By Mary Quilici Aumack
In 1998 a young seminarian named Brendan McGuire came to our parish, St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, for his pastoral year. This was a key point in the faith journey of so many. Together with my husband and a few others, Brendan formed a men’s small Christian community that still meets every Friday morning, all these years later. It was on retreat with these men that my husband Doug decided he wanted to be Catholic. Fr. Brendan was ordained in May of 2000, and we were all there! He celebrated his first Mass at our parish.
Now, in gratitude for a priest who has given so much to so many here in the valley, we celebrate his 25th anniversary of ordination with the “gift of giving.” Generous donors have set up a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) to fuel the philanthropy of Fr. Brendan. Through this fund, Fr. Brendan will be able to support the ministries, programs, and organizations that are propelling spiritual renewal and changing communities.
This follows a tradition that many donors have followed of setting up DAFs to celebrate milestones:
- We hold DAFs for other priests like Fr. Saju Joseph and Fr. Rick Rodoni which were gifted for anniversaries of their ordinations. Through a beautiful bequest, Msgr. John Sandersfeld funded a special DAF dedicated to strengthening Parish teams.
- Several couples have included DAFs in their wedding registries, including most recently Emma and Vincent (click to read their story >).
- Parents are gifting DAFs in honor of graduations and starting a formal family discussion of giving.
These are just a few examples of the beautiful opportunity a gifted DAF provides to combine celebration with effective philanthropy.
If you would like to contribute to a gifted DAF, follow one of the links below.
If you’re interested in starting a DAF for a friend, child, priest or loved one, please reach out!