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. Our ability to strengthen and expand our ministries, sustain our school and religious education program, and maintain our parish buildings and grounds is a great challenge. Even in the midst of this difficult economy, you have provided for our parish and those less fortunate. I commend you for your faithfulness.
The following pages contain the financial report of our parish for the 12 months ending June 30, 2022.
We began the story of our current fiscal year on July 1, 2022, when the memory of the scourge of COVID was fading and we were able to fully resume personal contact in our worship, in our school, and in our other parish ministries. Looking back on the prior two years, little did we know then what would lay ahead as we worked tirelessly to maintain our parish as the center of our spiritual lives. This story is still being written, a period utterly unlike any other in our parish history.
We know these have been some of the most difficult years in the lives of many of our parishioners, in their health, the health and lives of their loved ones, and for their own financial security.
We also know that the burdens of the COVID pandemic have been unevenly felt, with some faring better than others.
As pastor, I am responsible for not only the spiritual, but also the material, health of our parish, a responsibility I take most seriously. I am very much aware that a mere recitation of dollars and cents, and numbers of people, and a list of achievements, surely do not tell the full story of our parish. Please know that the stories behind these numbers reflect the selfless dedication of countless faithful of our parish, and the sum total of those stories is the true statement of our condition.
Yet despite our individual and parish challenges we remain thankful, welcoming and hopeful.
Thankful for those who have helped us remain open for our Masses and to those many volunteers who give hours of service to keeping us safe and then to reopen strongly.
Thankful to our teachers and staff, and to the parents of our school children, who dedicate themselves to our next generation, that their school and home lives remain as close to “normal” as we can safely achieve that goal.
Thankful to our faithful parishioners, who continue to support our one and only fundraiser, the United Parish Program even though we have to move it to an off-site location.
Welcoming to our parishioners who received the sacraments during the still difficult time of 21/22. Sacramentally, we remained consistent with our baptisms, confirmations, First Communions and funerals. We did see an uptick in the number of weddings celebrated as a result of the postponement of several weddings, partly due to the pandemic. For the past few years we have celebrated more baptisms than funerals, a sign of growth that bodes well for the future.
And, finally, hopeful for our shared future. Shortly after the end of this fiscal year we were finally able to celebrate the completion of our capital campaign, From Generation To Generation, with an elegant plaque installed in the Basilica to commemorate the over 860 donors to our campaign. This monumental achievement was made possible only with the selfless generosity of our parishioners, who contributed their hard-earned dollars to fund the reconfiguration of some of our most used parish buildings to fit the 21st Century needs of a vibrant parish community. We owe them our gratitude as we continue to grow our parish in the many ministries through which we care for each other, from the very youngest to the oldest.
We look ahead to 2022 and 2023 as years of continued recovery and solidarity, as we journey together to our hopeful destination as one family, as one community in shared worship.
May God bless each of us this new year. I will keep you in my prayers.