In the United States, the National Night of Prayer for Life, will take place on Dec. 8-9, 2022, from 9 p.m.-1 a.m. ET, spanning all four time zones.  The Hour of Unity is midnight-1 a.m. ET, at which time the entire nation will be united in prayer.  

It is recommended that the event include adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Benediction, the rosary, prayer to St. Michael, hymns and silent prayer. A prayer format may be downloaded from the website:  www.Nationalnightofprayerforlife.org

Bishop Doerfler encourages this devotion in all your parishes so that your parishioners will join in this vital spiritual endeavor.  All participating parishes, organizations and groups are asked to respond as soon as possible by phone, fax, mail or email so the committee can keep record of the event’s magnitude.

Phone:  (631) 252-8258, (631) 368-0118 or (717) 533-4846

Fax:  (631) 224-1089

Email:  evecampfield@hotmail.com

A poster and the participation form can be found at:  Addendum-NationalPrayerForLife

A reminder to Pastors, Pastoral Coordinators and the RCIA team of the importance of determining the marriage situation of the RCIA candidate and the candidate’s spouse which may require a declaration of nullity before he/she may enter the Church. If the candidate or the candidate’s current spouse has been married previously, an investigation into these marriages must be made. A questionnaire that may be helpful to you is found in the addendum below.

Mark your calendars for Spring Study Day, March 30, 2023. Our presenters this year include Rev. Maurice Henry Sands, executive director of the USCCB’s Black and Indian Mission Office in Washington D.C. and a priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit, and Len McKeen, executive director of the Bishop Baraga Association.  Topics will include the National Eucharistic Revival and Venerable Bishop Frederic Baraga.

Thank you for attending the Parish and School Secretary/Bookkeeper Workshop last month! We hope you found this year's topics informative and interesting. Jamie Feldhusen will send out presenter information to all parish secretaries and bookkeepers who may have missed the Oct. 25 event or wish to reference the topics discussed. Please contact Jamie at jfeldhusen@dioceseofmarquette.org with any additional questions regarding workshop materials.

  

The Diocese encourages parish and school bookkeepers who have not already applied for ERC funding to do so as soon as possible before the March 2023 IRS deadline. Parishes and schools interested in receiving ERC funding who have not already applied should plan to do so as soon as possible, as the filing process takes approximately 10-12 weeks to complete. Bookkeepers should consult with their pastors and Parish Finance Councils to make sure this is the way they want the funds represented on the Income Statement. To start the filing process, please contact Brian Locker at Paycor (blocker@paycor.com). For any other ERC questions, please contact Casey Banks at (906) 227-9105 or cbanks@dioceseofmarquette.org.

 

Do you want to order official Catholic calendars to distribute for 2023? If so, please consider placing your order through Catholic Extension, a nonprofit Catholic organization that supports 87 U.S. Mission Dioceses with the proceeds from calendar sales. Those looking to place calendar orders should contact Dan Stremel as soon as possible, as the calendars take approximately 4-6 weeks to print and ship. Dan Stremel can be reached at (620) 408-5338 or dstremel@catholicextension.org. 

The Governance Report was due to the Diocese on Sept. 30, 2022. If your parish has not submitted a 2022 report yet, please send your Parish Governance Report to the Diocese, Attn: Irene McCauley or imccauley@dioceseofmarquette.org. This report is available on the Diocesan website http://dioceseofmarquette.org/forms and has been included as Addendum #1. Please contact Irene McCauley with any questions at imccauley@dioceseofmarquette.org or (800) 562-9745 ext. 135.

Please be aware the maximum contribution per individual is $20,500 unless the employee is age 50 or over. Members over 50 years of age are allowed an additional "catch-up" contribution of $6,500. Since there still are two months left in 2022, it is a good time to evaluate your contributions to your 403(b) plan.  Are you maximizing the amount you can contribute?  Are you sure you will not exceed the maximum contribution amount by year-end?  If you have questions, please feel free to contact Irene at imccauley@dioceseofmarquette.org or (800) 562-9745 ext. 135.

The State of Michigan began requiring additional information to classify parish and school properties as tax-exempt in 2022. If you receive a notice from your local assessor, please complete the property tax-exemption checklist document and provide documents included in Addendum #2 to meet the State's requirements. Please contact the Administration & Finance department with any questions. 

The IRS requires tax-exempt organizations to withhold 25% of raffle winnings over $5,000 and report this amount on Form W-2G. Parishes and schools are advised to limit raffle winnings to no more than $5,000 to avoid tax liability. Federal reporting requirements apply to cash winnings and noncash prizes whose value exceeds $5,000. If you are interested in holding a small raffle for your parish or school, please visit the State of Michigan charitable gaming website at www.michigan.gov/cg/ for more information. 

All parishes in the Diocese of Marquette will be taking up the 2023 Mission Collection on January 14^th-15^th, 2023. The Mission Collection supports the following outreach ministries to the Universal Church: the Black & Indian Missions, Catholic Home Missions, the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa, and the Propagation of the Faith Mission. Parish bookkeepers are advised to use the Collection Counting Sheet (Addendum #3) and to divide unspecified Mission fund donations evenly between the four individual collections. Bookkeepers may then complete the updated Combined Collection Transmittal Form found in Addendum #4 to include with their payment to the Diocese. Please make checks out to "Diocese of Marquette-Mission Collection."

Registration for #iGiveCatholic is now officially closed. Thank you to the 38 organizations who registered to participate!

Advanced giving starts Nov. 14.  Actual Giving Tuesday is Nov. 29. Online giving is important to the future of our churches. #iGiveCatholic is a special seat for Catholics at the Giving Tuesday table. All participating parishes, schools and Catholic organizations in our diocese are encouraged to invite their supporters to the Catholic giving banquet. Think: current & past families/students, those who received sacraments at your parish but now live away, neighbors and friends. Ride the momentum of national media attention by promoting your parish giving day on Facebook and other social media, your parish website, email, bulletin, and pulpit announcements.
 
 iGiveCatholic has several logos on their website, find them on their resources page here. Use the #iGiveCatholic bulletin insert below and bulletin announcement on the weekends of Nov. 19-20 and Nov. 26-27.

If your organization sets a fund-raising goal and promotes a project that your fundraising goal will help finance, then you can enter to win a $2,000 prize drawing. Just post your fundraising goal and project on your giving page as well as on one social media outlet (Facebook, bulletin announcement, etc.) and we will add your organization’s name to the drawing. Email Ella with proof of a fundraising goal or if you have any questions at elukasik@dioceseofmarquette.org. Special thanks to Catholic Extension for sponsoring.
 
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