News Category: Disciples on a Journey…Together

2023 Parish Stewardship Commitment

Fall, a wonderful time of year! With Thanksgiving coming, I think many of us begin thinking about what we are grateful for in our lives. I hope you count All Saints Parish and your parish family among your blessings. I know I do.

All Saints Parish is vibrant because of the commitment and participation of our members.
This letter is coming to you as we move into our current stewardship season. We have made a deliberate choice to shorten the season this year by combining our parish giving and diocesan giving. The name for our diocesan giving has been changed from Catholic Parishes Campaign (CPC) to Catholic Ministries Appeal (CMA). The Diocese truly uses our financial support to serve us and others in many ways.

In the past couple of weeks, you have heard stories from members of the parish about what it means to them to be involved in ministries and to tithe. I am asking you to spend time in prayer this week. Consider your gifts, your abilities, your blessings and how you want to share these with your parish.

As you consider your financial support of the parish, I ask you to consider using the model of tithing 10% of your income. 5% of this total amount is given to the parish. 1% – 3% is given to the CMA and the other 2% – 4% is given to other charities of your choosing. I don’t know about you, but every year when I sit down and do the math, I really have to pray to the Holy Spirit. Like many of you, I live on a budget. So, I have to be realistic, and I have to step out in faith. It is easy to hear that God provides for all of my needs. It isn’t so easy for me to believe it and to share like I believe it.

At the top of the enclosed stewardship commitment form, you will find the space to complete the information for your parish financial giving. On the bottom of the front page, you will find the space to complete the information for your diocesan CMA financial giving. On the back page, you find the opportunity to choose the ministries you wish to be involved in at the parish this year. Please consider joining us in ministry! We ask you to complete all three sections. Place your completed form in the enclosed envelope. We encourage you to please bring it with you to Mass this coming weekend for a special collection and blessing.

In the Spirit of gratitude,

Sharon Vogler
Parish Life Coordinator

Online Gift to
All Saints
Online Gift to
Catholic Ministries Appeal
Time & Talent Form

Disciples on a Journey Together

This weekend you will find in the bulletin and on our parish website, the All Saints Parish Annual Report for 2022-2023. Here is the link to our website page https://allsaintsevansville.org/ytd-financial-report/. The format is different this year. We hope it is more user-friendly.

The report begins with a page of Highlights. This page is meant to share a snapshot of life in All Saints parish for the past fiscal year. The next pages offer fiscal information in summary sheets and pie graphs.
The annual report functions as a summary of how All Saints Parish did financially in 2022-2023.

I also see it as a report of how we have all worked together, sharing our gifts, as partners, to sustain All Saints parish as a vital and viable parish. Thank you for sharing all you can with your parish! May we continue to grow together as a church and faith family who serve the needs of its members and the community.

Click for Annual Report

Disciples on a Journey Together

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a conference on intergenerational ministry. I also attended this conference back in 2019. We began having Family Faith Formation be more intergenerational. I had been seeing it as a component, a piece of parish life.

One of the points I came away with this time was that intergenerational ministry/life in a parish is not an approach, it is a value that is held…a way of being parish family, not only at Mass, but in all the ways we are parish family.

We see the importance of all generations…we recognize that each generation holds some common beliefs and ideals that are different from other generations. I’ve personally heard many times from my parents, “When we were kids, we’d have never gotten away with that.” They were kids being raised by parents (my grandparents) who lived through and survived the Great Depression. Yes, their approach to life was different
because of the time in history that they grew up in.

The same is true for us today. I remember telling my uncle I’d NEVER use a computer (I’m not writing this on a typewriter.) I watch as two- and three-year-olds know how to use a smart phone or iPad.

Life changes and life is different based on what generation we are a part of. That is life. For me the importance and beauty of this is that, if I can get past judging the way people raise their children, or don’t recycle or decide what their priorities are…then I can see and live the beauty of all of us, God’s children, who are present together, for each other in this place in time at All Saints Parish.

Is it easy to understand the goals and ideals of people of other generations? Not always. Do I agree with them? Not always.

Does that make me right and them wrong? No. It is in the differences that we can grow and learn. For me, it means that I must learn to be more accepting, more patient, more compassionate. I have found that life can be filled with more joy when there are people of many generations coming together.

Thank you, God, for each of us! Sharon

Disciples on a Journey…Together

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to attend Mass at St. Joseph Church in Rockville, IN.

In the homily, we were reminded that the Feast of the Ascension is a time of transition. It is a time of change. 

We were reminded of some of the transition times in our lives…moving from kindergarten to 1st grade…8th grade to high school…high school to college.  These transitions brought changes for us as individuals and for our families.  Each transition came with promise, challenge, perhaps some fear.  I met a Kindergartener Sunday who was totally excited to be going into 

1st grade!

All of us can remember transition times in our lives.  We may be thankful for them or mourn what we lost in the transition.  Hopefully we can enter times of transition in prayer finding God’s presence in our time of change.  Or, in hindsight, we realize God’s presence in those times of transition. 

The disciples no longer had Jesus present with them on earth.  They were given the direction…“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

This Sunday, on the Feast of Pentecost we will hear Jesus with the Holy Spirit call and empower the disciples for their mission.  What mission is God calling us to?  How are we to go about our lives as disciples living God’s love?  May we take some time this week in prayer to seek God’s call for us as we celebrate Pentecost and our continuing call to conversion and discipleship.

Sequence  Veni, Sancte Spiritus

Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
    Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
    Come, within our bosoms shine.
You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
    Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
    Solace in the midst of woe.
O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of yours,
    And our inmost being fill!
Where you are not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
    Nothing free from taint of ill.
Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
    Wash the stains of guilt away:
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
    Guide the steps that go astray.
On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
    In your sevenfold gift descend;
Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
    Give them joys that never end. Amen.
    Alleluia.

Joy,
Sharon Vogler
Pastoral Life Coordinator 
All Saints Parish 

Disciples on a Journey…Together

Monday evening, May 1st, we joined with our community in celebrating the CAJE Nehemiah Action.  On this 20th Anniversary of CAJE, we celebrated many accomplishments for justice and several people who were instrumental in beginning the work of CAJE!  Thank you to everyone who has been part of CAJE during these past 20 years and welcome to those who joined us for the first time this year! 

All Saints Parish continues to focus on our mission to be a parish of charity and justice.  I think the charity part of this mission can be much easier for some of us.  Charity often includes us giving food, clothing, money or other items to those in need.  It can be much easier to clean out our closets and shop for canned goods than to work and stand for justice. 

I remember how awed and amazed I was 15-20 years ago when I was first learning about the charity and justice work being done by then St. Anthony Parish.  I thought, that’s where I want to be!  After about 5 years at St. Anthony Parish, I began to see how difficult it was for me to work for justice.  The introvert in me finds it very difficult and challenging to step up and be in front of people, especially strangers.  I have found that I must take small steps in my justice efforts.  Just as with everything in life, our personal strengths and gifts help us to find our way to participate in justice work.  So, I would ask you to find your comfort zone.  Start by participating there.  Then like I am trying to do, work to take small steps out of your comfort zone. 

Together, we all can do the work of justice that is so important for our neighbors, ourselves, and our community.