November 16, 2022
Dear Parishioners and Friends,
The “New Normal” is the title of Calvary’s 2022-2023 Stewardship
Drive. In a couple of Sundays, on the First Sunday of Advent,
November 27, we hope to restore some of the ritual elements of
our worship that we curtailed during the COVID-19 pandemic and
since. We also hope to offer new and more engaging programs to
assist our growing in faith, hope and love for God, our neighbor,
and ourselves.
We face the challenges of these uncertain times with the
confidence that the Lord Jesus has called us to this parish. Our
Lord called us through our baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit
“to know, love and serve God in this life and to be happy with God
in the next;” we continue to discern together what God continues
calling us to do here in Batavia through worshiping the Lord and
studying the Word of God, by reaching out to the needy, both
nearby and far away, and by joyfully gathering and sharing our life
in Christ together.
The hope for our “New Normal” is that we will invite others to join
us in our pilgrimage towards the Kingdom of God. We hope to
enkindle among us a desire for the grace to know our Lord Jesus
Christ more intimately and to follow him more closely as
individuals and as a parish, and by so doing become truly “a
transforming light within our parish and within the community.”
To do the above requires resources, improvements of programs
already available as well as the ability to offer new ones, investing
in our worship ministry and the technology needed to get our
message out into the community more effectively, and being able
to fund both existing and possible future ministry positions.
A parish exists for the worship of God, for our growth in the faith
we have been given, for binding us more closely to one another,
and for enkindling the desire to share our precious faith with
others who are seeking and hungering to know Jesus Christ and
experience his love. We want to meet God on God’s own terms,
and through all our parishioners, share, in Christ’s Name, all that
God has given us at Calvary.
In the name of the Wardens and Vestry, and in the name of all
those people, lay members and clergy, who have served Christ our
Lord here in the past and are doing so in the present, we invite
you to be generous in your pledge for the return to “The New
Normal”. Please see the enclosure to help guide you in deciding
what you will pledge for this year.
We hope to have all the pledges returned by December 20, so that
our Financial Ministry can prepare the budget for presentation at
our Annual Parish Meeting in late January 2023.
Gratefully yours in Christ,
Fr. Michael D. Rasicci, Rector
Mr. Joel Montgomery, Stewardship Chair

Update–Online and Automatic Pledge Deposits

Because we no longer use Tithe.ly as our online giving resource, people are invited to use their bank’s “Bill Pay” service to set-up automatic bank checks to Calvary Episcopal Church, 222 Batavia Ave, Batavia, IL 60510 on a schedule that works for them.  For one-time, online payments, you can check with your bank on how to use the Zelle network available to most banks.  

PayPal

Calvary has a PayPal account that can be used for donations–using PayPal or a credit card. We have to pay PayPal a processing fee, so please add that fee to any donations you want to send via PayPal.  The processing fee currently is $.0349 on the amount being donated, plus a $.49 processing fee.  For example, the processing fee for a $20 donation is approximately $1.25.

Here is the PayPal link for donations. 

2023 Goal for Stewardship

Everyone in the parish can recognize, know, and communicate what stewardship
means to them in terms of growing our faith community and Calvary Episcopal
Church.

What does it mean to you? Regardless of circumstances in the moment, our lives are filled with gifts God has given us. Stewardship means recognizing those gifts and giving back to God through our Faith Community and our families and wherever we find ourselves. Sometimes it’s listening, praying, being of service, sharing resources, all of the above.  Even our Calvary Community Dinners at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are avenues for stewardship–sharing with our Faith Community over a meal.  Welcome to Calvary and to our Faith Community.