My most heartfelt Thank You! to those of you who responded this week to my appeal for this year’s Parish Giving Appeal (PGA). Since Sunday, 115 households donated nearly $70,000 to help us make our 2022-23 budget by June 30. Many of those gifts were in addition to those they had already made. Their generosity inspires me, and it is deeply gratifying. Thank you.
For those who were unable to join us last weekend, I spoke after all the Masses laying out the challenge before us to close a $285,000 gap by June 30. Importantly, I laid out the case for support, that St. Ignatius is an extraordinary parish in many ways, a place that feeds our hearts and souls through the sense of community and welcome, powerful and inspiring liturgies, meaningful opportunities for service, and much more. (You can get the gist of my talk in this video I sent out a couple of weeks ago: vimeo.com/827383439)
Today, the gap stands at $215,000, with just under three weeks to go. As I said last weekend, we need everyone’s participation, especially those who have yet to make a gift to this year’s Parish Giving Appeal. (Note that this is NOT the same appeal as the Preservation & Promise campaign or the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal, the AAA. The PGA is to pay for the ordinary annual operating expenses of St. Ignatius Parish.) To give you some perspective, a bit of math: To close the gap, we need 150 households to make a new gift of $1,425, the target amount I spoke of in my appeal this past weekend.
In recent weeks, I have had conversations with parishioners and staff alike. People are feeling an exciting vibrancy in the parish as we continue to emerge from Covid, and I am very excited about the planning that our lay leadership and staff has done for next year. (A bit of a teaser: We will have four Home4Dinner events next year!) But what we are able to accomplish next year will be conditioned by what we are able to financially achieve this year. If we do not hit our goal, we will have to reevaluate what is attainable next year. Thank you in advance for your generosity!
On another note, this weekend you will notice that three sections of pews and kneelers are gone. This is part of the restoration of the church we are doing through the Preservation & Promise campaign. These pews will come back to us restored, along with new kneelers. The remaining three outside sections will then go, to return in early September. The two main sections will be done in January and February, avoiding our major wedding season and Christmas.
As you can see, our stained glass windows are on their way to Chicago. I spoke with the foreman on that project last week, and he pointed out to me the precarious state of much of the lead that holds the panes together. “You’re doing this just in time,” he said. The windows are scheduled to return in February.
A few other restoration projects that are going forward in the next weeks (though you can’t really see most of it!): The remaining scaffolding and netting are being installed, and St. Ignatius Church will be completely shrouded by the middle of July. The sheet metal, both the siding and the ornamental parts on the mid-roof, roof, and east spire, is being stripped of its paint. This is a laborious process because, as you would guess, it’s lead paint. Also, the engineers continue to assess the masonry and the variety of best ways to repair the cracks. I will say that it’s fun to be around on the weekdays – it’s a veritable beehive of activity!
I hope that all of you who joined us in the Preservation & Promise campaign are excited and proud. You have every reason to be!
God bless you and those you hold dear as we enter the summer season. As always, oremus pro invicem.