5th Sunday Ordinary Time Feb 8, 2015

Today’s Gospel describes a typical day in Jesus’ life. He heals Peter’s mother-in-law; the crowds gather around him; and He engages in quiet prayer with His heavenly Father. In taking a look at the healing miracle of Peter’s mother-in-law, there is such an important lesson of discipleship to be found. After she was healed, she got up and was ready to serve.

The message is grace is to be shared. The appropriate response to God’s grace is to PAY IT FORWARD. All of us have experienced ourselves as God’s beloved. This is a fundamental truth of the spiritual life of each and every one of us. God’s love touches each and every one of us. Our best response is gratitude. We express gratitude beautifully when we share with others the blessings of our lives.

This weekend we have two concrete ways to PAY IT FORWARD.

#1. This weekend is our annual public policy weekend. The NYS Catholic Conference and our diocesan Public Policy Committee is asking us to petition the NYS Assembly to support the issues in the Woman’s Equality Act. In supporting these bills, we are advocating for the restoration of women to “their proper status, role, and place in the community.” These bills have already been passed by the senate, you are welcome to sign the petition after Mass to encourage the Assembly to do likewise. The one bill we oppose is the bill that expands NY’s current law Abortion law that allows abortion in the third trimester of pregnancy.

#2. It is with a great deal of faith and optimism that I announce the public phase of our capital campaign. The title of the campaign: MISSION DRIVEN: CELEBRATING OUR FAITH, FAMILY AND FUTURE.

The decision to proceed with our plans was made after much prayer, discussion, and planning. We have identified three areas of our Church and School that are in need of improvement.

Over more than 150 years, we are the beneficiaries of a magnificent inheritance from previous parishioners of St. Joseph’s. Through their generosity, we worship in a Church rich in beauty and in history. Now it is our turn to share a bit more to add to the legacy of St. Joseph’s Church and St. Joseph’s School.

As a result of the growth of our parish ministries, we seek to complete our 2010 plan for an atrium/gathering space next to the east transept of the Church. This space will be a crossroads for our parish community. We envision multiple uses for our gathering space in supporting hospitality following our liturgies and providing needed extra space for our growing youth ministry.

The security of our school will be considerably enhanced with this project. We will have a new corridor for our school with a rest room and a relocated school music room. The project will give us a more secure perimeter for our school students when there are parish ministries occurring during the school day.

We will install a new pipe organ in the Church to replace our aging electronic organ. Our new organ will be both an aesthetic and an acoustical gem.

Our fundraising goal is $1,800,000. This will not be an easy task, for fund-raising is never easy, but I am totally confident we will succeed. In the quiet phase of this campaign, we already have pledged more that 1/2 million dollars from generous parishioners. Additionally, we are about to be in receipt of a very generous will that is intended to be used in support of this capital campaign.

Thus, we are not starting from ground zero. We already have great momentum in our fund-raising efforts.

The purpose of my talk this morning is to officially announce the public phase of the campaign and to make a call for parishioners to volunteer a bit of your precious time. The goal is to personally contact everyone in the parish. This will be done in one of two ways. We will have four parish receptions with our first one this very Tuesday at 9:30 in our parish learning center. For those unable to attend a parish reception, we will personally visit.

To accomplish this, we will need your cooperation and assistance as volunteer workers, to give us a few hours of your time over a three to four week period through February and March. The campaign does not require a great deal of your time, just a few hours. Our volunteer workers will contact fellow parishioners who are not able to attend a parish reception and invite their participation in this campaign.

To get the ball rolling, I now ask the ushers to come forward and pass out volunteer cards. When you receive a card please take a minute to fill it out. There are pencils in the pews. Be assured we will you have an informational meeting to carefully explain what will be asked of you.

No special qualifications are necessary, except your willingness to assist with our project. You will receive instructions concerning your role in the campaign, be teamed up with a partner, and will be asked to visit a few fellow parishioners.

You will soon be notified when the first campaign meeting for all volunteers will be. Even if you feel you can’t make the meetings, but wish to help, fill out the volunteer card and we will make special arrangements for you.

In closing, thank you for your cooperation and I look forward to your attendance at one of our campaign receptions. As always, we ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit that everything we do and our generosity of spirit will be a blessing to ourselves and to our entire parish community.