Back in 2021, I was working for a parish as their communications coordinator.

I wrote a letter for the Christmas bulletin to welcome people who hadn't been to church in a while.

Since I wasn't actually physically at the parish, I didn't typically hear a lot of parishioner feedback about my work.

Except for that letter.

With that one, I had a recent convert specifically email me to say how much she loved it, how welcoming it was, and how it would have impacted her in her own conversion if she'd read something like that back then.

I heard from one of the priests that at least one person reached out to talk to him about their questions with the faith because of the invitation too.

Since I wrote it specifically for that parish, I don't want to share it word for word.

But I've talked about that letter a lot, and people have asked me before what the message was, so I decided to write a new, similar one.

As my final gift of 2024, I wanted to give it to you below to use at your own parish.

In typical Emily style, it's long. Feel free to copy it in whole or in part, make it your own, and use it however you'd like.

I pray that it blesses your parishioners and opens even one heart a crack towards letting Jesus in this Christmas.

This will be my last newsletter of 2024. I'll see you back here January 6! In the meantime, please know that I am praying for you and your parish during this beautiful Christmas season — for patience, for the ability to move an inch at the 4 pm Christmas Eve Mass, and for an abundance of the Lord's love and blessings for everyone at your parish — and you. Thank you for all you do to bring souls to Christ!

For His greater glory,

Emily

Welcome to CHURCH NAME! We are truly so happy to see you here.

We especially want to welcome you if this is your first time in church in a while. We're honored you're choosing to spend Christmas with us! If you want a refresher on the Mass, you can follow along on page XX of the missal.

But if you walk away with nothing else from this Mass, we pray it's this: Jesus loves you.

So much that He — God — became human (a vulnerable, poor baby at that!) to save you and prove to you how much He loves you.

Yes, you, the person reading this. Even if (especially if!) you're thinking to yourself, "Well that's nice, but there's no way He could love me."

Yes, He does. We promise. That's actually the whole point of Christmas.

If you don't believe that, here's your challenge: Whatever it is that you've been carrying for these past weeks — the stress, the anxiety, the pain — just give it to Him today. Leave it all in the manger with Him. Write it down if you want to and physically put it in the manger up on the altar.

And then continue to bring them to Him every day. Your prayers don't have to be crazy long or elaborate. Just tell Him what's going on and ask Him for help.

It's not going to magically fix everything. But after a while, you'll start to notice, even if the circumstances don't change, you have a peace about it you just can't quite explain.

(That's Jesus. And it's awesome.)

To help you do that, we'd love to invite you back to Mass on Sunday. We know — you're crazy busy, and adding one more thing to your weekend is daunting.

But we promise it's worth it. Because what we hear consistently from people is that going to Mass weekly not only gives them an opportunity to thank God and worship Him. They also leave refreshed. Renewed. Hopeful. Peaceful. Loved.

Because they've given their everything — even the messy parts — to the Lord, and He's transformed them with His love.

And we want that for you too.

If you're here, you're part of our family. We want to walk with you on this journey. Trust us, we don't have it all figured out either. But we struggle and grapple together, and we pray for each other, help each other, and draw closer to Jesus together.

And we want to do that for you too, but we can only do that if we get to know you. So, will you join us again on Sunday?

We pray that you have a blessed Christmas, filled with knowledge of Christ's love for you, and that we get to see you again soon.

God bless you!

P.S. Maybe you have a lot of questions about faith. "Is that really Jesus in the Eucharist?" "Why do bad things happen to good people?" “Why does the Church teach _____?”

Seriously, that's one of the main reasons we exist, to answer questions! If that's you, start small. Come spend some time with Jesus alone in the church to ask Him your questions — we're open every day from HOURS. Or [sign up for our email newsletter for upcoming Bible studies, events, etc.; reach out to talk to one of our priests, who would be happy to meet with you and answer your questions]. We mean it when we say that we want to walk with you, and that starts by answering your questions!

(You could swap this out for a different call to action instead, especially if you've been implementing the other follow-up tips we've been talking about the past few weeks!)