Giving To The Parish
Saint Bernadette's Parish Code is MD91
At the beginning of this new year, please allow me to take this opportunity to encourage you to join the families who use Faith Direct to fulfill electronically their stewardship commitments to our parish and the wider church.
More than a year after this service came to Saint Bernadette, parishioners who have enrolled are most pleased by how convenient it is, and how consistent it allows them to be. They, and I, are greatly encouraged by the high level of security with which Faith Direct handles personal financial data.
Faith Direct reliably tracks each gift, without the risks of loss or error that come with tabulating checks and cash. It also brings consistency to our parish by allowing families to make the weekly offering they have decided, even when they are out of town or unable to attend Mass. Finally, this program is cost-effective, unlike envelopes. We currently pay $654.71 per month to print and mail envelopes, many of which are never used and wind up as waste.
In November, right after the Masses when I preached about our offertory commitment, several parishioners with young families approached me to enroll in Faith Direct right then. They realized that in the midst of everything else they were responsible for each Sunday, they had fallen behind on the offering that they wanted to be giving. Our huge snowfall last month, which kept many folks from making it to Mass, is another example of a time that Faith Direct can help you make the offering you are committed to making, when circumstances conspire to prevent you.
I have enclosed an enrollment form for this safe and consistent way to make your offering to God and support our parish. You may visit the Faith Direct website, www.faithdirect.net, for more information, or to enroll securely online, using our parish code MD91. By making your offering through Faith Direct, you will save time, money, and resources.
Thank you for your continued fidelity, and for your willingness to consider this program. May God, the source of all that is good, bless you and your loved ones abundantly in this new year of grace.
Yours in Christ,
Rev. Msgr. K. Bartholomew Smith
Pastor