May 19 Pastor's Notes 
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PRAYERS FOR OUR NEW PRIEST
Fr. Mike McGovernOn Saturday, May 18, Francis Cardinal George will ordain ten new priests for the Archdiocese of Chicago, including Brendan Guilfoil. Please keep Father Guilfoil, who Cardinal George has assigned to St. Mary, in your prayers. Please pray also for all of the ordination class and their families. Father Guilfoil will begin offering Mass here on the last weekend of June. FINANCIAL UPDATE As we move toward the conclusion of the fiscal year, I am most grateful for the donations we receive that support our ministries, including our school and religious education program. In addition to the weekly collections, the gifts of stock we receive throughout the year, plus your strong support at Christmas and Easter, help us fulfill the mission Christ entrusted to the Church. Thank you. Permit me to share some news about the parish debt. As you may know, we still owe $249,120 for the construction of the Learning Center, which was opened six years ago. Thank you to all who contributed $37,756 in capital donations in the past fiscal year toward reducing our debt. I am pleased to share with you that after consultation with the Parish Finance Council, we have sufficient cash on reserve to pay off our remaining debt of $211,364. So, at the end of this month, we will pay off the remainder of the debt. I believe this will be the first time since 1997 that St. Mary's will be free of debt. Thank you to all who so generously helped us pay down the parish debt. I thank you for your support and am always most willing to answer any question about our parish finances. Deo gratias! PLEASE NOTE Father Matthew Kowalski is away from the parish until May 25. I will do my best to respond to any requests for the assistance of a priest in the coming days. I appreciate your patience as we will be shorthanded for the coming week. CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION Once again there will be a procession with the Most Blessed Sacrament on Sunday, June 2, at the conclusion of the noon Mass. The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is a fitting day for public prayer honoring the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Children who made their First Holy Communion are invited to be part of the procession. MEMORIAL DAY There will be only one daily Mass on Monday, May 27 at 8am; the church will be open at 7am. Please note that the parish offices will be closed on that Monday in observance of Memorial Day. Please pray for the repose of the souls of those men and women in our armed services who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can live in a free country. In our Lord, |
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The Church of St. Mary has begun accepting online donations through GiveCentral, our new online donation service. The Archdiocese of Chicago is recommending parishes use GiveCentral for electronic giving.
GiveCentral is a safe, secure, paperless way to make your contribution. It was designed specifically for Catholic churches and schools in the Chicago area. The site allows you to make automatically repeating payments on a schedule that works best for you, using any credit card, debit card, or electronic bank account.
We believe that having a flexible, secure online giving option will make it easier for many of you to support the Church of St. Mary. Please visit www.GiveCentral.org and take a couple of minutes to set up your donations.
Thank you for your generosity and support!
For more information, please call Rebecca Quackenbush, our Business Manager, at 847.234.0205 in the Parish Center.
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