This Third Sunday of Ordinary Time is ‘Word of God’ Sunday, an opportunity for Catholics to reflect on the important role Scripture should play in guiding our lives, our faith and our families. Catholic schools play a pivotal role in forming consciences and raising up both saints and scholars for the good of humankind and for the glory of God. This is a great time for us to conclude our Stewardship for Saints and Scholars Capital Campaign for Catholic Education with Commitment Weekend. It is also the beginning of Catholic Schools Week, an even better reason for us to come together in support of strengthening our schools, increasing teacher pay and making more financial aid available to families.
At the Masses this weekend you will be asked to fill out a pledge card for the capital campaign. You are kindly asked to do so even if you decline to participate as we can always benefit from updated contact information for our census. You are also asked to fill out the pledge card even if you have already made your gift. There is a space on the card to indicate that, helping us to verify the accuracy of the pledges we have already recorded.
Feel free to bring the pledge card from your campaign packet mailed out to you in October already filled out if you wish to save time and effort. You might also want to bring your own pen, otherwise we have ‘golf pencils’ and pledge cards at the ends of the pews all throughout the church. They will be sealed in an envelope once you fill them out so no one near you will see what you have donated.
Pledge envelopes will be picked up after the homily and before we recite the Creed. We will still have the regular parish offertory collection at the normal time following the General Intercessions.
You do not have to bring money or a checkbook with you, or even credit card information. Just indicate how you will pay, how often you will pay and when in 2025 you would like the billing to begin. However, if you are willing to make a one-time gift, you can put cash or a check in one of the S3 envelopes in the pews, with checks made payable to ‘Saints and Scholars.’
WHERE ARE WE AT?
We’ve had a great final week, making a final push to bring in one more batch of $100,000 in pledges to drive down the total we need to raise this weekend. As of 5pm Friday, 465 Queens families have donated to S3, representing 30% of our parishioners. Pledges total $2,435,000 (our goal is $2,665,000), meaning we need to raise $230,000 this weekend to go into the S3 Victory Lane!
HOW DO WE GET THERE?
Gifts of any size make a difference. With an estimated 1,500 people coming to Mass this weekend, and 1,085 registered parishioners who have yet to donate, we could make our goal if we work together. Here are two possible paths to surpass our goal:
500 gifts of $500 = $250,000
1000 gifts of $250 = $250,000
The average gift up to now has been over $5,000 on a multi-year pledge, but on Commitment Weekend the more important thing than gift amounts is the number of givers, as we seek to engage with as parishioners as possible. We had 717 donors to the Witness to Hope Campaign in 2016. We would need 253 gifts to S3 this weekend in order for us to beat that milestone. I believe we can do it!
Queens School is proud to be part of the parish, the Jackson Catholic Schools and the Diocese of Lansing. Your gift to this campaign ensures that we can continue to make affordable, accessible and exceptional Catholic education available to all who seek it for generations to come.
‘Thank you!’ to those who have already given and to all of the S3 campaign volunteers named in this weekend’s bulletin for getting us to 91% of our goal going into this commitment weekend. We will update the pledge total at each Mass, showing just how much closer we are getting to the goal in the hopes that we will sail over the finish line by noon tomorrow!
The link below will take you to the Saints and Scholars website where you can set up your gift or pledge commitment, saving you the hassle of filling out a pledge card during Mass: