Advent Appeal

November 18, 2022

Dear Members and Friends of Dignity/New York,

Once again, we are approaching the prayerful season of Advent and the beginning of a new liturgical year. We just concluded our 50th anniversary year with a wonderful dinner and liturgy. We couldn’t have reached this milestone without you, and we need your continued support to sustain our beautiful community and advance our mission for many more years to come.

As you can see from the financial report below, we had some unusually large expenses over this past fiscal year because of our support of the DignityUSA national conference in July and our own anniversary and Pride celebrations. Our weekly contributions do not cover the full cost of our activities, and we drew on our savings to make up the difference. We depend on the Advent Appeal to help replenish those savings.

As part of our ongoing commitment to social justice, we will continue our tradition of contributing 10% of our Advent Appeal to the Trinity Place Shelter for LGBTQ+ youth on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. This excellent organization provides transitional housing and supportive services for up to 18 months for 10 young adults at a time.

To help enrich our experience of Advent, we are offering to each member of our community a free copy of The Little Blue Book Advent and Christmas Seasons 2022-2023. If you are unable to pick one up at St. John’s, please email dignitynewyork@gmail.com with your address and we will mail one to you. We also invite you to participate in DignityUSA’s weekly online Advent Reflection Series, starting on November 30. Visit www.dignityusa.org to register.

We look forward to seeing you at St. John’s or online for our regular Sunday evening liturgies at 6:30 PM EST, and for our Christmas Eve liturgy on Saturday, December 24, at 6:30 PM EST. There will be no liturgy on Sunday, December 25.

With our thanks in advance for your unfailing generosity, we send you best wishes and prayers for a safe and peaceful Advent and Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

The Steering Committee of Dignity/New York
Chris Alberti, Danny Larkin, Tom McLoughlin, James Osbourn,
Lewis Speaks-Tanner, Jeff Stone, Daniel Velásquez