Fr. Simon's Letter - June 19, 2022

Earlier this year Queen of All Saints and St. Mary of the Woods took part in “Renew My Church,” a process directed toward the Archdiocese of Chicago’s vision for the future of the Church in Chicago. 

Together with St. Mary of the Woods we engaged in a discernment process that focused on our strengths as a faith community and the challenges that lie ahead of us as we look forward to collectively become a vibrant community that is full of vitality. We have all have heard of parish closings and the merging of parishes. Fortunately, both Queen of All Saints and St. Mary of the Woods meet the diocesan benchmarks of viability. As a result, there will be no “structural” changes made to either parish. We will continue to function as we are. Our challenge, though, is parish vitality. This will involve deepening our sense of belonging, especially through our presence at the Eucharist, leading us to experience a renewed encounter with Christ that inspires us to boldly share our faith with others.

This weekend we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi. We focus on our participation in the Eucharist and reception of Holy Communion, and we remind ourselves that we are the Body of Christ – the Church. St Paul, in many of his letters elaborates on this image of the Church as the Body of Christ - “Christ is the head of the body, the Church” (Col. 1:18). “For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members of one another” (Rom. 12:4-5). “In the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13).

It is a tremendous affirmation of the place of others in our life, Christ first, and then all the members of the Church, and ultimately the whole human race. We are not saved as isolated individuals. We are saved as members of Christ's body. Yet the individual is not submerged in the collective. Every individual “member” of your body is “you,” your hand is “you,” your foot is “you,” your eye is “you.” Every individual person is indispensable.

As we enter the next phase of the Renew My Church process, the task of building a new reality, the mission imperative to “Make Disciples – Build Community – Inspire Witness” will be our guide.

Jesus is calling us to follow him more closely and seek out his lost sheep. As Catholics baptized into the life and love of God we are called and commissioned to discern our part in making disciples. 

We must honestly look at how we engage people of all age groups and walks of life. Christ is calling us to discern what parish and school vitality means in today’s world and to build communities. To that end we must ask ourselves in what ways can we work together, across parishes and throughout the archdiocese, to strengthen each other today and create Catholic communities that will be sustainable both now and into the future.

As Christians, we bear Christ’s light and hope in the world. Just as Jesus moved among the people, Pope Francis implores us to go out to the world and to those on the margins. We must work together and find new ways to inspire witness within a world that is numb to the real presence of God.
To grow into a community that is strong and deeply rooted in our faith, we cannot afford to look at ourselves as silos. Rather, we must see ourselves as communities woven into the tapestry of the Church in Chicago. We cannot ignore the realities of our world, which are exemplified in our politics and reinforced by our media. Too often we align not on the basis of acceptance, respect and love, but by our ideologies. We do not listen to each other. We do not want consensus. What we want is to win. Instinctively we align, either for or against. It seems that we have an instinctive need to have opponents and enemies to help us feel secure with, and somehow at home in, our own identity. 

Growth and change are written into God’s plan. They stimulate our capacity for and our need to penetrate ever more deeply into the truth of God and the things of God. Among the themes, or general orientations that came up during our “Renew My Church” discussions is the need for all to be open to conversion, renewal and reform in order to become a more prayerful community that is centered around the Eucharist.

This Tuesday, our vicar Bishop Bartosic will celebrate Mass with the parish leadership teams and impress upon us the work ahead. By the end of this month, we hope to officially hear the Cardinal’s decision about our grouping. The journey ahead is filled with opportunities to re-engage with our own faith so that in the years to come Queen of All Saints parish will continue to be a strong faith community, a beacon of hope and an instrument that draws others to Christ. In the meantime, let us hold Queen of All Saints and Saint Mary of the Woods in prayer as we enter this time of rededication to our faith in Jesus Christ and continue to plan for the future.

Blessings!!