June 22, 2025

Dear Friends in Christ,

Let me start by thanking you from the bottom of my heart for your kind greetings and gifts as I celebrated my 70^th birthday this past Tuesday, June 17. Your thoughtfulness means the world to me… as do all of you. I am particularly grateful for sharing this time in my life and ministry with all of you in our NE Seattle Catholic Community. Best I know at this point, I will retire after my time serving you concludes. Here’s to several more years of collaboration!

Switching gears a bit, I need to bring you up to date with the current reality of our financial life as a family of parishes. FY 24-25 ends June 30^th, and we will find ourselves carrying a significant budget deficit in all four of our parishes. You will receive a more detailed end-of-year report later, but for now, we are looking for areas where we can cut some costs to close the gap in our budget deficit. More important than that is the call to all of us to renew our participation in the stewardship of our treasure, making it possible to fund the many ministries we offer.

I am asking everyone to renew their commitment to monthly financial support of your home parish, preferably by using the online options that make this easy. Those of you who, for whatever reason, do not give, please consider doing so. No amount is too small. Remember, stewardship begins with our grateful acknowledgment that everything we have in terms of time, talent, and treasure is a gift from God and belongs to God. We show our gratitude by giving back a significant gift, whatever that is, off the top of our regular income.

Thanks to all of you for your support! A blessed summer to you all!

Fr. William Heric, Pastor