Dear Parish Family,

Happy Good Shepherd Sunday! The Fourth Sunday of Easter provides us with one of the deepest images and identities of our Lord Jesus as our Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd knows and loves His flock. He advocates for their good and is understanding with their weaknesses. He is trustworthy, courageous, and lays down His life for His flock. Pray with Jesus as your Good Shepherd this week and notice in your prayer how the Lord lives out this image and identity for you.
 
I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your generosity this Easter to our parish! By contributing together what we are able we can keep our parish well-staffed and our ministries vibrant in order to serve the spiritual and material needs of our local community. As you are aware, our parish is not immune from inflation. Rising costs means that we need to plan for annual budget increases and offer meaningful salary adjustments and raises each year to compensate our staff justly. Regular and increased offertory gifts provide a consistent and predictable cash flow to help us manage the various aspects of our operating budget. 
 
I want to encourage you to become a regular offertory contributor if you aren’t one already. We partner with Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) to manage our offertory envelopes and online giving. Registering as a parishioner will put you on the mailing list to receive packets of offertory envelopes that you can mail in or bring with you to church each week. Visit or call the parish office if you would like to register or learn more.
 
If you're like me, you may also consider online giving with Our Sunday Visitor. It is safe, secure, encrypted, and easy to manage my own giving and make changes at any time. I set it up as a recurring gift and don't have to worry about writing checks or preparing envelopes. Gifts can be made by a bank account or credit card. Our number of online donors have tripled since our Faithfully United stewardship program in the Fall of 2022.
 
This tax season is a good time to make sure our budget for the year ahead aligns with our priorities. I encourage you to make our parish a priority in your financial planning, and take to prayer what a regular offertory gift, or an increase in your offertory gift, might look like for you. We are in a strong financial position at this time, and I invite you to continue to help strengthen our work and ministry in, with, and through Christ. Visit https://stpatrickthompson.org/ways-to-give for more information.
 
Parish Council Nominations
Parish Council is a consultative body to the Pastor on major parish initiatives and parish planning. Members are representative of the various ages and ministries at the parish, are active parishioners, and are supportive of the faith and morals of the Catholic Church. We will have nomination forms available in the pews and near the suggestion box in the back of church this weekend and next. If you are interested in serving on Parish Council, please prayerfully consider nominating yourself or asking a fellow parishioner if you could nominate him or her. As Pastor, I will make the final determination of Parish Council appointments after considering the recommendations of Parish Council members and the nomination committee for which nominees would best represent the interests of the parish. If selected for membership, the nominee would commit to serving on Parish Council for three years, attend 6 Wednesday evening meetings each year, be responsive to email communications, and maintain confidentiality. Nomination forms need to be submitted in the suggestion box or to the parish office by Wednesday, May 1.

I am yours in Christ,
Fr. Scott Goodfellow