March 29, 2020

My Dear Parishioners of All Saints Catholic Church and School,
   Blessings from our Lord and the Blessed Mother be with you all during this difficult and scary time of our lives due to the coronavirus.  Let us hope and pray that soon we will return to our normal way of life.  Please don’t lose hope nor your faith in God.  God will never abandon us.  Let us always trust in God and take good care of ourselves, our loved ones and all of humanity by not spreading the virus. 
   I am very sad about not having our church and chapel open, especially for Holy Masses.  Holy Mass is the heartbeat of our Catholic faith.  For this reason, I celebrate my private Masses in our church to pray for you, your family and the whole world.  I choose our church because it’s God’s house and it has been our spiritual home for generations.  Nothing can keep me from keeping our church as God’s dwelling place where I offer prayers and sacrifices for you and for the salvation of all.  All Saint’s Church is our spiritual home with our love, faith and trust in God.  Please know that at every Mass, you are in my heart.  My eyes will see empty pews, but my heart will see your love and your faith in God; together we will worship God and love one another.
   Thank you for your financial contributions to our church and school.  Attached is your up-to-date contribution for this year.  Thank you!  As you know, our main source of income to pay our bills is from the church collection.  Since there has been no Mass, there is no collection, and we are in dire need of money to pay our bills.  Yes, even now with no collection, we are still obligated to pay all teachers and employees, their health insurance, etc.…  Please join me in thanking God for some of our non-contracted staff who have volunteered to work less hours for they understand that we don’t have money to pay them and all the bills.  Here are some suggestions for you that would help:
   --Please consider donating one percent or more of your unused money—from savings, CD, etc.…  Make your check payable to: All Saints Catholic School to help pay our teachers and make the payments to Kapaun and Bishop Carrol high schools.  Any amount will be very helpful for it cost the parish over $4,000 to educate one child per year.  Our mission is to educate and to form our children into great intellectuals and spiritual disciples of Christ.  They are the future of our church, families and countries.
   --Tithing: please consider using direct deposit method now to reduce costs by completing the form CLICK HERE and returning it to us.  It’s safe and free to you and costs very little to the church.  A special thanks to those who have been using this method.
   --Send in your donations: If direct deposit is not possible, please mail in your collection envelopes or drop them in the office drop box.  This method is inconvenient for you--write checks, costs of stamps and mail envelopes; inconvenient to our church—cost to buy the collection envelops and mail them to you, need a group of 5-6 people to count the money, and of course the danger of getting infected from the envelopes and money.
   As of today, our teachers and staff are back to work, some are learning how to teach online and others are serving food to any child under 18 to help families out during this virus threat.  Our staff has also sanitized our church and school buildings. 
   Please know that you are always welcome to be in our church and chapel for personal prayers and devotions.  This is your church and chapel; you have the right to use it.  If you don’t know the door’s combination yet, please contact the church office.  On Sundays, there are so many online Masses on TV, such as EWTN, and a live-streamed Mass by Bishop Kemme at the Cathedral at 10am, https://catholicdioceseofwichita.org/covid-19/  To read daily scriptures and Sunday readings, please visit USCCB.ORG.  Here is a spiritual communion prayer that you can use:
   My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
   Finally, please don’t forget to stay home as much as possible to avoid infections from people or places, to wash your hands as often as is needed, and pray together at home especially for the sick. 
 
I Love you all; I miss being with you to see your smiles and to hear your greetings, Fr. Hien
 
PS. Thank you to Linden Bates, a longtime parishioner who took care of our lawn for over 25 years.  One day, he said to me, “Father, I am getting too old to mow.”  I am so thankful that he gave so much of his time, talent and treasure to our parish.  God bless you Linden and we appreciate your commitment to yours and our parish.

To save money, I am looking for used mowers—bigger is better because we have so much acreage, and volunteers to help mow our church & school lawn.  Please let the office know if you can help/donate.