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Mary, Mother of God Parish wrapped up June with our annual Knights of Columbus summer pancake breakfast. Members of St. Frances Cabrini Council #16733 arrived at Saint Ita early in the morning to cook up pancakes, eggs, and sausage. Parishioners filed into Jubilee Hall following the 8:30 AM & 10:30 AM Masses to visit and enjoy the delicious food. Thank you to our Knights for organizing!
Interested in joining the Knights of Columbus? Email the parish office or call 773-561-5343. If you've visited any of the Mary, Mother of God Parish web pages, you've likely seen some of the beautiful art created by Sarah Crow, artist-in-residence at St. Gregory's Hall, or Damian Chlanda, our ultra-talented parish photo volunteer. For more than two years, the pair has brought Catholic artists together through their Chicago Catholic Artists group, which recently held its first member exhibition. The project & exhibition were recently featured in the Chicago Catholic newspaper. Click here to read the article!
St. Gregory's Hall artist-in-residence Sarah Crow packed 300 years of history into Saturday's church tours of Mary, Mother of God Parish. Curious neighbors joined parishioners to learn about the histories and Marian imagery of St. Gregory the Great, Saint Ita, and St. Thomas of Canterbury churches. The three structures were all built within 11 years, starting in 1916, yet have striking differences in their designs and the beautiful artwork found inside. The event was organized in coordination with Catholic Church Tours. Don't miss the next one! St. Gregory the GreatThe tours began at St. Gregory the Great, which was completed in 1924. At the time, this part of Edgewater was home to many people from Luxembourg. The community paid homage to Medieval Europe with this church, built in the Norman Gothic style. This references French influence on English architecture following the Norman Conquest of England. Inside, the church features magnificent woodwork and stained glass windows. The tour focused on the shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, whose image is surrounded by paintings of Marian apparitions from around the world, as well as the pieta and Marian side altar. *St. Gregory the Great photos courtesy Joanna Stramel. Saint Ita Next, the group headed to Saint Ita, which was built in 1927. The legendary George Cardinal Mundelein specifically requested the church be built in the French Gothic design. Architect Henry J. Schlacks was tapped for the job, making Saint Ita the last of his 12 great churches built in Chicagoland. Builders hauled tons of limestone from Southern Indiana. Saint Ita's crown jewel is its incredible stained glass windows, which tell the story of Jesus, His Mother, His Church, and its saints through 200,000 individual pieces of glass. The group spent time identifying the various titles of Mary depicted in one of the stained-glass windows, all of which can be found in the Litany of Loreto. St. Thomas of CanterburyThe tour ended at St. Thomas of Canterbury, one of the most architecturally unique churches in all of the Archdiocese of Chicago. St. Thomas of Canterbury was completed in 1916, with its red brick facade and iconic columns. The design has been described many ways - American Neoclassical, Georgian, Colonial Revival - yet the goal was clear: to show early 1900s Chicago that Catholics were just as American as everyone else. Inside, the church is a testament to the country's diversity, with shrines to martyrs from around the world. This is especially apparent in the many depictions of the Virgin Mary, from Our Lady of Fatima to the Madonna of the Baobab.
THANK YOU to our wonderful Food Pantry volunteers, who recently added these beautiful flowers to our planters outside of St. Thomas of Canterbury. They've survived the recent storms! We are so grateful for our parishioners & volunteers who go out of their way to support our parish.
📸: Br. Ayub Mwenda, OFM Conv.  On Thursday, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will consecrate our country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in honor of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Devotion to the Sacred Heart was popularized by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who received apparitions of the Lord Jesus from 1673 to 1675. The image symbolizes God's endless mercy for each one of us; U.S. bishops said they chose the Sacred Heart in part because of its message of Christ’s love and suffering in a time of division.
