Thank you for sounding off, a good thing to do in a spirit of charity, seeking clarification and truth rather than gossip. It came to my attention at the January Parish Council meeting that there were questions about the large amount of money that was given to charities in the community in November. The money gifts to local needs came from the ‘Jean Metzinger Boiardi Trust’. Each year the parish receives a very generous check from this trust. The trust directs the parish to distribute the funds in our community, not to hold them for parochial needs. It prefers that the money go to help the poor and needy in the community, especially feeding the hungry. Not sure why, but I failed to send those donations out in 2018, and so this past year, 2019, each donation was twice as large as before. In 2020 the donations will be half of what we gave this past November. The deposit is made into our ‘Love of Neighbor Fund’ and I do use it for requests from those on the phone or at the door, which come to us directly asking for help. But the larger amount is given to those agencies already set up in the community to help the needy. I have reduced the number of times we take up the ‘Love of Neighbor Offering’, knowing how some get very annoyed with additional offering requests. We take in from our parishioners about $3-4,000 each year. If we had a very special need in the parish, I might consider asking you for an additional offering. But hopeful this will not be needed. Because we are a Catholic Church, not just a local congregation, we have the call of Christ to reach out beyond our own community. As Jesus asked his fellow Jews. “Who was the real neighbor?” It was the Good Samaritan, reaching out beyond his race, religion and culture to a stranger in need. We do this with special offerings throughout the year. At Christmas we build a house for a poor family in Haiti and we feed hungry school children in Haiti. I can’t think of any better way to teach our children the true meaning of Christmas then our charity to the poorest of the poor. I am sure you feel the same way. Thank you for asking, God bless you. Fr. J D Hoke

Father Hoke would ask you respectfully to stop your subscription to Netflix, in view of their blasphemous lies about Jesus. Let this be your Christmas present to Jesus, stopping Netflix. Bless, Bless, Father Hoke