Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I’m writing to you in gratitude for your continuous support to Sacred Heart, particularly during this year in which we’ve been celebrating the 150th anniversary of our parish. The solemn mass with Cardinal Sean O’Malley on June 18 was a great testimony of faith and an outpouring of gratitude to God and all the parishioners who have come before us.

As we get ready to move forward on our journey together as a community of faith, I’m writing to ask for your financial support for the 2023 Grand Annual Appeal. In last year's letter for the Grand Annual I asked for your support for the project to renovate the parish hall by installing a sprinkler system, installing a handicap ramp from the church to the hall and make the bathrooms handicap accessible. Thanks to your generosity, last year’s we raised $25,828 for this massive undertaking.

I’m aware of the fact that so far you haven’t seen any concrete progress in the project, but during this past twelve months we have indeed made some important steps in the direction of carrying out our plans. Because of the scope of the project, the Property Management Office of the Archdiocese of Boston had to be involved in the process. We also had to hire an architectural firm vetted by the Archdiocese to help us with the construction documents. The process has taken longer than expected but we’re ready to move to the next phase, which is the preparation of construction documents to be brought out into the market to receive bids from contractors.

The Grand Annual this year will be part of this project for accessibility improvements that hopefully will be completed within the next twelve months. As mentioned already in my letter last year, the scope of the project exceeds what we can raise within the Grand Annual: for this reason we are planning to use part of our financial reserves and to reach out to additional donors and local groups, asking them to also contribute to the campaign.  

I am writing to invite you to contribute to the 2023 Grand Annual Appeal that is set to start on the weekend of October 28thand 29th. I'm asking for a total of $45,000 to support our renovation project for the parish hall. Our hope is those who can, will support the Appeal with a donation of $300, to make it possible for us to meet our financial goal. I understand we are in an uncertain financial situation at this time in our nation. As such we do need your continuing financial support at this time in the form of The Grand Annual Appeal.  Contributions can be made at once, monthly, or quarterly. You can drop your contribution into the collection box, drop it in the mail, or donate online.

Christ desires that we Catholics evangelize for his Church to grow. I invite all to discern not just your financial support but how you might be able to share your time and talents with our Parish. May you repay a hundredfold for your generosity and let us continue to grow as a vibrant community under the guidance of the Holy Spirit

Your servant in Christ,


Fr. Paolo Cumin,   FSCB
Parish Administrator