It's not too late to learn about 2022 charitable 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, and you can designate students at Queen of All Saints School, or a wider group of schools, to receive those funds.
It's not too late to learn about 2022 charitable 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, and you can designate students at Queen of All Saints School, or a wider group of schools, to receive those funds.
Regular readers of this page in our weekly bulletin know that we always present an honest assessment of our parish finances, and our goals for our shared future.
Remember how the basilica ceiling looked in 2017? We know that the last few years have been especially trying times for our parish finances from a major capital repair perspective. We were faced with the sudden and unexpected need to replace the basilica ceiling during 2017/2018, then to make more extensive than expected repairs to the bell tower during 2019/2020 and now to make extensive repairs to the east and west transepts of the basilica, extending into 2023.
We talk about stewardship as time, talent and treasure. Let’s talk about time. COVID restrictions are mostly an increasingly distant memory. Vaccinations are routine, school is in full session, work routines have become more flexible to adapt to people’s desires for more work from home. New experiences are planned and yet we remember the traditional need to return to our basilica for worship...
Here is how our parish campus looked in 1955, when all our buildings had been erected except for the new church. Then, as now, all those other buildings were in heavy use as important parts of a healthy and vibrant parish, including squeezing Masses into multiple cramped spaces in the Keene and Lemont buildings. Solving that situation was the final piece and crowning glory of our parish’s early years.
The global health crisis from COVID-19 was sprung on us two and a half years ago very quickly and without warning. Every day brought more uncertainty as we were called upon to do our best for ourselves, our families and for each other, even in our gatherings for Mass and other liturgies here at Queen of All Saints.
We hope you had a chance to visit our Ministry Fair and Oktoberfest last weekend. Perhaps also the rain that drove our event indoors gave you an opportunity to see our Parish Center and cafeteria. The Parish Center was the final construction phase of our Capital Campaign, which was our collective confident vote in the future vitality of our parish.
There is just one-third of the year remaining so it’s not too early to start thinking about our 2022 tax returns and how we can support our parish in a tax-advantaged way. Certainly, the primary motivation for our charitable contributions to Queen of All Saints Parish is the generous return to God for the great gifts he has given us.
Lord Jesus Christ, As we celebrate our national holiday in honor of the dignity of labor and our duty to use the fruits of our labor for others, teach us to recognize you, and help us follow you amidst our busy life.
As we look ahead to the beginning of our parish year, we remind ourselves of how fortunate we are to be a part of a vibrant parish. Our parish is blessed with many ministries through which we reach out to and serve each other, including those listed on our website at qasparish.org and in our annual financial statement..
There’s something wonderfully renewing about late summer, especially as it begins a new school year. It’s all about new beginnings. Maybe it has something to do with new classrooms, new teachers, clean smells, new sights.
We talk about stewardship as time, talent and treasure. Let’s talk about time. For some time we have been free of most COVID restrictions (although we very much respect those who are hesitant and still wear masks and maintain distances). School is preparing to resume in a few weeks, our work and recreation schedules have become more flexible, new experiences are still planned and yet we remember the need to return to our basilica for worship, for prayer and for spiritual comfort.
It is hard to believe that it was two and a half long years ago that a global health crisis from COVID-19 was sprung on us very quickly and without warning. Every day seemed to bring more uncertainty and we were called to do our best for ourselves and for each other, even in our gatherings for Mass and other liturgies here at Queen of All Saints.
Many parishioners know that their ability to support our parish may be limited due to their current housing, medical and other expenses. However they also know that including our parish in their estate planning may be an alternative that provides them the comfort that they have made the right provision for the parish they have known for many years.
July is the heart of our hot, languid summers. It’s vacation time for many, time to rev up the grill or skip out to the beach. Even our reading material changes with the heat and light: that heavy biography becomes an easy on-the-beach thriller. So it’s probably true that our approach to stewardship changes with the seasons as well – it changes but doesn’t disappear.
Are you comfortable at Mass? With July temperatures normally ranging from merely warm to outright nasty, you might hesitate before going out your door, but you know that our basilica will be a place where we can all worship together as one family in grateful celebration of all that God has given us.
Is there such a thing as a stewardship of recreation? Some people might dismiss the thought. But they’d be wrong. Author Thomas Cahill observes that, in receiving the Ten Commandments, the ancient Hebrews did something no other ancient society had ever done: they established a day of rest.
