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Newsletter for Friday, May 22, 2020

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:11

How are you doing? Are you doing okay?

It’s been more than two months since we’ve been staying home and staying safe. It’s not easy – whether you’re struggling to balance children and work, or spending time alone missing your family and friends, unable to work and unable to pay the bills, or worried about others who are sick and alone – it has been far more challenging than many of us ever imagined.

You are not alone; many of us are struggling. Although our parish remains closed, members our staff and parish council would like to reach out to you and ask how you are doing. We’ve created this short form for those who would like to receive a phone call. This call can be anything from a friendly chat, to an opportunity to pray together, or even just a chance to talk about your struggles and a reminder that you are not alone.

We continue to live-stream our Sunday masses to provide community and an opportunity to virtually gather each week. If you haven’t yet, locate the music link on the live-stream page and download the music so you can join in song from home. When we can safely offer public masses again, we will let you know.

As we prepare to celebrate Pentecost on Sunday, May 31, we invite you to participate in Dan Schutte’s virtual novena. Beginning today and continuing for 9 days, this daily prayer exercise is a unique opportunity to reflect on God’s presence in our lives.

Read below for our weekly parish updates and be sure to use our updated link below for Sunday mass streaming. You may also find links to other Jesuit parishes and ministries live streaming mass every day of the week here.

Haga clic aquí para ver las noticias parroquiales en español.

SUNDAY MASS, DAILY REFLECTIONS, AND SPECIAL INTERCESSIONS

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/category/live-english-mass/

Scheduled mass intentions will be offered by the Jesuit Community, but not necessarily on the scheduled date.

DAILY REFLECTIONS

Our quick reflections on the daily readings continue with many wonderful contributions from SMSP staff members and Jesuits. With most reflections under 2 minutes, we invite you to watch these as a great way to start your day or to take a quick break during your day. All reflections can be found on our website here: https://michigancatholics.org/category/daily-video-reflections/

SPECIAL INTERCESSIONS

Let us pray for the sick who have been entrusted to our prayers. We pray especially for T. Gerald Buckless. May all be comforted and cared for in their suffering, we pray to the Lord.

For those who followed Jesus’ last instruction to tell others of the Kingdom of God during life, and who now have recently died, especially: Len Stenger and Jean Moeller. We rejoice for Jesus has come back for them through the clouds, 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)

From the desk of Fr. Jim:

Dear friends,

As you know, every year we have the Diocesan Service Appeal (DSA). We were planning to announce this at Masses on March 29, but the pandemic prevented that from happening. This appeal gathers funds for many Diocesan services. Last year, we received funding from this fund for both our Hispanic Ministry and Campus Ministry, $13,400 to each of these programs. The funds also support seminarian formation, and this fall we have 5 men entering seminaries including 2 for the Diocese of Lansing and 1 for the Archdiocese of Detroit. We also have several men and women discerning religious vocations. Visit this link to find more information on the 2020 Diocesan Service Appeal. I hope we at St. Mary Student Parish can be supportive. Catholic Charities has many needs these days helping people during this pandemic, and their funding comes from this appeal.

Our parish has already raised $16,225 on our way to this year’s goal of $97,785. Click here to make a donation to DSA today.

Thank you for your generosity.

Rev. James Gartland, SJ

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.). While our parish office is not open to the public, a few staff members are keeping up with essential administrative tasks.

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 are introducing 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.

Legacy Online Giving Our original online portal
Legacy online giving is what we are calling the program we have been using prior to today. If you wish to change your allocations, you can do so using this LINK. (It would be ideal if you would establish an account using ParishSoft and then eliminate your one-time, weekly, monthly, etc., giving in the Legacy system.)

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 5/10/2020

Annual Budget Goal $1,020,000
Year-to-Date (YTD) Goal $897,000
Amount Collected: $891,486
Above (below) YTD Goal: ($5,514)

YEAR TO DATE ANNUAL FUND REPORT AS OF 5/10/2020

Annual Fund Budget Goal: $440,000
Year-to-Date (YTD) Goal $411,161
Amount Collected:  $381,323
Above (below) YTD Goal: ($29,838)