I want to begin by saying how much I miss you. It is so difficult not to come together for worship, but we all have to do our part to slow down the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Let’s pray for one another and be safe until the time we can gather again.
In addition to the health aspect, this pandemic is wreaking havoc economically. That may very well be the case for your family. As a non-profit, completely dependent on free will contributions, it is certainly impacting us greatly. I want to thank all of you who are continuing to support us through Faith Direct electronic giving as well as those that have dropped off envelopes at the Rectory.
For everyone else who is in a position to help, the Archdiocese of Newark has partnered with GoFundMe, a leading on-line giving organization, to help all parishes through this crisis. The link at the bottom of this email is to our personal page. All monies that come through this page will only be used by our parish. Cardinal Tobin has temporarily waived the usual archdiocesan assessment to support this initiative.
We also are including a link for the food pantry at St. Mary’s in Jersey City. We will attempt to continue to send groceries, but in the meantime this is a way of supplementing the service they provide to the community.
Any donation to St. Catharine Church or St. Mary's Food Pantry is tax deductible and contributors will receive tax receipts automatically.
We will also work to serve you remotely through
livestream and
Facebook so that we continue to pray together as a parish. We are reviewing state regulations and we will proceed in accordance with those regulations. Our CONNECT email system will have updates along with the parish website. Thank you for your generosity in the past and all we will do together in the future.
If you do not already subscribe to the St. Catharine Weekly Connect please register here.
For a message from Cardinal Tobin on how this initiative will support the critical needs in all parishes please visit: https://www.rcan.org/parishsupport