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Parish Membership
Welcome
to Our Parish
Click
here for the parish registration form.
Click
here for the parish update form.
All permanent
and seasonal members of the community should register at the Parish Office.
If it is more convenient for you to register by phone or email, contact us at (863) 385-0049 or
office@stcathe.com. Please remember to notify us of any change of address, phone
number or any other registration information.
Donations
Ways to Give
-
Click
here to give your donation online.
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By
check; Make checks payable to the “CFA” and be sure to include your contact
information. Also, on the memo line of your check enter St. Catherine.
You may drop this check on the collection basket, bring it to the office or
mail it to:
The
Catholic Faith Appeal
c/o The Diocese of Venice
1000 Pinebrook Road,
Venice, FL 34285
You
may help St. Catherine Catholic Church by donating to the Catholic Faith Appeal
(CFA). This is our opportunity to work together as members of the
Body of Christ throughout our diocese, continuing the work of our Lord.
If you
are not contributing to the CFA, please give us a call at 385-0049 so we can
help you understand how your contributions will help.
Below
is a brief explanation of how the CFA works. This information is an
extraction of
www.dioceseofvenice.org, which you can also visit for more information.
"As in
nearly all other dioceses in the United States, the 55 parishes of the Venice
Diocese pay an annual assessment that, in turn, is disbursed among the diocese’s
ministries. To fund these ministries, the diocese’s Finance Department
calculates the amount of the assessment based on each fiscal year’s assessable
income (July 1 to June 30) and requests a percentage of each parish’s total.
Instead of requesting each parish to pay this assessment directly out of pocket,
the annual appeal was launched when the diocese was founded to give the parishes
the opportunity to collect pledges of financial support to meet the cost of the
assessment.
When a parish meets its assessment, it retains 100 percent of its weekly
collections to meet the needs of the parish and owes nothing to the diocese. In
addition, the diocese will return all proceeds above the assessment to the
parish, to be used in whatever way the parish deems fit. If the assessment is
not fully covered by the appeal, the parish must make up the difference out of
the weekly collection."
Establishing St. Catherine As Your Home Parish
In St. Catherine Catholic Church, we are all embarked on a great journey - the
journey of life. It is a great comfort to know that others are on the same road
as we are.
In joining a parish, we decide to travel the road with a particular community of
people. In fact, the word parish comes from the Greek word “paroikia” meaning “a
pilgrim people,” or “people on a journey”. We acknowledge that our journey is a
journey of faith; a journey that we hope one day will lead to the fullness of
life in God’s kingdom. Living in a culture that no longer supports a religious
way of life, much less a Catholic way of life, the parish plays an integral role
in helping to guide and support us on our journey. The parish does this through
its children, youth and adult educational programs, spiritual development and
its celebrations of Word and Sacraments. By these means, the parish empowers and
enables us to grow in wisdom and grace before God and our world.
The second Vatican Council reiterates this central role of the Mass in its
decree on the ministry and life of priests when it states, “The Eucharistic
action is the very heartbeat of the congregation of the faithful . . . no
Christian community, however, can be built up unless it has its basis and center
in the celebration of the Eucharist.
We recognize that no community can exist as a separate entity from the members
that compose it, neither can the parish. When registering with a parish, a
person is entering into a faith community, and like any other relationship, if
it is to be viable and healthy there must be a mutual commitment.
Today, we live in a very mobile society. More than any other period in history
we live in a time of shopping and surfing, the malls, the Internet,
multi-channel TV, etc. The church is not immune from this reality. Continually
we meet people shopping for churches and parishes, people who for a variety of
reasons never think of establishing a home parish until they plan to get married
or have a child baptized, etc.
The Church, for its part, requires the pastor to have a founded hope that those
seeking the sacraments are practicing Catholics in good standing. The same is
true when parents present their children for the sacraments. The pastor is to
have a founded hope that the children will be raised in the Catholic faith. We
therefore invite you to establish a home parish.
In order to establish St. Catherine as your home parish we
offer the following criteria:
1. You must be registered in our Parish.
2. We recognize that many parishioners travel during the summer months and are
out of town some weekends so are unable to celebrate the Liturgy (Mass) every
weekend here at St. Catherine. However, you can establish St. Catherine as your
home parish by registering in the Parish and celebrating
the liturgy with us during the time that you are able to.
