August 30 – Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last week I ended my article indicating that Our Lady of Mercy Parish has a new relationship with All Saints Catholic Academy in Naperville.  Let me give you a little history about ASCA and our parish involvement.  Founded in 2005 as a regional inter parish Catholic grammar school, five area parishes were asked to make a financial commitment to purchase the building and property that was formerly Calvary School.  Those five parishes are St. Margaret Mary in Naperville, St. Thomas the Apostle in Naperville, St. Elizabeth Seton in Naperville, Holy Spirit Catholic Community in Naperville, and Our Lady of Mercy in Aurora.  Holy Spirit and Our Lady of Mercy were not able to make a financial commitment at the time to become a supporting parish.  Both parishes were either already in or planning to undertake a capital campaign for a building project.  In our case, we would be conducting a capital campaign to build the Parish Life Center.  The other three parishes committed $3.3 million paid over 15 years. Each parish paid $200,000 a year out of their Sunday income to fund this commitment.  Families attending ASCA from those three parishes received a reduced tuition rate. A higher tuition rate for families not from the three supporting parishes is charged. However, Fr. Hugh (and myself) want to support Catholic Education. Our Lady of Mercy parish pays the difference between the two rates of tuition for families from OLM who send their children to ASCA.  Our Lady of Mercy has also done that for our registered families who attend a Catholic grammar school in Aurora and elsewhere, even though those schools are not in the Diocese of Joliet.

The three parishes, St. Margaret Mary, St. Thomas the Apostle, and St. Elizabeth Seton have completed paying their $3.3 million commitment.  This past January, officials from the Diocese along with Bishop Pates met with the pastors of all five parishes.  There is still $4 million owed on the building and property.  The five parishes were asked to commit $60K annually for four years to reduce the debt that will be managed in the schools budget after four years.  You may remember that the Diocese was instituting a “tax” beginning this fiscal year on parishes without schools to help struggling schools.  Our tax would have been $60K and is in our budget.  Therefore, I agreed providing that our “tax” would now go to ASCA and not to a general fund for struggling schools. As a result, families from OLM will receive the “supporting parish” tuition rate instead of the higher rate of tuition.

Throughout the years, OLM has had many families attend ASCA.  In my 8 years of being associated with ASCA, I can testify that it is a great school!  I will be celebrating the 8:15AM Wednesday School Mass on a regular basis.  Check out ASCA, and any parents interested in sending their children to ASCA, please feel free to contact me.

Have a blessed week!

Father Don

 

August 23 – Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today we offer congratulations to parishioner Tony Leazzo who was one of 17 men from our Diocese ordained a Permanent Deacon yesterday by Bishop Richard Pates at the Cathedral in Joliet. Congratulations as well to Tony’s wife Jennifer and sons Tony and Michael.  The years of study and formation for the permanent diaconate requires much support from spouses and family.  Now if I can just get sons Tony, Jr. or Michael to become a priest, just think – their dad could deacon their first Mass!

It is important to remember that Permanent Deacons receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders and ARE Ordained ministers of the Church. With Deacon Tony, we now have six permanent deacons serving Our Lady of Mercy parish.  Deacons Tim Kueper, Tony Martini, Mike Plese, Phil Rehmer and Art Tiongson.  What do permanent deacons do?  First, they are proclaimers of the Word and Service.  By proclaiming the Gospel at Mass and occasionally preaching, they evangelize.  By being of service to the parish and community, they serve the needs of others.  In addition to certain liturgical roles at Mass, they may baptize, witness marriages, conduct funeral rites, lead prayer services and conduct exposition and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.  Each deacon has also taken on other specific ministries in the parish in addition to the roles mentioned above.  Deacon Tim is somewhat retired, but still continues the roles mentioned above.  Deacon Tony Martini is involved in baptism preparation ministry.  Deacon Mike is involved with EDGE and LIGHT.  Deacon Phil is involved with Hesed House.  Deacon Art is involved with the Charismatic prayer ministry and home blessings.  Deacon Tony Leazzo will be involved with the St. Peregrine prayer ministry and since he is a doctor, I’ve asked him to begin a support group for parishioners who work professionally in the medical fields.

Our permanent deacons are a blessing to all of us.  I thank them for their ministry and their wives and families for sharing their husbands and fathers with us!

I want to thank everyone for your patience and understanding as we have revised our Mass and confession schedule several times since the COVID-19 pandemic.  I want to inform you of one more change affecting the weekday Mass schedule.  Beginning this September, Mass on Wednesdays will be celebrated at 12:00 Noon, not at 8:00AM. I am the only priest at OLM on Wednesdays. This change in our Wednesday Mass time enables me to celebrate the 8:15AM Mass at All Saints Catholic Academy on a regular basis.  We have several families with children at ASCA.  In addition, OLM has a new relationship with ASCA that I will explain in my article next week.

Have a blessed week!

