Please read carefully: No priest will ever ask you to text or email him gift cards. Never, ever. Not in a million years.

Thieves pretending to be your pastor and asking you to buy gift cards is a rampant scam. I first saw this happen four years ago, but now it has become a weekly and even daily scam. Every week some members of St. Mary’s get an email(s) or texts claiming to be from me asking for a favor. When you respond, you get a message about how busy I am but need gift cards for people in the hospital.

These emails and texts are never, ever from me. If you look closely at the address it comes from, it is not my email, or my phone number. Sometimes they create a fake gmail account with one letter off from mine. Other times they are lazy and use a generic email. Other times they text. Google and Apple can’t seem to stop this and they will not refund any of the money stolen from you. The FBI is aware, but these are not coming from the anywhere in this country and the nature of the internet is making it impossible to stop.

If you send gift cards to the scammers they are redeemed immediately and the money sold on the black market. It is robbery, plain and simple. Parishioners have been robbed of anywhere from $300 to more than $1000.

So please remember:

• No priest of this or any parish will ever ask you to email/text gift cards codes or cash or banking info.

• Never feel pressured to give by phone, email or text. If you’re ever unsure, it’s safest to end the conversation and call the parish directly.

• Never pay over the phone and never send payment information via text or email.

• Be wary of false urgency. Scammers may try to create a sense of urgency to persuade you to do what they’re asking immediately.

• You do not have to answer people who are trying to scam you. Pray for them, but don’t respond.

• Trust Faith direct, this is the only company we use for electronic donations.

I hope that helps, and I pray that everyone in the parish is aware of this blight! I’ll say a Hail Mary for these scammers: may the Blessed Mother break their internet and get them real jobs. 🙂

When Saint Mary’s collects gift cards for the needy, it is done very differently, with you dropping off physical cards at the parish office or in the collection basket. That way you can be sure that your gifts are actually going to folks in need.

pax et bonum,

Father John Mosimann

Calling All Men!

Men of St. Mary Join Fr. Koehr for a Series of Presentations on the 7 Deadly Sins and how to CONQUER them WITH CHRIST!

Today is Mother’s Day! Happy Mother’s Day! I assure you of my prayers and blessing. I share this quote that I often resurface for this day:

“The most important person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral——a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body.”

“The Angels have not been blessed with a such a grace. They cannot share in God’s creative miracle to bring new Saints to Heaven. Only a human mother can. Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creatures. God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation.”

“What on God’s good earth is more glorious than this: to be a mother?”

— Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty

I think our Easter Sunday music may have been our best ever this year! Yet that amazing beauty is ephemeral. However, the beauty
of soul loving God is created to endure forever! Thanks moms for all that you do to give us life and lead us to Life Himself. Today we thank you for your love, generosity and faithfulness. Even if we don’t express our love and gratitude daily, you are faithful and treasured. Be strengthened by the grace of God to carry on your vocation.

Next week we will have our little May Crowning Ceremony at the beginning of Masses. All (yes all — children especially, but all) parishioners are will be invited to bring forward a flower to be placed at the feet of the statue of Mary while we sing a Marian hymn. Just bring a flower to Mass, and you and/or your children will be called back to the vestibule before Mass begins. Children who made (or will make) their First Holy Communion this year, are also encouraged to wear their Holy Communion clothes and given a place of honor in the procession.

Again moms, we love you and thank God for you.

pax et bonum,

Father John Mosimann