From the Pastor’s Desk

Last Sunday, we heard what Christ expected of His disciples, among whom we count ourselves by reason of our reception of the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation.  Today’s readings remind us that Christ’s gift to us is His Church through which He continues His mission of forgiveness and reconciliation.

No doubt, you have already heard that the Archdiocese of Chicago has embarked on a process called “Renew My Church”.  This title has been appropriated from St. Francis of Assisi who one night, while he slept, heard this plea from Jesus:  “Rebuild my Church!”  The next day, Francis climbed onto the roof of the church to make the necessary repairs.  Much later he realized that Jesus’ plea referred not only to the material aspect of the Church, but above all to its spirituality.  The goal of this process is to analyze the actual situations existing in the parishes of Chicago, which has changed diametrically as a result of demographic changes as well as of the decline in vocations which, in turn, affects the number of priests serving the Archdiocese.  The end result is that the Diocesan Parishes and Catholic Schools are so small that they are no longer self-sufficient and the Archdiocese does not have the means to constantly support them.  The intention of the Diocese is to create parishes and schools (at times by combining two or three parishes and schools) that can thrive and have all the necessary pastoral programs for our children, for our youth and for our adults.  As a result, the entire diocese was divided into groups, each consisting of a few neighboring parishes.  In our group are the following parishes:  St. Paschal, St. Robert Bellarmine, Our Lady of Victory and St. Constance.  Last week we held the first meeting of all the parish pastors in our group.  All parishioners will be kept informed of this ongoing process and will be able to actively participate in it.

I remind you and invite you to come to our Parish Dinner Dance on Saturday, October 12th; I urge you to take part in our raffle and purchase dinner  tickets which will be available after every weekend Mass or at the Rectory during the week.  God bless you and Good Luck!

Once more, thank you to all our picnic sponsors and in particular to  the following: Holy Name Society, Young at Heart, Woman’s Club, Sharon Malen, Frances Szymanski, Pat Pomykalski, all anonymous donors, as well as Mr. Norbert from St. Ferdinand Parish who gratuitously loaned us the inflatable play house for the children and I recommend his services to others.                                                                                                                Fr, Richard Milek