Annual Report
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Annual Report 2016-2017 1 ST. MARY OF THE WOODS ANNUAL REPORT 2016-2017 WHO we are Parish Mission Statement Parish Pastoral Council We are a community of believers, proclaiming that Jesus The Parish Pastoral Council is a is Lord. We come together as Catholics to celebrate the leadership group through which Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, to hear and be priests and people work together as transformed by the Word of God, to bring Christian values co-responsible partners in furthering and love into our world and to live and share the teachings of the mission of Christ in our parish. Jesus. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, we strive as a parish family As a group, they think and plan for the parish on an ongoing basis, to to further the Kingdom of God, making God’s presence felt respond to present and future needs. and extending the caring spirit of Jesus. The Parish Pastoral Council is a An Engaged Parish consultative body. Consultation in the We pray that the Lord will help us to be an engaged community Church is rooted in the understanding with open hearts and open minds to Seek The Lord, Share His of the Church as a community of Gifts and Rejoice in His Blessings. believers who share in the priestly, prophetic and governing mission of Jesus. The priest consults his people because he knows that wisdom Preparing to celebrate our resides within them. That wisdom emerges in dialogue. The task of 65th Anniversary as a parish parish pastoral council members next year! is to “represent” by “making present” the wisdom of the parish. The Parish Pastoral Council members are: • Stephanie Cantrell • George Rourke • Joe Cook • Jim Sweany • Michael Collins • Maureen • Sue Dudek Vance • John Kerrigan • Liz Weber • Bridget Merck • Laura (Chair) Wilkison • Jackie Noteman • Jim Wolf 2 ST. MARY OF THE WOODS ANNUAL REPORT 2016-2017 A letter from the PARISH ADMINISTRATOR Dear Parishioners and Friends, As we prepare for our 65th Anniversary next year, St. Mary of the Woods continues to be a vibrant and active parish. I am proud to present to you the Annual Report for the past fiscal year, July 1st, 2016 — June 30th, 2017. It is a snapshot of who we are and what we are doing at this moment in our parish’s exciting and colorful history. I am grateful to all involved in its preparation: the parish finance committee, the leadership of the various ministries and parish organizations, parish and school staff and particularly Kathy Kaminski, parish secretary, for her considerable work on lay-out and presentation, and parishioner Kim Weber for her Father Aidan O’Boyle editorial skills as the document neared completion. In this report you get a great sense of the state of the parish. You will find in its center pages a transparent summary of our fiscal health. On either side of the financials are pages capturing the vibrancy of parish life and showcasing our parish at its best. The St. Mary of the Woods Your generosity to the parish continues to inspire me. As our finance committee notes elsewhere Finance Committee assists in the report, the parish is financially solid due in significant part to the goodness of so many the Parish Administrator in parishioners in supporting the church and school through the regular Sunday, Christmas and the financial governance of Easter collections, as well as our parish fundraisers throughout the year. Moreover, words can the parish. scarce express my gratitude to all of you who responded with such extraordinary generosity, once again, to our recent St. Mary’s Summer Projects Campaign where $225,000 was The members of the contributed. These Summer Campaigns are allowing us to undertake some very necessary Finance Committee are: maintenance and improvements to the church and school campus. Your financial support • is a testimony to the love and loyalty toward St. Mary’s by so many great people! Ed Sutoris (Chair) • Michael Collins In addition to supporting many ministries and programs and maintaining our facilities, St. Mary • of the Woods makes a significant commitment to those in need. The commitment to our sister Sue Dudek parish St. Sylvester, our Loaves and Fishes Ministry, support for the Maryville Crisis Nursery, • Jenny Novy and our teens’ dedication to service at Feed my Starving Children are tangible ways we respond • Michael O’Rourke to those who are struggling. • David Weber Please take the time to read this report. It speaks of an active and vibrant community of faith. You can feel proud of the parish to which you belong. The future does not exist until it happens. And we are the ones who make it