THIS SUNDAY Pope Francis recently declared July 25th the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. We will include an Intercession and blessing prayer for them at this Sunday’s liturgy; if your own grandparents are still living, you are encouraged to extend some extra TLC to them! Unfortunately, this announcement reached us only days [...]
IMPORTANT PARISH GATHERING – SAVE THE DATE!! Please plan to stay for a few extra minutes at Sunday mass on July 18. Jenéne Francis, the representative of our Jesuit Provincial Superior from the regional offices in Chicago, will be with us to give a brief presentation about the Parish Examen – an Ignatian spiritual approach [...]
MILESTONES AND CELEBRATIONS! This Sunday is Father’s Day, and although the liturgy of the church of course does not take account of this secular American tradition, still we pause to pray for all our fathers as they strive to live out the challenges of their divine and human vocation. And we give thanks for all [...]
I want to offer a reflection on our recent parish experience and relate it to this Sunday’s feast of Corpus Christi when the Church celebrates the mystery of our communion in the Body and Blood of Christ. Over one hundred parishioners participated over the last few months in our pilot project of Small Group communities. [...]
PASTOR’S PEN – MAY 21, 2021 The great feast of Pentecost has arrived, when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit of Jesus upon the first disciples, the mystery of His presence that continues in the church community to this day. In his prototype Pentecost sermon, St. Peter proclaimed “Convert and be baptized, [...]
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! This Sunday’s liturgy will be marked by a Mother’s Day blessing and a special surprise at the homily. It’s not a saints’ feastday on the Church’s calendar, but maybe it should be! We hardly need the articles in the press about pandemic stress to tell us what we have witnessed ourselves – [...]
SUNDAY OF THE “GOOD SHEPHERD” GOSPEL In this Easter Season we are witnesses with those first disciples of the work of the Holy Spirit of the Risen Good Shepherd in our midst. While both in our personal lives and in our parish the pandemic prevented many events and gatherings this past year, yet I see [...]
HAPPY EASTER Christ is risen! Thanks again to all those who helped make our Holy Week liturgical celebrations possible and beautiful – musicians, decorators, ministers in the sanctuary, welcome teams, virtual dinner hosts, planters of courtyard flowers, and waxers of the church floor. We celebrate the New Life Christ has given us through the Holy [...]
SERVICE NEEDED? Our small group communities are up and running! Some of the Service-oriented groups are interested in serving their fellow parishioners. Do you have a need they could help you with? Here are some examples: Would you enjoy help with groceries or other shopping? Taking care of some errands? Doing yardwork or other outdoor [...]
Just a word of thanks and blessing for the 127 parishioners who are now beginning our small group communities. May we all grow closer to God and to one another through this new immersion into the living Body of Christ. Special thanks to the facilitators, who completed their orientation within the last week, and to [...]