Fr. Simon's Letter - March 19, 2023

By the time you read this letter, you may be recovering from one or more St. Patrick’s Day parties, or preparing to celebrate the St. Joseph’s table. Some have remarked that all are Irish or Italian on these days, especially here at Queen of All Saints. Since the original St. Patrick’s Day party in the Queen of All Saints Gym in the 1950’s, we have celebrated all the people in our community every year; and this tradition has grown into the United Parish Program we enjoy today.

In the 1940’s, or maybe even in the 1930’s, the parishioners came together for a relatively fancy party at the Old Edgewater Beach Hotel. The party transitioned to the St. Patrick’s Day Party in the 1950’s when the Gym was opened. Later, it became the St. Patrick’s / St. Joseph’s Party in the 1970’s. In the 80’s it took on a new name, the United Parish Program (UPP). In the 90’s, the UPP moved outdoors under the tent as more and more people came together. COVID made us rethink the cost of hosting the event under the tent, and as responsible stewards, we had to make the difficult and prudent decision to move indoors to an off-site location. Our first off-site UPP last year was a great success.

The original St. Patrick’s / St. Joseph’s Party was a time to celebrate one another and the gifts each one brings to build up this community of faith. People made new friends, connected with old friends, and pretty much just had a good time. Eventually it began to dawn on them that as the community grew in size, and ministries and outreach programs were added, and buildings manifested a need to be repaired and cared for, that fundraising needed to become an integral component of these gatherings. Very quickly, the Raffle became the primary source of fundraising at the annual event, and it continues today.

As a believing community, we gather daily or weekly to celebrate our faith in our beautiful worship space, the basilica, which was made possible by the generosity and sacrifice of those who have come before us. In the early days since the parish was established, the people of QAS not only gathered to celebrate their faith, but also saw the need to celebrate community – and we live out these traditions today through the UPP. We need to be grateful for the past, mindful of the present and hopeful of the future. The UPP is our one and only fundraiser with a goal to raise $275,000 this year. All of these funds go directly to support the many ministries of Queen of All Saints parish. 

The Raffle is still our primary fundraising tool, raising a third of our total annual goal. To achieve this goal, we need to sell 3,500 tickets, and we offer a grand prize of $5,000, and two $2,500 prizes as incentives! If we do sell 3,500 tickets, a fourth prize of $2,500 will be added; if we do even better and sell 110% of our goal (3,850 tickets), a fifth prize of $2,500 dollars will be added. With so many opportunities to win, it should be hard to resist buying your tickets now! Each raffle ticket costs just $30; and if you buy a block of ten tickets for $300, you will be entered for a special prize of $1,000. In addition, we have two more Early Bird Drawings for $500 each, so purchase your tickets before the next Early Bird Drawing on Friday, March 24. Raffle tickets can be purchased online or you can pick some up in the basilica. You can find more information on page 9 of the bulletin.

We encourage you to celebrate our community together at the gala event on Friday, May 12, 2023 at the Chateau Ritz in Niles. You should be receiving invitations in the mail very soon. Please send in your RSVP as soon as you are able, to help with our planning for this important parish celebration. You can also support the UPP through sponsorships, ads, donating items to the auction and bottles of wine for the wine-pull. I encourage you to visit our new UPP website HERE. It is a one-stop-shop where you will find these and many other ways to support and be part of the UPP. Thank you for being a part of our community, and carrying on the traditions of support and care of our parish. We are Off to the Races!!

Blessings!!