You can livestream the consecration Mass this Thursday at 3 PM on the USCCB YouTube page: youtube.com/@UsccbOrg/streams ------------------------- Este jueves, la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos consagrará nuestro país al Sagrado Corazón de Jesús en honor al 250 aniversario de la firma de la Declaración de Independencia. La devoción al Sagrado Corazón fue popularizada por Santa Margarita María Alacoque, quien recibió apariciones del Señor Jesús entre 1673 y 1675. La imagen simboliza la misericordia infinita de Dios para cada uno de nosotros. Los obispos estadounidenses indicaron que eligieron el Sagrado Corazón, en parte, por su mensaje del amor y el sufrimiento de Cristo en un tiempo de división. Puedes ver la Misa de consagración en vivo este jueves a las 3 PM en la página de YouTube de la USCCB: youtube.com/@UsccbOrg/streams The Feast of Corpus Christi is a special celebration at Mary, Mother of God Parish. Parishioners stayed after Sunday's 10:30 AM & 12:30 PM Masses at Saint Ita for our annual Eucharistic processions around the block. The group prayed and sang hymns in honor of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His True Presence in the Eucharist. Did You Know? Also called the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi is celebrated two months after Holy Thursday, when Jesus first offered His Body & Blood to the Apostles. Later, Ss. Juliana of Liège and Thomas Aquinas urged Church leaders to promote a special feast in honor of Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. Corpus Christi observances traditionally include public processions with the Eucharist in a monstrance. 📸: Luana Lienhart, OFS  Mary, Mother of God Parish welcomed Nicholas Ho for a piano recital at St. Gregory the Great on Friday, May 22. The Singapore-based pianist and composer performed an exciting mix of classical masters and his own compositions. This included the Etude, "Odyssey," which featured sequences that Ho created in part through Microsoft Excel. Ho also debuted "Before I Held You – Nine Little Preludes for Piano, Op. 16," which he wrote in honor of his newborn daughter. Ho generously agreed to a free will offering on behalf of the St. Thomas of Canterbury Outreach Ministries, collecting $225 to help feed our neighbors.  Every year, Mary, Mother of God Parish offers novenas for parishioners to participate in. Our three biggest are the Mother's Day novena, Father's Day novena, and All Souls' Day novena.
This ancient Catholic devotion is prayed over nine consecutive days, often on behalf of a loved one or other special cause. According to tradition, after Jesus ascended to Heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary & Apostles prayed in anticipation for nine days before finally receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. This is often considered the first novena. During these novenas, our Conventual Franciscan friars remember your intentions in their prayers and Masses, offering them to Our Lord. Our next novena, the Father’s Day novena, will run from June 13-21. Parishioners will receive envelopes in the mail; envelopes will also be available in the back of church. Community members will soon be able to research Mary, Mother of God Parish history with our new Heritage Room & Library. The archive includes more than 100 years of primary sources and artifacts from our three churches: Saint Ita, St. Thomas of Canterbury, and St. Gregory the Great. The Heritage Room & Library are the result of years of collaboration among parish staff, parishioners and student volunteers from nearby Loyola University. On Sunday, May 31, volunteers and staff hosted an Open House to introduce the new space at St. Gregory the Great. Neighbors and parishioners stopped by to visit an exhibit of selected archive items and discuss the project. ABC7 covered the event for its 5 o'clock newscast that evening. You can watch the report here. Stay tuned for our next update, detailing how to sign up & use the space! This year, we join with all the parishes in Cook and Lake counties to kick off the Archdiocesan capital campaign, Generation to Generation: Answer the Call. Our goal at Mary, Mother of God is to raise $1,025,000 in pledges that are payable over five (5) years. Fifty percent of the funds from these pledges will go toward spiritually renewing our church, supporting our priests, and assisting vulnerable communities. The remaining fifty percent goes to restoring and enhancing the worship space at each of our churches. When you receive your invitation to participate in this historic effort, please pray for the success of the Generation to Generation campaign and please discern a multi-year pledge that is right for your family. If you would like to contribute, click here to contact our parish Director of Stewardship, Dorothy Julian.  |
