19 May, 2022
St. Lawrence Episcopal Church has received an anonymous gift of one million dollars that will allow the parish, which had listed its building on the market in 2018, to retain its property and remain a vibrant and welcoming community presence in its central Libertyville location.
The Rev. Kristin Saylor, Rector of St. Lawrence noted, “this gift is unimaginably good news, both for the congregation and the broader community. With the financial freedom this opens up, we are finally able to invest in the ministries that matter most to us, to reach out to the community and share the joy and vitality that we have in such abundance.”
The gift is intended to relieve the financial pressure of a mortgage that the parish has been struggling with since undertaking an ambitious building expansion project in the early 2000s. In 2018 St. Lawrence voted to place its building on the market, in the hope that the revenue generated by a sale would allow them to pay off the balance of their debt and continue their mission in a new home. Thanks to this gift, the congregation no longer needs to sell its building to remain financially viable and the property was taken off the market on April 30th. This is especially good news for the many local families who have interred the ashes of their loved ones in the church’s columbarium. Deborah DeManno, a church warden, remarked: “Facing the reality of the mortgage debt was an anxious time for the congregation. But with careful discernment, in choosing to explore letting go of our building we were choosing to be faithful to our mission. Now it feels our faith has been affirmed and we move gratefully into the future with renewed energy and promise.”
The donor, who is a member of the congregation, was inspired by the work of the congregation and was motivated to invest in St. Lawrence’s future, while protecting its central location and beautiful building
