekly bulletin will be available on our website here: https://michigancatholics.org/category/bulletin/

We’ve enjoyed sending these newsletters to you each week and will revisit sending a regular email newsletter in the fall. Thank you for your continued support of our parish!

SUNDAY MASS, COMMUNION DISTRIBUTION, AND SPECIAL INTERCESSIONS

PUBLIC SUNDAY MASS

St. Mary will open to the public for 5:00 p.m. Sunday mass (in English) beginning Sunday, July 5th. Our capacity for this first mass will be limited to 50 seats. Click here to reserve your seat. To protect the health and safety of everyone at the mass, please note the following:

• Reservations will be limited to registered parishioners.
• Since we do not have pews, seating will be 50 individual chairs.
• If you make a reservation for more than one seat, you will be sitting alone and you may not be sitting near anybody else on your reservation.
• The moving of chairs will not be permitted.
• We strongly discourage those with compromised immune systems or families with small children from attending mass.
• Masks and social distancing are required.

Thank you for your patience and support while we navigate the many challenges of welcoming parishioners back for mass. Should you choose to reserve a seat at mass, please be considerate of your fellow parishioners and do not reserve a seat every Sunday if there is more demand than we can accommodate.

LIVE-STREAMED SUNDAY MASS

We will continue to live-stream mass on Sundays. English mass at 9 a.m. will stream live on our website, followed immediately by Spanish mass at 10:10 a.m. Recordings will be available immediately following the masses at the same location: https://michigancatholics.org/live-english-mass/

Mass intentions may be requested through the parish office as usual. Weekday mass intentions will be offered by the Jesuit Community.

COMMUNION DISTRIBUTION

We will continue to offer communion distribution between 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 noon on Sundays. If you arrive early, please wait in your car. The parish will remain locked until 11:30 AM. Enter through the William Street doors unless you require handicap accessibility through the Thompson Street side. Masks and social distancing are required.

SPECIAL INTERCESSIONS

Let us pray for the sick who have been entrusted to our prayers. We pray especially for Tina Jones, Pedro Osorio Soriano, Maria Enriqueta Ramirez Flores, Elena Galano, Donna Osborne, and Ernie Jones. May all be comforted and cared for in their suffering, we pray to the Lord.

For those who believed during life that what is hidden will one day be made clear, and who now have recently died, especially: Maria Esther Goyanes and Aura Elena Rangel. We rejoice for long life remains in their hearts, we pray to the Lord.

If you would like a name added to either of these special intercessions, please email lmele@smspnewman.org.

ONGOING STEWARDSHIP

DIOCESAN SERVICES APPEAL (DSA)

Thank you to everyone who has made a gift or pledge commitment to our Diocesan Services Appeal (DSA). This year’s appeal began right as the COVID-19 pandemic closed our parish and as such, many regular givers may not be able to give this year. Your contributions will help make up for those unable to give. Please watch this short video from Bishop Boyea welcoming parishioners back to mass and sharing the many good works supported by the DSA:

As of June 15th, St. Mary Student Parish has raised a total of $28,325 towards our goal of $97,785. If you have not yet made a gift or a pledge, you are invited to do so online today: www.dioceseoflansing.org/dsa. Your DSA gift will support the vital services and ministries that help bring the love of Christ to all we encounter.

SUPPORTING ST. MARY

Thank you for your generous support of our work here at St. Mary Student Parish. We are only able to do the work of ministry because of your generosity. As we strive to meet the needs of our parish and ministries during this pandemic, we want to make it as easy as possible for parishioners and friends to continue to support our ministries, though we are not able to gather together for Sunday mass in person.

OPTIONS FOR GIVING

Personal Check: These can be sent in our offertory envelopes or in another envelope with a note for allocation, such as offertory, Sunday mass, etc. These can be sent to our mailing address:

St. Mary Student Parish
331 Thompson Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Please use precautions in the process to prevent the spread of viruses (washing hands, not licking to close the envelope, but using a sponge blotter or glue stick to seal the envelope, etc.).

Online Giving: ParishSoft Giving Our new online portal!

Many of you have signed up for online giving, which is a great help to us. Thank you. Some of you may be open to doing so. We have introduced a new “online giving portal” through ParishSoft. This will eventually be the only online giving program that we will use. You can sign up (and allocate gifts to particular causes) HERE. Contact Kristen Gowman with any questions about this new online portal.

Venmo: St. Mary Student Parish is on Venmo @SMSPumich. Join many students and parishioners who use this payment app on their smartphone to send money from their bank account straight to the offertory each week.

YEAR TO DATE SUNDAY OFFERING REPORT AS OF 6/21/2020

Annual Budget Goal $1,020,000
Year-to-Date (YTD) Goal $1,002,000
Amount Collected:  $997,862
Above (below) YTD Goal: ($4,138)

YEAR TO DATE ANNUAL FUND REPORT AS OF 6/21/2020

Annual Fund Budget Goal: $440,000
Year-to-Date (YTD) Goal $437,518
Amount Collected: $385,043
Above (below) YTD Goal: ($52,475)

UPDATES FROM FAITH DOING JUSTICE

“Inspired by Ignatian spirituality, we live a faith that does justice, reaching out to the marginalized.” Our parish mission remains at the heart of all we do. If you’d like to give directly to St. Mary parishioners affected by this pandemic through unemployment and other risk factors, please email Cathy Welch cwelch@smspnewman.org or donate online to Faith Doing Justice and add a note to your donation that references helping parishioners during the COVID-19 pandemic.

INSPIRED LINKS

Undergraduate students Cecilia Rivet & Emily Furtado put together this great list of racial justice resources, which along with Catholic resources and prayers, it includes a list of black-owned businesses in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti that you can support.

ADVOCACY

2020 Census
The 2020 U.S. Census timeline has been shifted in order to better protect the health and safety of the general public and the U.S. Census Bureau employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Michiganders now have until October 31, 2020 to respond. The Catholic Church in Michigan has promoted full participation in the count because of the ramifications it has for individuals and local communities:

The count influences legislative representation at all levels of government, where decisions about the common good and the most vulnerable are often made.
The Catholic Church relies on an accurate census to more effectively serve those in need.
Under-counting households leads to under-funding critical programs and services.

The Detroit News featured the Church’s efforts to increase census participation in an article about the partnership between the faith community and Michigan’s 2020 “Be Counted” campaign.

Visit https://my2020census.gov/ now to fill out the 2020 Census, which will take approximately ten minutes to complete. The process is safe, secure, and confidential, and your response will help direct how billions of federal funds for local communities are distributed over the next decade.

Thank you for your prayers and advocacy!