A year ago, around this time, we, along with St Mary of the Woods parish, were engaged in the Renew My Church process. The Archdiocese had to take a closer look at the viability of parishes and vitality within the parish community. While the diocese set benchmarks to assess a parish's viability, the efforts to sustain its life and growth would be ongoing. With both parishes meeting the criteria for viability, we experienced no structural change. We embarked on the "Building a New Reality" task guided by the mission imperatives to "Make Disciples – Build Community – Inspire Witness."
The start of a new year is a great time for us to take a fresh look at our support of our parish. Committing to stewardship of time, talent, and treasure is an important part of living a Christian life. Real Christian living asks a lot of us and is not easy. Making a commitment to stewardship is a serious challenge, including with recent years’ COVID challenges to our health, our finances and our loss of full community with family and friends.
The Association of U.S. Catholic Priests (AUSCP) Anti-racism Working Group is hosting the third series of discussions to advance anti-racism, which is titled “Self-Activate.” Join other QAS and Saint Mary of the Woods parishioners for rich discussions with the decades of lived experience from the many retired sisters, diocesan priests, deacons and school teachers.
Since 1974, National Catholic Schools Week has been the annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States. Our school theme this year is: God is a part of our lives. As we observe this special week, we call attention to the qualities and values that make Catholic schooling such an important ministry of Queen of All Saints Parish.
In October, the Wall Street Journal published a commentary titled "Amid the Pandemic, Progress in Catholic Schools" by Kathleen Porter-Magee. The author draws upon the recent findings of the National Assessment of Educational Progress which reveal nationwide drops in reading and math achievement among 4th and 8th graders since 2019. She highlights the very different experiences of Catholic school students during this same period. The reporter notes that while the pandemic "set a generation of students back … Catholic schools were a bright spot" by keeping their doors open for in-person learning and demonstrating how "community-focused, mission-driven leadership can benefit children."
Queen of All Saints parish is blessed with parishioners who continually witness an enduring commitment to their Catholic faith. I am grateful to the numerous parishioners who are deeply involved in our ministries of worship, faith formation, parish life and outreach. I cannot stress enough that everyone is welcome to participate in these ministries regardless of prior experience. I express my gratitude for the gift of your precious time as well as your financial support to our parish.
We are asking for a significant increase in our Sunday collections and believe that any request for support must be based on a well-documented need. We rely on three main sources of funds:
We are thrilled to kick off the 2023 United Parish Program fundraising season with two fabulous dining opportunities at Stefani Prime! Enjoy amazing food, ambiance, and much-needed time out of the house with friends & family during these cold winter months - ALL while supporting our school & parish! Dining dates are a February 13 dinner and a February 26 brunch. Click for details.
Now that the festivities of Christmas are over (really?), we get back into the regular grind of daily routine and tasks. However, the Feast of the Epiphany reminds us that our gaze should always be on Christ, who manifests himself in innumerable ways. The story of the Magi touches our Catholic imagination. In some ways, it symbolizes the journey each Christian must make.
Fund a child's future by donating now and investing in our children's future! Reduce your state income tax and take advantage for a limited time of a 1-for-1 matching gift, through March 31, 2023! Click for more information.
The start of a new year is a great time for us to take another look at our support of our parish. Committing to stewardship of time, talent, and treasure is an important part of living a Christian life, and real Christian living asks a lot of us and is not easy. Making a commitment to stewardship is a serious challenge...
Children's Liturgy of the Word (CLOW) is offered every Sunday at the 9 am Mass for children preschool through second grade. The kids and catechists (volunteer teachers) have a lot of fun with songs, readings, reflecting on the Gospel message, reenactments and having time to bring their own prayer intentions forward.
Fr. Andrew Bartosz was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Poznan, Poland in 1991, where he earned the degrees Master of Theology in 1990, and S.T.L. (Licentiate in Sacred Theology) in 1992. In 2000, he came to Chicago as a part of the International Priest Initiative introduced by Cardinal Francis George, and was incardinated as a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2009.
Happy New Year! January 1 is not just like any other day of the year. It is a day of dreams and resolutions. The first seconds of this day are cause for noisemakers and boozy good cheer to ring in a new year. This year, I will start the task the day it is assigned. I will complete the job before the deadline. This year is when at least one of Chicago's sports teams will make the playoffs.
In 1963, Andy Williams first sang of this season as "the most wonderful time of the year." It certainly is the most wonderful time of the year. The charm of Christmas is the sheer joy of children as they see the sights, hear the sounds and smell the aromas associated with the season, especially as they await the arrival of Santa Claus...
In 1963, Andy Williams first sang of this season as "the most wonderful time of the year." It certainly is the most wonderful time of the year. The charm of Christmas is the sheer joy of children as they see the sights, hear the sounds and smell the aromas associated with the season, especially as they await the arrival of Santa Claus. Christmas is incredibly wonderful because it brings us here today and binds us together as disciples of Jesus Christ...
We look ahead to Christmas next weekend knowing that our Christmas collection, one of our two largest special collections of the year, is a necessary part of our ability to support the many ministries, liturgies, and outreach that touch us throughout the year, even at times like 2020/2022 when our normal parish life was interrupted...
Queen of All Saints School provides a faith-filled education from 3-year-old Preschool through 8th grade. If you are interested in learning more about our National Blue Ribbon school, please join us for one of our upcoming showcase events. Click for more.
It's not too late to learn about 2022 contributions to benefit Illinois Tax Credit Scholarships. As an example, a $1000 contribution will cost you only $250 after a 75% state income tax credit and will be matched 1-for-1. That means your after-tax final cost of $250 will result in $2000 for financial aid scholarships for Archdiocese of Chicago schools, or you can simply designate Queen of All Saints School itself to receive those funds.
