News - March 2022

We know that our Easter collection is one of our two largest special collections of the year, and 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 now when our parish life is still not yet back to normal. The dedication of the people of Queen of All Saints to maintain our faith community in time of challenge has always been a hallmark of our parish.

This past week, together with the pastor of St. Mary of the Woods and a member of each parish from the Grouping Feedback and Discernment Team (GFDT), we presented our report to the executive committee of the archdiocesan Renew My Church team...

Thank you very much for your generosity last weekend in support of our “Third Sunday” second collection. Our collection, along with a collection taken up by the students at our school will be sent to Catholic Relief Services to help families in the Ukraine. Your generosity is overwhelming and will bring much needed relief to families affected by this crisis.

It is hard to believe that it was two 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.

Now that the construction phase of our capital campaign is completed we turn to the happy task of thanking our generous donors on a plaque in the hallway by the NW door of the basilica opposite our Millennium Campaign plaque.

Lord God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters.  Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister.

We are almost halfway through Lent and some of us might be saying to ourselves ‘Halfway! I can do this’ or some of us might be thinking ‘Halfway! Perhaps I could cheat a bit’ or some of us may find ourselves at the starting point, thinking ‘I really need to do the things I promised I would do this Lent.’

The Lenten season prepares us for the celebration of Easter, the most important day in our Christian calendar. It is a time for us to embrace the ancient triad of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in a more focused way. For some it is a time of healing, an opportunity to repair their spiritual brokenness. For others it is simply a good time to cultivate their spiritual lives in a more disciplined manner. 

For 40 days each year, the universal church comes together to share in the penitential acts of the Lenten season. During this time, we are called to a true conversion of heart as followers of Christ. The Church offers us three means of working towards this interior conversion: prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

Our Lenten journey has begun. It is the 40-day period in which we are called to a conversion of heart through prayer, fasting and charitable works. Through its Lenten pilgrimage, the observance of Jesus’ passion on the cross in Holy Week and his resurrection, the Church seeks to enable us to make an honest response to the questions the priest will ask on Easter Sunday - “Do you reject sin so as to live in the freedom of God's children?” “Do you reject the glamour of evil and refuse to be mastered by sin?” “Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness?”

We talk about the three traditional pillars of Lent, often referred to as:  Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. Let’s look at how those last two can work together for our Lenten preparation.