March 1, 2008

Dear Parishioners of Our Lady of Mercy:

Many of you are already familiar with the benefits of the Internet. From accessing information and shopping, from on-line banking to sending and receiving e-mail --- the efficiency, speed and convenience of the Internet offers many opportunities.

Our Lady of Mercy Parish is embracing the technology of the Internet to help our community streamline procedures, reduce operating expenses and enhance communication with our good people.

For many years the J.S. Paluch Company has published our weekly bulletin at no cost to us, thanks to the generous advertisers on the back page. Paluch is now helping OLM stay financially healthy by enabling us to receive regular and special contributions via the Internet. This service, offered through e-Paluch, is called “e-Contributions.”

Many people already use such automated payment systems for their credit cards, automobile insurance, or school tuition. With e-Contributions, you can use a credit card or a checking account debit to:

• Contribute safely, simply and automatically to parish collections.
• Benefit from credit card rewards such as airline miles or cash rebates.
• Save time writing checks each week.
• View or print contribution reports at any time.
• Faithfully support your parish even when you are away on vacation.

[Please Note: we still encourage EVERYONE to pick up and register their own box of offering envelopes, which will enable you to help with those collections not listed on our e-Contributions web site. In addition, we urge even those people who are using e-Contributions to drop in an (empty) envelope when the first collection basket comes around at Mass, to encourage others to support their parish, and to symbolize the fact that you are also doing so.]

E-Contributions are ideal for your regular Sunday giving each week (the first collection), as well as for some important monthly second collections: our parish Building and Maintenance Fund; the OLM School Scholarship Fund; and the parish Religious Education Fund.

Our Lady of Mercy Parish benefits from e-Contributions because administrative costs are reduced. The bottom line is: our parish saves some time and money each year. That helps us to serve you better.

Registration is a simple matter of logging onto www.e-Paluch.com for an easy registration process. If you do not have Internet access, please call the Rectory for a registration card, and we will do the work for you.

We hope you choose to join us in taking advantage of the opportunities and benefits the Internet has to offer our parish family. May God bless you and yours!

Father William E. Brown -- pastor