Parish
Stewardship 2010
This year the theme reflects
the third characteristic of a Christian steward: Sharing God's
Gifts in Justice & Love. Let's work to promote stewardship at
the parish level by encouraging participation in the meetings
listed below. All meetings run from 7-9 pm:
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Monday, August 16
St. Catherine of Genoa Parish, Genoa
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Tuesday, August 17
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Crystal Lake
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Wednesday, August 18
St. Rita Parish, Rockford
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Thursday, August 19
St. Michael Parish, Galena
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Tuesday, August 24
St. Thomas More Parish, Elgin
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Wednesday, August 25
Sacred Heart Parish, Sterling
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Thursday, August 26
St. Peter Parish, Geneva
A Message from Our Sister Diocese in Chulucanas, Peru
Posted 6/28/2010
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Dear
Friends,
Happy Father's Day to all
fathers, grandfathers, godfathers and everyone who acts as a father for
others, including spiritual fathers. I hope you have a great day.
Sadly, fatherhood, with some happy exceptions, is up for grabs in Peru.
(It seems to never fail. When I start one of these,
something comes up. So at this point I hope you HAD a Happy Father's
Day.)
I think I told you I am teaching Latin in our new
seminary. What a hoot! I'm not sure the men are learning much Latin, but
we have a good time. It is only once a week for about and hour and 45
minutes, so it's not much. The bishop here wants them to learn to pray
and sing in Latin. That's the part they like best, and I am old enough
to remember the songs. Grammar and translation are a bit boring, but
even there they are good willed and make a good effort. One day I was
really tired and suggested we quit early. Would you believe they
wouldn't hear of it. They wanted to stay and learn another verb. Yikes!
The radio station is also a lot of fun. It is
always interesting to get comments from people in Europe and the USA and
other Latin-American countries who listen to us.
My godson's health continues to be a great worry. I
sometimes don't know what to do. He needs very expensive medicines and
is in the hospital again. Please pray and help if you can. His little
brother and sister are outgrowing their heavy clothes. It is winter here
and cold where they live. I am concerned that the little boy who suffers
from serious bronchitis stays warm. An aunt helps care for them. Mother
has gone off again with her boy friend.
Here in the north (close to the equator) days are
warm. Nights can be coolish but not really cold.
I hope to see many of you while I am back in that
part of the world from July 20 - August 11. I hope all is well with all
of you. Thank you for all you do materially and spiritually. I don't
have a way of sending fancy brochures and thanks you notes, but God
knows and will bless you for your kindness.
Remember what they used to say in Catholic school:
"May God reward you." The bank has become fussy. Please make out any
checks this way: "'Rev. William Schuessler' and in the memo: 'mission
acct.'" and send to me at:
Rev. William R. Schuessler
c/o St. John Neumann Church
2900 East Main St.
St. Charles, IL 60174
Thank you.
In His
Peace,
Fr. Bill
Donor Advised Funds
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 Did
you know The Catholic Foundation offers a way for those who
would like to make an immediate contribution and then decide later which
organization(s) will receive
their gift(s)?
Donor Advised Funds
allow individuals to make a single contribution to The
Catholic Foundation in either an endowed account (interest and earnings can
be distributed) or a provisional account (the principal can also be
distributed). The donor advises us as to how they would like the gift
invested: in the Income, Balanced or Growth Fund. Then, at the donor's
option, they advise us as to which charity or charities to receive all or part of the fund.
The donor’s recommended non-profit
recipient(s) must follow the moral teachings of the Catholic Church.
“Otherwise, we will follow the recommendations of the donor,” says Greg
Urban, director of planned giving. The idea behind this new kind of fund, he
adds, is to begin a relationship between the donor and The Catholic
Foundation, perhaps leading a donor to remember his/her parish or the
diocese in their estate plan.
A minimum donation of $10,000 can open an
account. An account balance of $1,000 must be maintained in the account, or
the entire principal in a provisional account may be recommended by the
donor for distribution and the account closed. The minimum recommendation
for distribution is $250.
So, who might be interested in this type of
fund? 1) Persons who will be retiring in the
near future who want to make a donation now in order to take an immediate charitable
deduction on taxes while they are still earning income, and 2) Year-end
givers who haven't yet made up their minds as to who will get their gift(s).
In either case, donors can decide at some future point which charit(ies) will benefit from
their gift(s).
For more information about
Donor
Advised Funds, contact the Foundation Office at 815-399-4300.
Planned Giving Tips
& eNewsletters
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Click here to go to Archive Index
Mark your calendars and
plan to attend the
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2010 International Catholic
Stewardship Conference
September 19-22, 2010
San Diego, CA
ICSC
2010 Conference Brochure (in pdf)
 Parish Stewardship
Materials Available
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Each parish
should have received materials to help promote giving to the parish. These materials are also available here on the web site. We encourage
you to use these resources.
United in Faith Campaign Update
As of June 30, 2009
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 The United in Faith Campaign
is in its sixth year of pledge redemption. For most donors, this Campaign is
complete. If you have not completed your pledge we encourage you to continue to make regular payments.
Below are the campaign totals as of June 30, 2009:
$5,500,000 was allocated for Diocesan Stewardship
2001
$4,542,609 to Parishes in rebates
(Campaign Expenses and Reimbursements to
3 Parishes which conducted approved capital campaigns as part of the United
in Faith Campaign complete the financial picture.)
Current endowment (corpus)
balances:
$6,972,680 to Catholic Schools Endowment
$7,024,351 to Seminarian Education Endowment
$3,486,340 to Religious Education and Youth Ministry Endowment
$3,051,698 to Needy Parishes and Schools Endowment
$2,150,924 to Diocesan Priests Retirement Pension Endowment
(The numbers above include $819,136
that was returned
to the corpus during September 2007 as a hedge against inflation.
Nothing was added to the corpus in September 2008 because there were no
earnings.)
The United in Faith President
Appointed Committee (PAC) made the following decisions at
their August 26, 2008 Annual Meeting:
Because of negative
investment returns during the past fiscal year there were no current
earnings to distribute. The PAC, however, decided to distribute
one-third of the $2,246,186 currently held in retained earnings.
$669,114 was distributed to the recipients of the United in Faith
Endowments during September 2008 as follows:
>>> $205,525: to all
Catholic elementary and High Schools on a per student basis
>>> $102,762: to all Parish Religious Education & Youth Ministry
Programs on a per student basis
>>> $ 90,363: to 23 poor parishes and schools for special projects
>>> $207,064: to assist with seminarian education program
>>> $ 63,400: to assist the Diocesan Priests Pension Program
$1,338,591 continues to be held in Retained Earnings for future
contingencies (after the 2008 market loss is recovered).
$5,859,742 has been awarded to the case
recipients since distributions began in 2003!
Those who benefit from the UIF endowments are
deeply appreciative of your sacrifices and generosity. Thank you.
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