In spite of the hard, economic times we live in as a nation, I am amazed at your ongoing generosity to the parish weekly, our special collections and the AAA (Archbishop’s Annual Appeal). This is the 7th appeal I have conducted and each year we have met and reached our goal at Our Lady of Grace. And for the first time, St. Joseph went over its goal last year. This is all a sign of how well we are doing in support of our larger family, the Archdiocese of Newark. We do quite a bit as a parish. But we rely on so many departments of the Archdiocese to assist us. For example, we have long term leases with The Mustard Seed School in the OLG School building and Giant Steps, a division of Hoboken University Medical Center. The archdiocesan lawyers and property management staff assist us in doing the right thing for the parish. Any major plant project we undertake we can rely on the property management staff to advise us and support us. Several years ago, Archbishop Myers awarded OLG $71,000 to replace the remaining windows in the school buildings out of a total cost of $115,000. That was a rebate of several years of our AAA collections. The Archbishop also uses our funds to assist retired priests, seminarians, our Catholic schools and so many other programs for the poor, homeless and vulnerable. We want to do our share. Next weekend, we will conduct the appeal at all the Masses. Previous donors have received a letter in the mail. If you sent that in, we thank you and do not have to participate in this appeal. We hope each family, couple or person will make a donation, regardless of the amount, to help us reach our OLG goal of $22,000 and St. Joseph, $5000. You may redeem the pledge over the course of one year and pay something each month. You need not give anything next week; just make a pledge. If every family pledges $100, we will go over our goals. Please pledge what you can afford and it will help us. Every donor makes a difference. The Catholic Church of Newark does so many wonderful works for the good of so many. Your pledge helps the Archbishop to continue that outreach in the spirit of Jesus Christ.

 

Peace,

Fr. Alex Santora