St. Mary of Perpetual Help Church

How to Set Up Online Giving

1. Click here to access Tithing & Offerings and view the options on Give Central OR
2. Choose Sunday Donations and/or Preservation Fund to link to the giving option(s) from here.
3. Decide what amount you would like to give and the frequency. Automatic withdrawal on a weekly, bi-monthly or even monthly basis would greatly benefit the parish.

Catholic parishes rely solely on the generosity of the parishioners. We do not receive any financial support from anyone else but you.

Your Sunday donation pays for day-to-day operating costs including:

Salaries of Parish Staff, Utilities, Property and Casualty Insurance, Building Maintenance, Ministry Supplies and Liturgical Expenses. These donations “keep the church doors open.”

Church Preservation Fund or “Second Collection”

Church preservation funds are used for capital projects such as the restoration of the bell tower, tuckpointing, and interior and exterior maintenance of the church and rectory.

YOU HAVE A COUPLE OPTIONS TO SUPPORT THE PARISH FINANCIALLY:

• Church Envelopes: (Please contact the front office or send us an email if you would like to continue receiving donation envelopes. These envelopes will only be given to parishioners who are using them. We are spending too much money on envelopes that are not being used.)
• Online Giving: This option of giving allows you to deduct your financial donations from your taxes at the end of the year.
• Cash: Cash is king! This option of giving is also very acceptable. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t be able to deduct your financial donations from your taxes unless it was in an envelope with your name and registration number.

Whatever you can give above and beyond what you normally give, would be greatly appreciated and please know, that your reward will be great in heaven!

To reiterate, Catholic parishes do not receive any financial support from anyone else but you.

I am most grateful to everyone who gives their first fruits to the parish and not their leftovers. Your generosity keeps St. Mary’s thriving for generations to come. Without your financial support, we would not be able to stay open and restore this sacred church of God, which is the spiritual home to the people of Bridgeport and beyond.

Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Thomas Aschenbrener

Parishioners who financially support the parish by using envelopes are consistent with their giving each week, especially if they miss a week.

But what are the advantages of online giving or automatic withdrawal?

Some fruitful financial advice from a fellow parishioner: My wife and I, when we’re making our monthly budget, can make decisions about how we divide up our financial pie among our obligations, including our charitable giving. We can say that our first fruits go to the Lord, and this is how much we will give. The rest goes to pay our bills, to save for the future, and everything else. But we return to the Lord a portion of what he has given us first. In the old way of doing the collection, we often found ourselves giving whatever happened to be floating in our wallets or was left over in our checking account after everybody else got paid. When planning our budget, it’s much easier to include online giving next to monthly bills like the phone, car, internet, and the mortgage because we are planning for it. Almost every bill has moved online these days. Even our day-to-day purchases go on our debit card instead of being paid by cash. Come Saturday evening or Sunday morning, why should that convenience stop?

Online giving benefits the parish. Because online giving is automatic, even when you’re on vacation or if a big snowstorm hits on a Sunday or you’re just too sick to get out, you can still continue your support of the parish. Even when I’m not here on a Sunday, Fr. Tom still has to turn on the lights, heat or cool the church, pay the insurance and salaries of the employees, clean and maintain the property, plow snow from the parking lot, and all the other myriad items in the budget. And when people are giving intentionally, Fr. Tom can plan better. Under the current system, Fr. Tom has to guess how much money he will have to meet the parish’s obligations. If you’ve ever worked as a waiter or bartender or someone who lives off of tips, you know how difficult it can be to plan for the future when you don’t know how much money you’ll have week to week. But with online giving, he will be able to budget more accurately because he knows that from week to week, the offering will be about the same. Now, rest assured, the traditional basket is not going away. No one is going to be forced to switch to online giving, although the benefit to the parish will increase as more of us participate.