Father Mike’s weekly letter for April 14 contained important updates about the Parish.
— Property update:
We are nearly four years into the parish merger that officially happened on July 1st, 2020. There are certainly some good signs of growth here at the parish, but I know there is still a lot of hurt with the loss of the former parishes.
St. Cornelius Church was just sold, the last remaining piece of property to be sold. That means that the St. Elizabeth
of the Trinity campus is the only real estate that the parish now owns.
The church was sold to a private businessman from Park Ridge for $1.35 million but we’re not sure yet what the net will be after closing costs and the Arch’s Parish Vitality Fund sweep.
This sale will continue to fund our ongoing roofing and other capital projects.
It is public knowledge that the new owner has the intention of using the old St. Cornelius church as a pickleball court for him and his friends. The church was relegated to profane, non-sordid use a couple of years ago, meaning it has been “deconsecrated” and can be
used for non-sacred purposes.
All the sacred images, statues, the altar, baptismal font have been removed and some of them are already in use in other parishes, like the Pieta.
Even the pews will be used by a different Catholic parish in the Archdiocese of Chicago. My understanding
is that the image of St. Cornelius on the church façade off Foster does not need to be removed, but if it were, it would be at the new owner’s expense.
—Ministry Update:
I would like to personally thank all of you for your generosity in the various collections for the One Parish, One Prisoner ministry (OPOP).
One of our incarcerated friends, Chris, has already been released from prison, a few months ahead of schedule so the funds collected will come in very handy once his transitional housing ends in about six weeks. So far, we have raised about $7,000 for both Michael and Chris directly by the parish, not counting the money that our SVDP Society will contribute.
These funds will help them with clothing, transportation expenses, ID’s, and down payments on housing while they get on their feet.
We’ll keep you updated on how they’re doing. God bless you for your prayers and support.
—Evangelization:
We will start the next wave of the Rescue Project this week.
The participants in the Fall session gave powerful testimonials about how their faith in Christ was deepened and how much they benefited from the videos, prayer time, and especially learning more about some of their fellow parishioners in the table discussions.
Some of the most notable feedback the parish received from the DMI survey done last year, was that many Catholics want to not just deepen their relationship with Christ but grow in their capacity to witness to Jesus and the faith.
The Rescue Project is a great way to do that.
You can still register by contacting Ashley Guinn at: aguinn@archchicago.org.
—Staffing Update:
Peggy Bradley has graciously served as our Coordinator of Religious Education for the past two years since her retirement from her full-time job at Northern Trust.
She largely did this as a favor to the parish. The CRE role is quite a lot of work and Peggy puts her heart into it.
We have finally found a good candidate so that she can move to being a parishioner and volunteer again and enjoy some of her well-deserved retirement.
We are all grateful for her faith, hard-work, and love for the families here…please thank her yourself when you see her or send a kind note or message to her.
We will collect them at the rectory and make sure she gets them.