happen. The future is neither a blank page nor is it an already designed house into which we are required to move. The future is what we build together, what we create together. Nor is it implemented in one deft and intelligent stroke. It occurs only at each moment, with the next step we take. Let us step out together for another year as we seek to shape our future and build a stronger and even more vibrant St. Mary’s, under God’s guiding hand. Thank you for being part of St. Mary of the Woods Parish, for your faith and your faithfulness. Thank you for your talents and for all that you share with us. Thank you for the smiles and the challenges you bring. And thank you for the warmth and friendship that shows our new young families that All Are Welcome! Mass of Thanksgiving in Gratefully, celebration of twenty-five years of Fr. Aidan O’ Boyle service as priest for Fr. Aidan O’Boyle ST. MARY OF THE WOODS ANNUAL REPORT 2016-2017 3 Preparing to Celebrate SIXTY-FIVE YEARS AS A PARISH St. Mary of the Woods was conceived in January 1952, 65 years ago. A group of Catholic women in the area began petitioning door-to-door for a parish. They worked tirelessly because their children had missed so many school days at distant Queen of All Saints due to the inability of school buses to get through the snow. It seems that decisions were made more swiftly back then, because those petitions were presented to Cardinal Stritch on March 12th of 1952. On June 29th, Father Daniel B. 0’Rourke was named pastor of the yet-to-be-named parish. A storefront at 6141 West Touhy Avenue provided Father 0’Rourke a temporary location for offering Sunday Mass. He celebrated the first Mass there at the end of July 1952, 65 years ago this summer. His new parishioners became his new family and they all sacrificed time and money to build St. Mary of the Woods. The year 2017 marks the 65th anniversary since the foundation of the parish - a significant milestone on the faith journey of St. Mary's. Moreover, the first Mass was celebrated in the new Church at midnight on December 24, 1953. We look forward next September to marking the 65th Anniversary of the opening of our school and the 65th Anniversary of the first Mass to be celebrated in the Church on Christmas Night 2018! The reported cost of the original Church and school was $436,000. These costs were kept to a minimum due to the generous donation of time and talent given by the architects, John Voosen and Michael Gaul. They designed a new addition that extended perpendicularly, yet separately, from the existing structure. This addition housed three classrooms, a music room and a hall for physical education. 4 ST. MARY OF THE WOODS ANNUAL REPORT 2016-2017 In Loving Memory of FATHER PATRICK G. CECIL Pastor 2010-2016 AD MULTOS ANNOS REQUIESCAT IN PACE Born to Life June 21, 1952 Ordained May 10, 1978 Born to Eternal Life November 14, 2016 Rest in Peace... FATHER PAT CECIL By Father Raymond Klees Father Pat Cecil died exactly twenty years after Joseph Cardinal Bernardin to the day: November 14th. Pat loved the priesthood, the Church and parish ministry. So did Bernardin. There is a simple kind of harmony in the vocations and the vows they each took and lived. Each had a deep faith, a kind nature, a shy spirit and a touching humility. Each loved what he believed and lived what he loved. Each found administration taxing, church life enjoyable and Father Pat with the priesthood fulfilling. Deacon Thompson & The two Latin quotes above, “For Many Years” and “Rest in Peace,” sum it Cardinal Cupich up. The first is the title line from an old priestly ballad that hails the many years of glorious ministry and service to the Church. The second is a simple prayer that one ‘rest in peace.’ It’s our prayer for Pat. We treasure his many years of faith commitment. Well done, Pat: Thank You! Deacon Intern: Queen of Angels Parish, Chicago; June 1977 - December 1977 Associate Pastor: St. Angela Parish, Chicago; June 1978 - June 1984 Associate Pastor: St. Zachary, Des Plaines; June 1984 - June 1991 Associate Pastor: St. Mary Parish, Buffalo Grove; June 1991 - February 1996 Pastor: St. Patrick Parish, Wadsworth; March 1996 - June 2010 Dean: Deanery I-B; June 2007 - June 2010 Pastor: St. Mary of the Woods, Chicago; June 2010 - November 2016 Dean: Deanery II-F; July 2015 - September 2016 Vicariate Awards Dinner School Kids visiting Father Pat in Peru Father Pat at Alden’s ST. MARY OF THE WOODS ANNUAL REPORT 2016-2017 5 WITH GREAT AFFECTION & GRATITUDE FROM ST. MARY OF THE WOODS People say one person can’t make a difference in the world... but we know that isn’t true, because we’ve seen the difference you make in the lives of those around you.