Dear Friends in Christ:
Well, it is here. Next Sunday is our annual parish bazaar! Believe it or not, it is already a huge success! That is because so many have already done such a wonderful job in preparing everything so that all of us can have a great day! Last year, we had over 1400 volunteers! That was an incredible feat. Our bazaar is the largest single event in our parish because it is the largest event of the year where we all come together. Folks from every Mass and every group in the parish come together as one family to have fun, eat, laugh, work, and serve! It is a wonderful day.
Money is a part of the bazaar. While the bazaar is indeed a fundraiser, that is not the primary purpose of the bazaar. The primary purpose of the bazaar is to build and strengthen our parish community through a day of fun, food, and fellowship! To show our thanksgiving to God for the opportunity to come together as a parish family, 100% of our net proceeds are directed to our charities. The monies raised do not go to pay salaries, the electric bill, the insurance bill, or any other bill here at SJV. This is not in lieu of our other charitable works or giving but in addition to what we are blessed to do out of love for God and our neighbor. We assist 30 other parishes, schools, and organizations. Our bazaar proceeds help us to support our parish mission trips to Eagle Pass. Teams of parishioners travel to the Texas-Mexican border to repair the homes of some of the poorest people in the U.S. We also do home repairs right here in the Houston area. Our proceeds have helped us sponsor medical mission trips to Central America in the past. We also use the funds to build houses with Habitat for Humanity right here in Houston. The bazaar proceeds to help our efforts to feed, house, clothe, and provide medical care for the poor and needy throughout the Houston area. The proceeds from the bazaar also help expectant mothers who need to prepare for their unborn children and them after they are born. We aid our sister parishes, St. Peter Claver and St. Francis of Assisi and we aid Catholic education with grants to St. John Paul II Catholic School, St. John XXIII High School, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Incarnate Word Academy, St. Jerome and St. Augustine schools, the Inner-City Catholic Schools and the University of St. Thomas. We support Magnificat House, Casa Juan Diego, Angela House, Wellsprings, and Our Daily Bread in their efforts to shelter the homeless, feed the hungry, and give comfort to the stranger in our midst.
Weekly, we receive numerous requests for assistance from wonderful and worthy causes and groups. We cannot do everything but because of the hard work of all those who help at the bazaar and those who support the bazaar financially through their patronage and support of the raffle, we have been able over the years to increase the number of groups we help and the amount of financial support we give. This has been especially true over the last few years when so many were hurting from inflation, the lingering economic effects of the pandemic, and, before that, the floods. So please make every effort to come to the bazaar, rain or shine. Buy a book (or two or ten) of raffle tickets, have something to eat and drink, make some new friends, try your hand at one of the game booths, watch the kids go crazy on too much sugar, and share in the joy of being part of such a beautiful parish community.
See you at the bazaar!
P.S. Remember that October is the month of the Holy Rosary. Pray the rosary together as a family.
In Pace Christi,
Fr. Troy