Last Sunday, November 18th, the parish of St Benedict headed over to St Paul’s House on California to help do a little holiday decorating for the people who live there. It was such a joy to participate in such a parish wide effort. The Holy Name Society offered to purchase the tree for decorating. The school children creatively made ornaments from recycled materials. There were enough ornaments to decorate 3 trees. Such creativity was a delight as we hung the ornaments and engaged in conversation with the residents. A group of about 10 teens from Youth Ministry and a few of their parents joined in the decorating as did several ladies and families, from the parish. When the residents came in to help it became a real party with cookies, hot chocolate and some absolutely delightful conversation…
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Click for a complete list of upcoming evens for young adults.
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Before I worked as a youth minister I was a preschool teacher. I worked primarily with 3 year olds. One day the kids were drawing pictures. I asked one of the girls to tell me about her picture. She told me it was a picture of God. Impressed, I told her that no one really knows what God looks like.
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The Annual Update for our Parish and School supporters includes the 2017-2018 Annual Report.
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By Isaac, Santi, Maclan and Lilli, second grade student’s at St. Benedict Preparatory School…
On Tuesday, October 9th, the leadership body of our parish met to discuss the book Divine Renovation. The entire group read the introduction to the boom, and had a lively discussion about the content. The following is a list of the discussion questions and the responses that were given…
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Please, join us for our November meeting on Wednesday the 7th at 9:30am in Beaven Hall. This month, in addition to our usual business, we will assemble sandwiches for our Parish’s outreach program. Our goal is 300 sandwiches so we need lots of helping hands!
Current members will bring supplies (check your email for details) but feel free to contact Caroline at carolinepadmanabhan@gmail.com if you’d like to contribute supplies…
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JEREMY KIOLBASSA explores the organ works of composers that are Polish or of Polish descent. As you might have guessed by his last name, Jeremy is of Polish-American heritage. The Kiolbassa family first arrived in the U.S. in the early 1800s in Panna Maria, TX. The most interesting and notable member of the family from this time period is Peter Kiolbassa, who, after the American Civil War, moved to Chicago and became city treasurer. Peter was also an advocate for Polish-Catholic immigrants and helped to bring the first Polish-speaking priest to Chicago. He helped found Chicago’s first Polish parish, St. Stanislaus Kostka, and was the church’s first organist. It is his family’s heritage that has inspired Jeremy to explore this music and present this concert series.
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The variety of ways that are offered for young people to serve within our community hopefully, appeal to their sense of justice and…
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Over the last couple of weeks I have been commenting on the exhortation by Pope Saint John Paul II “Christifidelis Laici”. I chose to do this in October because the synod of bishops from which the exhortation came, occurred in 1987 through the whole month of October. And this past Monday we celebrated the feast of Saint John Paul II…
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Be sure to save time this weekend for a walk through the Frightwalk Zone. Harrison Ornelas is the creative mind behind the Frightwalk experience. His imagination and creativity are frighteningly…
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I’ve had a few people ask me about the ‘new’ candles on the altar. There is a two-fold answer as to why we’ve decided to do this. The first part comes from The General Instruction of the Roman Missal, commonly referred to as the “GIRM”. This instruction can be found in the beginning of The Roman Missal, aka that big book that a priest uses to celebrate Mass. In the section where it lists things to be prepared for Mass…
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The choir is back safe and sound from their pilgrimage to Ireland. Click here to see a recap of our journey through this magnificent country…
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Last week in my article I had written about the 1988 document Christifideles Laici. This was an exhortation written by Pope John Paul II. It was his follow-up to the 1987 synod of bishops. That synod took place during the whole month of October, and it gathered lay people from around the world to discuss with the bishops the role of lay leadership in the Church. That synod followed the lead of Vatican II, which had occurred 20 years earlier, in encouraging the need for active lay participation. It encouraged people to understand and appreciate their dignity and call to be missionaries for Christ…
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Thanks to the generous support of our school and parish community and our visiting guests, the fest was a big success and we hope all had a wonderful time!
We’d like to hear your feedback! If you attended Oktoberfest, please CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE A SHORT SURVEY. Your input and suggestions will help us in planning a great Oktoberfest next year. Prost!
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The Archdiocese of Chicago developed an award that is given each year for one lay member of each parish in the Archdiocese who lives a life focused on building up the Kingdom and serving people in the world who are in need. It is very difficult to choose only one person each year to receive this award and we spend a long time in discussion. This year our award winner was Kathleen Minneci…
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The new windows for the school building on Leavitt Street have been delivered. Installation began last week. We hope to have all 70 new windows installed over the next three weeks.These new Gerkin windows are energy-efficient. They are insulated with argon. The bronze aluminum trim and hardware will surely enhance the look of our school building both inside and outside. The new awning window will make it easier for teachers and staff to open the windows. Again, thank you for your contributions to Forward in Our Faith used to fund these projects.
We are excited to offer Children's Choir for religious education students this year! RE Choir will be made up of students in grades 3-6. The choir will rehearse and sing on the third Sunday of each month. We will meet 9:45am to practice for about 30 minutes, and then sing at the 10:30am Mass immediately following practice…
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This week’s Gospel begins with the disciples complaining, as they sometimes did, about someone outside their group performing works in Christ’s name. And, as is often the case, Christ immediately begins to correct them. “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us, is for us.” The disciples are engaging in a finger pointing exercise that back fires on them immediately…
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This school year we will be graduating our 65th and final senior class. We are not going to phase out the high school quietly and sweep it under a rug. Rather, we have planned a year-long celebration of the gift of our parish high school. For 69 years, the high school has been bringing teenage children to know God’s love for them. Our parish has been serving these young people for almost 7 decades, and that is something for which to be proud. From Father Fasnacht, the founder of the high school, to the School Sisters of St. Francis who dedicated their lives to teaching young people to the current faculty and staff today, we celebrate all those who dedicated themselves to the educational and faith formation of our parish and neighborhood teens...
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