A message from Fr. Larry Lisowski
I am excited to announce our parish’s participation in the Generation to Generation: Answer The Call capital campaign, along with every parish within the Archdiocese of Chicago. After thoughtful planning, the Archdiocese of Chicago has embarked on a five-year campaign dedicated to strengthening our local parish and supporting the broader Chicago Catholic community by spiritually renewing our parishes, supporting our priests, and assisting parish communities in need.
We now have a tremendous opportunity to come together and strengthen our scared spaces, expand our ministry programs, and secure a vibrant future for generations of Catholics.
I am grateful for Libby Brunsvold and Lisa Quinlan who will serve as co-chairpersons for the campaign.
Our goal at ICSJ is to raise $1,205, 000 in five-year pledges. 50% of the funds raised up to our goal will be used to meet the needs of our parish. Once we surpass this goal, then 80% of additional funds will stay directly at our parish. I am confident that we will greatly surpass this goal.
The funds from the campaign will help our parish in the following ways:
Replace the Boiler at St. Joseph Church
The aging boiler at the St. Joseph Church needs to be replaced. Our boiler fails to provide sufficient warmth throughout our beloved church. The boiler that is well over 60 years old continues to burden our parish with expensive repairs. We estimate that the cost for replacing the boiler will be around $200,000. By addressing this critical infrastructure need now, we will not only prevent further deterioration and costly emergency repairs but also uphold our commitment to being faithful stewards of our historic buildings. Also, the carpeting in St. Joseph’s Church, that is almost twenty years old and wearing thin, needs to be replaced.Upgrading Immaculate Conception’s Church Interior
The beauty and reverence of our worship space impacts our faith community's spiritual experiences. At Immaculate Conception, we plan to address essential interior improvements to enhance our sacred space—including new paint, improved lighting, updating the sacristy and providing more storage space. These enhancements, like those recently made to our church exterior doors and Joy Room, will create a more visually inspiring and spiritually uplifting space, deepen our community's worship, and honor our parish's cherished heritage and identity.Strengthening Our Parish Ministries
Our parish ministries are the lifeblood of our faith community, fostering fellowship, spiritual growth, and community outreach. Through this campaign, we aspire to expand our ministries and programs such as Alpha, our Music Ministry and Young Adult Ministry. It is also our desire to strengthen our evangelization efforts by more effectively engaging parishioners of all ages and ensuring sufficient resources to meet the spiritual needs of our growing community. Our dream is to be able to raise $150,000 that would be used over the next five years to support our ministries.
The remaining funds will support the broader Church to:
Spiritually renew our parishes, including direct outreach to people exploring their faith
Support our clergy by providing funds for continued seminarian education, priest healthcare and retirement, and professional and pastoral development
Assisting parish communities including student scholarships for our youth and supporting our Parish Vitality Fund which supports facility maintenance and operations at parishes serving in low-income communities
I am very hopeful that many of our parishioners will join the campaign’s success to keep our parish vibrant and strong as we invest in our Catholic faith.
You will hear more about the Generation to Generation campaign in the coming months. For now, I would like you to personally ask you to do two things to ensure our campaign’s success:
Pray for the success of the campaign. May the Holy Spirt inspire us and guide us.
Volunteer your time and talents when you are able. We need as many parishioners as possible for an effort of this magnitude. If you are interested in joining the team, you can email me at: pastor@icsjparish.org. There is also a sign-up sheet in the back of church this weekend. I can really use your help.