First Fruits Program

Background

Honor the LORD with your wealth, with first fruits of all your produce;
Then will your barns be filled with plenty, with new wine your vats will overflow.
- Proverbs 3:9-10

These words from the Old Testament speak to the tradition of returning our gifts to God in gratitude. Christ himself in the New Testament emphasized the importance of using our gifts wisely.

Living as an engaged disciple means putting God first. Your presence at Mass and in our many volunteer ministries shows your commitment to Christ and his church. Your monetary contributions to the Offertory help us on so many levels to do good works for our parishioners. Yet our parish, which has been blessed with so much, must also reach beyond our own community to our metropolitan area and beyond to the global Church.

With this in mind, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church has adopted a “First Fruits” program. As Scripture calls us to share of our first fruits, we as a parish share ours. This program means that 6% of each Sunday collection is committed to the charities we have supported in the past. We have eliminated most of the second collections and instead fund these causes from our, “First Fruits.” We believe that this program will help us further our goal of generous giving in the spirit of engaged discipleship.