Volunteering

As you join us in the covenant we invite you to prayerfully meditate on the difference between volunteers and Christ-centered ministry. Volunteers are people involved in social organizations or public works. They are people who give generously of their time for the betterment of society.

Ministry on the other hand is living out the baptismal calling to proclaim and witness the Gospel in our daily life. It is placing your time, your person, and your financial resources at the disposal of God through the Church. We need you to consider tithing your time, talent, and treasury. Read Paul’s letter to the Corinthians and then prayerfully consider your gifts and talents and how they can aid our community in growth and becoming the 5th Gospel.

As you register in our parish, we invite you to challenge where your spirituality is leading you. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for the benefit of the individual but for the benefit of the Community. We, at St. Anne’s, incorporate all our gifts and talents and mold them into a living sacrament (i.e. an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace) We become a visible presence of the Risen Lord. We are the body of Christ; through our actions and lifestyle, we visibly make manifest Christ’s presence in our world. St. Thomas Aquinas said we must become "altus Christus" (another Christ). We are the hands of Christ who hold each other in tenderness. We are the ears of Christ that listen to each other in our needs. We are the Mouth of Christ that speaks to each other of the Father's love. We are the feet of Christ that walk with each other on life's journeys.

For this reason, we invite each parishioner to spend some time in prayer, asking how your prayer life and spirituality are being expressed in some form of ministry.

What direction this meditation takes you in is between you and the Lord. Is He inviting you in some special way to minister to the needs of the family of St. Anne's? How can that ministry take form so that the Kingdom of God can be experienced here and now as promised by Christ? When Jesus began His "Public Ministry" He announced the "Kingdom of God was at hand". Enclosed find a list of possible ministerial opportunities. We invite you to join us. How can your gifts and talents best aid our parish? Please fill out the enclosed form after prayerful reflection. Share the gift of your person with our parish. If you feel a ministry has not been noted and desire to help get that ministry started, let us know your suggestion and how to start it.