There are many good causes which ask for our support throughout the year... and some of them we support by a Retiring Collection at the Masses. The danger is of course that the second collections become so numerous that, as one person was overheard saying ‘you need a mortgage to come to church’!
That of course is not the idea – we do need to look to the support and maintenance of our churches and of the community both here and in the wider world, but ultimately the financial offerings we make are an external sign of a much deeper gratitude for the spiritual gifts that are shared so generously with us.
Over the last year we have taken these ‘special’ collections as people leave church, in order to leave a little more opportunity for a period of quiet after Communion. We have noticed however that this has led to a significant drop in the amounts collected for the charities; perhaps people are just forgetting as they pass the baskets at the back of church. Please bear this in mind when you see that there is a second collection after Mass.
A very sincere Thank You for the generous way in which you support both the weekly Parish and ‘special’ collections for particular causes. Particularly in these straightened times you know as well as we do the extra strains that are put on budgets – but ironically it is perhaps in such times of stress and strain that the more ‘eternal’ priorities and values come to the fore.
Thank you.
