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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.

The beginning of June means summer is right around the corner after plenty of chilly spring weather and rain. Flowers are blooming and trees are in full leaf. Christian stewards are reminding themselves that stewardship continues as we head into the days of vacation, barbecues, summer reading lists, family reunions and trips to the beach.

It’s the beginning of June and soon summer will be upon us. Maybe we’re already feeling rested in the middle of a cautious reopening of our lives after a too long COVID restriction. Maybe we’re already planning long dreamed-of vacations or staycations.

We all need time off to recharge and refresh. Enjoy your respite from your usual work and then plan to rejoin our parish community with a new sense of joy and wonder at God’s gifts to us.

The image below shows how our parish campus looked in 1955, when all our buildings had been erected except for the new church. Doesn’t it look and feel like something very essential in our lives is missing?

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, and then to make more extensive than expected repairs to the bell tower during 2019/2020.

It’s here - May, the month in which the earth springs into bloom (at least in Chicago) and we start thinking about planting gardens, family picnics and making vacation plans. It’s also the Month of Mary, the Queen of All Saints, the patroness of our parish. Consider providing for the future needs of our parish in your estate planning.

Regular readers of this page know we were in the fortunate position to be able to borrow from our long-term savings accounts (our endowments) to fund...

We often describe our call to stewardship as our selfless gifts of time, talent and treasure, in response to the wonderful gifts we have received from God.

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.

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.

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.

Our Easter collection is one of our two major annual Holy Day collections to support our parish. We depend on the support of our parishioners throughout the year to fund our total operating budget. This includes the maintenance of our beautiful basilica where we gather in worship (now with increasing attendance as we leave COVID restrictions behind), and our over 40 parish ministries that support each and every one of us at all stages of our lives.

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.

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. 

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.

Let’s start off this Lent not as a time to “give something up” but rather to “give something back” - the gift of time to look inward to ourselves. Saint Ignatius of Loyola offered us these words of wisdom, which seem particularly relevant as we enter the season of Lent: “He who goes about to reform the world must begin with himself, or he loses his labor.”

The Lenten season begins next week, our preparation for the celebration of Easter. It is a time for us Christians to embrace the “three pillars of Lent,” prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, in a 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.

As we near the second anniversary of our COVID ordeal, as we continue to maintain our Sunday giving in difficult times, as we focus on the need to replenish our parish endowments for the funds spent on our unexpected expenses for repairs in recent years to the basilica, and as we look ahead to our one single parish-wide annual fundraiser, the United Parish Program (UPP) on May 13, it challenges our generous spirit to think about fitting in one more request for support, the Archdiocesan Annual Catholic Appeal.