Dear Friends:
Next Sunday afternoon at 2:00 PM at St. Agnes, there will be a production about the life of Father Augustine Tolton, who was the first African-American priest ordained in the United States. Fr. Tolton, who was born in rural Missouri in 1854 and died in Chicago in 1897, lived a model and exemplary life, a life of such remarkable holiness, that he is now being considered for canonization as a saint. He already has been granted the title of “Venerable,” which is indicative of his extraordinary holiness. This one-man production about the life of Fr. Tolton, I am told, is quite good, very interesting, inspiring, and worthwhile. It will last just over an hour. I hope that many of you will take the time to come to St. Agnes next Sunday afternoon. It is a good way to spend a small part of a Sunday afternoon in Lent.
By now, most of you have received in the mail a request from Archbishop Coyne soliciting your gift to the 2025 Archbishop’s Annual Appeal. Our parish goal remains at $160,000, which may seem like a lot, but given the size of our parish, it should be attainable. Among the many worthy projects funded by the Appeal, one stands out in particular: the promotion and support of vocations to the priesthood and the diaconate. Owing to the people of the Archdiocese praying the prayer for vocations, there has been a great uptick in the number of men interested in exploring the possibility of a vocation to the priesthood, or a vocation to the diaconate. One of our own will be entering into priestly formation in the seminary come the fall, and another is already a bit along on the way to becoming a deacon. This costs money. It is estimated that to support each seminarian with room and board, tuition, books, and medical insurance costs $69,000 a year, totaling over $1.4 million in all for the year. All of us can lend our support to these men who seek to serve the Church through our prayers and our financial support. A gift or pledge to the Appeal would be the perfect way to do so.
The Ash Wednesday collection, as of this writing, stands at $10,181, over a thousand dollars more than we took in last year. The proceeds will be sent to the Beth-El Shelter to help them with the work that they do. We will send it the week of March 23 to allow anyone who has not made a gift to do so.
Have a good week!