Twice a year, as your Pastor and as a fellow parishioner of St. Elizabeth Seton Church Parish. I give you a financial
report. Because of the way the Diocese of Lafayette has its fiscal year, from July of one year to June of the next year,
I usually give you a report in late July and in late January. The report in the bulletin today is for the six months, July
2016 to December 2016.

During those six months, you have given to the Offertory Collection the amount of $332,171; you have given to the
Debt and Building Fund the amount of $57,744. You have also given to special collections during those months. You
gave $18,200 for the collection for the flood victims; you gave $4,039 to the Retirement Fund for Religious in December;
you gave $11,158 to St. Vincent de Paul for the needy of our area; you gave $9,451 to the Appeal for the Missions in
the Philippines in July; and you gave $2.319 to several other special collections. I thank you for your generous stewardship
of your finances during the last six months of 2016. As of the end of December 2016, all our bills and obligations are
current here at St. Elizabeth Seton Church. The only debt we have as a Church is with the Diocese of Lafayette; we
owe $69,908.19 on the extensive work that was done on the properties of the Church early in 2016. Hopefully we can
have that debt with the Diocese paid in the coming months.

Every month, we as a Church Parish are devoted and committed to sharing our resources with others. Every month,
we send $500 to St. Joseph Diner to help feed the hungry; we send $500 to help Father Charles Thibodeaux, a Jesuit,
in Paraguay; we send $500 to help Father Michael Champagne with his ministry at the Community of Jesus in St.
Martinsville; we send $500 to Father Glen Meaux for his work with the Missions in Haiti; we send $250 to Family
Promise to assist needy families. Beginning this month we will send $500 a month to Father Joey Evangelista to help
his work in the Missions in the Philippines. Father Joey was the young Priest who came in July 2016 for the Mission
Appeal. Every month, when I sign those checks, I offer a prayer for you for your generosity as we reach out to others
in the worldwide Church that we are part of.

As is my habit, I ask you as you are reading my note in the bulletin today to reflect on your support of the Church. Are
you generous, are you a faithful steward of your blessings, are you consistent in giving to St. Elizabeth Seton Church;
in your church support are you giving to the Lord the honor, the glory and the worship due his holy name? The one most
important action of the week is how we stand together before the living God and give him praise on the Lord’s Day.
Our personal faith, our gratitude, our sincerity, our humility, our openness of heart, soul and spirit, our contrition and our
sacrifice that we place in the offertory collection are all part of our worship and our praise of God. A Bible passage
that has touched my heart and that has helped me in being generous in my financial support of the Church is the
following: “No one shall appear before the Lord empty-handed, but each of you with as much as he can give, in
proportion to the blessings which the Lord, your God, has bestowed on you.” (Deuteronomy 16:16-17) May our faith in
God the source of all blessings and the giver of every good gift and our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and our
Savior, inspire us to give of our hearts as we live our Catholic Faith within our families and among our friends and as
parishioners of our wonderful parish here at St. Elizabeth Seton Church Parish. May our support of the Church be
acceptable to the Lord our God.

Wednesday, January 25, is the Conversion of St. Paul. For your homework, please read Acts of the Apostles 9:1-22,
the biblical account of his conversion. May the zeal and the passion of St. Paul for the Lord Jesus and for the Gospel
bless and inspire us in our relationship with the Lord Jesus. My prayers, love, best wishes and gratitude to you and to
your loved ones for who you are, for all you do for the Lord and for all you do for the good of St. Elizabeth Seton
Church Parish.

SHALOM!
Fr. Gary

Homework for the week of January 22 – January 29
Acts 9:1-22