On June 27th we celebrated our 173rd anniversary and launched our annual GIVE Appeal.  Last year’s GIVE Appeal, our first, was enormously successful.  We surpassed our goal with generous gifts from parishioners and friends of our community.  Your contributions helped us meet our bottom line and were essential in purchasing technology to livestream liturgies during the pandemic and making necessary exterior building repairs and improvements.

We now move ahead with the 2021 GIVE Appeal to support our mission as a Jesuit parish characterized by the four Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus, announced prior to the pandemic:

  • To show the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment
  • To walk with the poor, the outcasts of the world, those whose dignity has been violated, in a mission of reconciliation and justice
  • To accompany young people in the creation of a hope-filled future
  • To collaborate in the care of our Common Home

We are excited to begin this post-pandemic period in our parish life with several initiatives demonstrating a commitment to the Apostolic Preferences. These include:

  • small group formation in the Spiritual Exercises and discernment
  • promoting the works of social justice through our Immigration and Inclusion committees
  • accompanying young people through the Contemplative Leaders in Action program and the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
  • enabling our Green Team’s efforts in environmental sustainability

To support our initiatives, we have budgeted for a recently hired part-time Digital Media Coordinator and for filling our vacant Director of Parish Life position. The new staff members will enable us to communicate and connect more effectively within the parish, and to extend our reach beyond our parishioners.  They will help engage both current and new parishioners to increase our capacity to enact and live out the Gospel mandate.

Our regular offertory income, however, will not fully cover the additional staffing expenses that we project in the upcoming fiscal year.  Therefore, we have set a 2021 GIVE Appeal goal of $100,000.  Your financial contributions to the 2021 GIVE Appeal will substantially help pay these costs and build up the good works already active in our faith community.

Concurrent with our GIVE Appeal is the Archdiocesan Catholic Services Appeal (CSA).  Because our CSA target has already been met, 100% of all donations will accrue to our parish funds whether you donate to the GIVE Appeal (preferred) or the CSA.  Use the CSA link at the end of our homepage if making your parish gift through the CSA.

Through the message inherent in our 2021 GIVE Appeal – Gather, Inspire, Volunteer, Envision – we hope that you will make the most generous gift possible, and in doing so embrace a future where your financial contribution and parish engagement are intertwined in a way that is truly life-giving for you and others.  With gratitude for all that you do and would like to do to support our beloved church,

– Ss.  Peter and Paul Jesuit Church Finance Council