3. On Sundays when you do not participate in the Mass at St. Catherine, it is
your responsibility to participate in the Mass at another parish unless it is
very difficult or impossible.
4. Your participation at the Sunday Liturgy (Mass) at St. Catherine must be
verifiable. Each registered family is provided with parish envelopes to use
to verify your attendance. If you contribute on a monthly, quarterly or
annual basis, we ask you to use the empty envelope to verify your attendance.
All envelopes are recorded and verify your regular presence at Mass. This
record provides the pastor with the founded hope that you are a practicing
Catholic.
5. Your commitment should reflect a sincere effort to comply with God’s
invitation to tithe. God does not call us all to be equal in the quantity of how
much we give, but rather He calls us to be equal in the sacrifice we make. Thus,
He asks us all to tithe. In our tithing, you can set aside a percentage of your
income for the Parish Offertory, for the Catholic Faith Appeal and for your
favorite charities. The Diocese of Venice has great interest in the Catholic
Education in Highlands County and very soon will begin a Capital Campaign to
raise funds for Catholic Education.
6. Your financial support to the parish must be verifiable. When
contributing, therefore, we ask you to use the parish envelopes provided,
(When using checks only, we ask you to please write your envelope number on the
check). We are unable to identify the contributors of cash unless it is in an
offertory envelope.
7. We also encourage you to contribute to the Catholic Faith Appeal. If you are
not contributing to the Catholic Faith Appeal, please give us a call at 385-0049
so we can help you understand how your contributions will help.
8. There must be a willingness to help in the ministry of St. Catherine. We
understand that you cannot become involved in all of our ministries, but you are
invited to make a special effort to become involved in some of our ministries.
We offer many fine spiritual programs, for example, Liturgy of the Hours before
daily Masses, Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament twice monthly,
various Faith Formation Classes for children and adults, Legion of Mary, Life
Teen, Prayer Group, etc.
9. Age 21. When you reach the age of 21, the Church considers you as an adult
whether your parents think you are or not. In such a case we invite you to
register under your own name even if you are still living with your parents.
10. At the beginning of January, 2006, we will be able to provide envelopes for
children. Give us a call if you want your child to have envelopes.
Establishing a home parish has many benefits:
• First of all, it identifies your wish to take ownership and become a partner
of this great community.
• Secondly, you and your family have an identity that helps us as a staff team
to reach out to you and your loved ones in a variety of ways.
• Baptisms and Confirmation Sponsors: If you are asked to become a
Godparent or Sponsor by a family member or a friend, the majority of Catholic
diocese in the United States will ask for a letter from your pastor stating that
you are a responsible, active member. Establishing St. Catherine as a home
parish enables us to honestly verify your good standing and practice in
the faith.
• Sacraments outside of parish - If you decide to have your sacrament
performed outside of your parish, your pastor is required to honestly
state in writing that you are an active, registered member. This letter is
denied if you have not established a home parish.
We started off by saying that we are all embarked on the great journey of life
and have decided to accompany others along the way, thus forming a relationship.
In order to keep this relationship viable and healthy we must ever be aware that
it is a two way street of giving and receiving and visa versa.
Should anyone try to make it otherwise, such action becomes both unhealthy and
destructive, just like in all relationships. On this journey then let us make
sure that whatever we do will be for the greater glory and honor of God and not
for the glory of self. Ever conscious of God’s blessings toward us, may we
continually strive to love and serve Him in a spirit of gratitude. Let the words
of the Psalmist be in our hearts and ever on our lips.
“What can I offer the Lord for all his goodness to me.” Ps 116:12
“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His mercy endures forever.” 1
Chr 16:34
ENVELOPES - For those of you who have
been looking for your envelopes and not found them, please call Rosemary,
385-0049 in the office. She will gladly help you find them.
The regular use of contribution
envelopes is so important. Unless we know someone is a practicing
Catholic, delays and hard feelings can result when people want to be married,
when they want their child baptized, or when they want to be a godparent.
It is the church, not just this parish, which insists that signs of good
faith-commitment be present on these occasions. This is also necessary in
order to enroll your child in our Faith Formation program. Please remember
to put your envelope number on your checks. If you do not have envelopes,
call the parish office at 385-0049.
We ask
that you do not tape or staple your contribution envelopes. If you know your
number, please write it on your check or envelope. We have many families with
the same last name. So please write your first and last name and your address.
Thank you. |
