The Archbishop’s Annual Appeal is now underway. Many of our parishioners have received a mailing from Archbishop O’Brien. St. Mary’s formal kick-off for the appeal will take place during the weekend of February 13-14.

Your St. Mary’s 2009 charitable giving summary letter was sent to you by mail or email (by request) this past week. Please do not hesitate to call us in the Office of Parish Advancement, Gift Records, if you have not received your letter or if you have any questions regarding the content. Our phone numbers are 410-268-3467 or 410-990-4184. It will be helpful if you have your registered parishioner number (envelope number) on hand before you call. Thank you again for your generosity to St. Mary’s Parish community!

Thank you for Your Generosity—-St. Mary’s is actively raising money to support victims of earthquake in Haiti. Parishioners contributed $20,629 to Catholic Relief Services through a special Archdiocesan collection. Donations now are being collected to help the Redemptorist ministries in the country. Both schools have asked their families to give to this effort. For example, the High School sponsored a dress-down day and collected a voluntary admission at Friday’s basketball game versus Severn. If you would like to contribute, please drop a check off at the Rectory Office or in the collection basket. All donations should be made to “The Redemptorists” with Haiti in the memo line. Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti and the aid workers assisting them.

Your help is wanted to support St. Mary’s 19th Annual Golf Tournament, TEE IT UP FOR ST. MARY’S, on May 13. Please consider joining fellow parishioners, parents, and alumni to make this year’s tournament the best ever. As a volunteer, you will assist in obtaining sponsors, gifts, and prizes, and in the general organization of the event. Help is also needed on the day of the tournament. Golf Committee meetings will be scheduled at the convenience of the committee members with our kick-off meeting to be held February 4 from 6 to 7 P.M. in the High School Library. If you are interested in supporting St. Mary’s and taking part in this fun event, please contact Jennifer in the Advancement Office at 410-268-3467 or jdieux@stmarysannapolis.org.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards are given each year to recognize graduates of St. Mary’s who have contributed to the community by their service, their business or professional accomplishments or achievements. This year’s award ceremony will be held on May 14, 2010. We are accepting nominations through February 28. If you would like to nominate a St. Mary’s Alumni, please visit www.stmarysannapolis.org for instructions.

The St. Mary's Office of Parish Advancement operates within the Financial Pillar, to support the Spiritual, Educational, and Community Pillars of the Parish with the resources needed to advance the mission. It oversees all fundraising initiatives, events, alumni affairs, and communications processes for the parish community of both churches and both schools.

St. Mary’s Parish is now trying to make it as easy as possible for parishioners to update, change, or correct any part of an individual or family record that our parish or school maintains. It is as easy as a click of a button! Kindly send all corrections, as well as address changes to: addresschange@stmarysannapolis.org. For those not using e-mail, please call us at 410-990-4046 or 410-268-3467.

The faith community of St. Mary’s Parish welcomes you today. We consider it a privilege to have you worship with us. It is our desire to be a friendly people filled with the Spirit, giving a positive Christian witness in worship. We hope that you feel at home with us during your visit. If you live within our parish boundaries and would like to register with the parish, forms may be obtained at both parish offices (St. Mary’s/St. John Neumann) or may be downloaded from our website: www.stmaryschurch.org. If you are unsure if your address is within our boundaries, please call Dianne, 410-990-4012, Monday through Friday, 7:30 A.M. - 3:30 P.M. The boundaries are also listed on the registration form.

Planning on travelling this summer? Forget your offertory envelope? Going out of town for the weekend? We would like to remind everyone that we have an easy way for you to do away with envelopes altogether, using our Faith Direct automatic payment option. Registered parishioners can call Faith Direct toll free at 1-866-507-8757, email them at info@faithdirect.net or sign-up by visiting www.faithdirect.net (St. Mary’s Church code is MD38). After you sign up for Faith Direct you can call the parish office and let us know that you no longer wish to receive envelopes, which will save us several dollars per year per family in mailing costs. If you are already signed up for Faith Direct and are still receiving envelopes you can call the parish office at any time to have us stop sending them. As always, thank you for your faithful gifts and for all you do for St. Mary’s.

Please place your envelope number in the memo line on your checks. It makes the accountant’s job easier and assures posting to the correct account.

Did you know that St. Mary’s has a monthly e-newsletter called “Saints Summary”? Readers learn about alumni events, reunions and can send in good news they would like to share with their classmates. Visit www.mystmarys.org and register today.

Want to be more active in the St. Mary’s community? Click on the “SUPPORT ST. MARY’S” button on the homepage of the website to find a list of many different ways you can give your time, talent and treasure.