We Are the Church

By John Graveline, Director of Parish Life

November 9, 2025

“Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Every one must give as inwardly decided; without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. God can multiply his favors among you so that you may always have enough of everything and even a surplus for good works.”
–2 Corinthians 9:6-8

This weekend, we commemorate the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. Roman Catholics celebrate the Basilica of St. John Lateran because it is the Seat of the Diocese of Rome (thus, the Pope’s cathedral). Because of this, it is considered the “mother church of all churches” and a power symbol of the unity of all Catholic Churches. As we know, any church building invites us to look deeper—it symbolizes the deepest mystery of Church: the People of God who have been called into unity through the love of the Holy Spirit given to us through baptism (Romans 5:5). We are the Church. This feast calls us as a parish to grow deeper into the love and grace of God in our particular place in Larkin Township, and to dedicate ourselves to build up the parish church that has been entrusted to us by God. I have been continually amazed at the generosity and dedication of the people of Assumption Parish. Your love for God and neighbor is evident in the vital minis tries we perform and in our outreach to our neighbors in need. This fall, we are in a special time of building up our church through worship, evangelization, and service. So many of you have contributed your time, talents, and finances to this mission. I am honored and humbled to be on this pilgrimage with you. My heart if full of gratitude, and all I can say is “Thank you!” The mission continues. Your continued financial support will help keep God’s dream for our parish alive. I ask that you prayerfully discern where the Lord is inviting you to contribute.

To support our parish:

A majority of our parish revenues still come through the weekend collection at Mass. If it has been a while since you have prayed about your tithe, I would like to invite you to do so. Your continued, consistent tithe is the backbone of our parish’s financial health. We will share our annual parish financial report for the last fiscal year with all of you next weekend.
We have two weeks to go in our Fall “Big Raffle” for a grand prize of $10,000. Every ticket sold at this point goes directly to support our current ministries and can give us the financial room to grow and respond to the Holy Spirit’s promptings in the future. We will have a Wine and Cheese reception after 4:30 Mass on November 22, where the winners will be drawn. All are welcome!

To support our diocese, as well as the national and universal Church:

We are in the midst of this year’s Christ’s Mission Appeal. Your support of the bishop’s appeal helps fund the diocesan work of supporting parishes and training staff and volunteers, evangelization outreach, and serving those in need in our area, and much more. Even though we came a little short of last year’s financial goal, our rate of parishioner household participation went up. Our goal again this year is 100% parishioner participation. If you have not replied to this year’s appeal, I ask you to take a pledge card from your pew this week and prayerfully discern your support.
We are also invited to support national collections as recommended by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. For example, next weekend we are asked to support the Catholic Campaign for Human Development which seeks to partner with agencies to address the structural issues of poverty and injustice in our country. This is different than the Lent Rice Bowl and Catholic Relief Services collections that directly feed and educate the poorest of the poor around the world. There are also various collections throughout the year to help support the retirement fund for priests and religious, Catholic home missions and communications campaigns in our country as well as support for Catholics in the Holy Land and throughout the world.

To support those in need in our local Midland community:

We successfully reached our parish Boot Drive goal. Because of your generosity, 86 pairs of boots were provided for preschoolers at the North Midland and West Midland Family Centers. Thank you!
All the profits from this weekend’s 54th Annual Parish Bazaar will be given away to charitable organizations.
This weekend, the tags for our annual Sharing Tree Christmas gift partnership are available. These gifts help bless young people and families this Christ mas. We asked that your gifts be returned to Assumption parish by Thanksgiving. We will bless the gifts at our Masses that weekend and deliver them after Mass on Sunday, November 30, to Salvation Army for distribution.
At the request of the diocese, this Christmas we are also partnering with Prison Fellowship to help provide gifts for children in Midland County whose parents are incarcerated this Holiday season. The gifts are part of an overall outreach to these households to invite them to greater community fellowship with our parish family.
In place of this month’s regular collection of food items, we are taking a monetary collection so that Midland County Emergency Food Network can purchase full Thanksgiving meals for families in need. You can place your donation in the collection basket or drop it off at the parish office by Sunday, November 23.
We will be collecting non-perishable food items at our Advent Lessons & Carols evening on Monday, December 15, to support households in need during this time of confusion and uncertainty concerning government food benefits.

I realize that there is so much need. If your household is like ours, the needs sometimes outweigh our ability to give to them all. But that is part of what it means to be Church. Each one of us can’t do everything, but if we all prayerfully discern where God is speaking to our hearts to generously give, together we make a massive difference. All these good works are done in our (your) name. If we all do our part in faith and trust, sharing our loaf or fish, God can and will multiply it to bless many!

John