Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
A few years ago, I was visiting a family from one of my former parishes. In the course of the conversation, they mentioned that they were very frustrated with the education that their children were receiving in the local public school. The most recent incident was that after the Christmas vacation/winter break the teacher asked the students what the highlights of their vacation were. My friends’ daughter started to say that she really enjoyed going to las posadas (the novena the nine days before Christmas in which we reenact Mary and Joseph looking for a place to stay in Bethlehem and being turned away, until finally someone lets them in). The teacher cut her off and said that she can’t talk about religious things at school.
My friends stated that they wished they could send their children to a Catholic school, but they knew they could not afford it. I asked if they knew that we have financial assistance through the Pastoral Services Appeal. They did not, applied to the local Catholic school, and received the necessary financial assistance. A year or two later, my friend told me about how their oldest son now reads the bible on his own, reminds the family that it is time to pray, and likes going to daily Mass. This is all possible because you have generously given to the PSA. I ask that you continue to support the PSA this year. As I mentioned last week, we have a great deal of deferred maintenance on our church and restroom building ($42,000 in immediate repairs and $63,000 in the first year of deferred maintenance.) Thank you for your generosity.
In Christ,
Bishop Tim Freyer