Father Don

 

August 16 – Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Just yesterday, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Since it was not a holy day of obligation this year because it fell on Saturday, I thought it is still worth writing about for today’s bulletin article.

The doctrine of the Assumption of Mary states:  “We pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma that the immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory.” (Pope Pius XII, November 1, 1950)  While this teaching is not explicitly stated in sacred Scripture, there are references to it in Church tradition as far back as the sixth century CE.

The Assumption is a feast wrapped in mystery.  We know very little about Mary – when she died, where she died, who was there.  Yet our faith and the ancient tradition of the church TELL THAT Mary was assumed in her full humanity – body and soul – to thee eternal, face-to-face vision of God.  A mystery of faith means we cannot fully understand or explain it, yet it teaches us something about God and God’s ways.  The Second Vatican Council taught that “The Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things.”  The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:  “The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians.”  Mary’s assumption holds out hope to all of us who struggle in this life.  The Feast of the Assumption is about God raising Mary – and all of us – to the fullness of life in Christ.

There are many ways to explain what it means to be a Christian, many paths by which we might describe how to follow Christ.  But today’s Scriptures present us with a very practical description: a Christian is one who reaches across boundaries.  We live in a world of boundaries.  We are divided, time and again, one against another.  Our planet is divided into different countries separated by distinct languages and customs. Our city is divided into neighborhoods.  Some of us are white, others are black or yellow.  Some of us are gay, others are straight. Some of us are rich, others are poor. Some of us are male, others are female.  Sometimes the argument is made that these divisions are healthy and that we will be most happy and most safe when we remain separated from one another.  When this viewpoint is translated into social policies, it gives rise to segregation, apartheid, or designing the master race.  It is a sad fact of history that a society divided does not lead to peace but rather to violence, war, ethnic cleansing, genocide, or holocaust.  Jesus reached across boundaries – we are called to do the same!

Have a blessed week!

Father Don

 

August 9 – Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

What is Peter doing walking on water! Now I know that it is frightening to cling to a little boat in the midst of the storm. But isn’t stepping out of that boat onto the waves complete madness? Why would Peter leave the relative security of the boat and set out on his own onto the sea? Peter leaves the boat and sets out into the storm, because he knows that Jesus is there. In doing this, Peter gives us an example of discipleship. The disciple always realizes that the safest place to be is close to the Lord. Even though a boat might be keeping us afloat, that boat could sink. And when it comes to sinking, we want to be close to Jesus. The gospel shows us that Peter’s decision was right. Because when he begins to sink, Jesus stretches out his hand and catches him.

Today’s gospel, then, calls us to discern: where is Jesus? Is Jesus sitting with us in the boat of security in which we sail, or is Jesus calling us to step out of that boat and come to him? We might have realized for some time that the job we are in is not the best one for us and that we will never reach our potential if we stay in it. And yet, there is security in that regular paycheck and we have no assurance that we could find something better. The disciple asks, “Where is Jesus?” Is he with me in the boat in which I sit? Or is he asking me to step out of that boat and walk on the water? We might be in a relationship that is abusive, in which we are not valued or respected. And yet, there is stability and some companionship in the relationship, and we are terrified to think that we might have to live alone. The disciple asks whether Jesus is asking us to stay in the security of that relationship or to leave it behind. We might for years have had a dream to develop some talent that is ours, to organize a program, to attain a goal. But that would require much effort and some risk, and we have no guarantee that we would succeed. It is certainly easier to keep things the way that they are. But Jesus may be calling us to walk on the waves.

Now to be sure, there are many times when Jesus is with us in the boat, and he wants things to stay just the way that they are. But today’s gospel reminds us that that is not always the case. Sometimes Jesus is asking us to leave what is familiar, what is easy, what seems secure, and come to him in the midst of the storm. And when he calls us, here is the good news. Although the waves may be high and the winds strong, and people might think that we are crazy to step out of the boat, we are simply being disciples. We are only going to where Jesus is, taking with us the confidence that he will not let us sink. He will give us life.

Have a blessed week!

Father Don

 

August 2 – Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

I recently read an article “Catholics: They are not coming back….unless….”  Written by a priest in the Rockford Diocese, he gives many reasons that after the pandemic is over and the obligation to attend Sunday Mass is re-instated, many Mass going Catholics will not return to Mass.  While some still fearing for health reasons, his main premise is there are millions of Catholics, who have grown quite comfortable in a Eucharist free faith.  In other words, watching Mass on television and not receiving communion is just fine.  His caveat is that unless we once again explain to Catholics why a real, attended Mass is necessary for their spiritual health, many will not return.  I agree with him to a certain degree.

But, my romantic idealistic side says not all is lost!  Perhaps I am being a bit naïve, but I think many will come back because as it has been said, “absence makes the heart grow fonder.”  This proverb, in some form or another, can be traced back for millennia.  It became popular in 1850 by the author Thomas Haynes Bayly in his work entitled Isle of Beauty.  And, there is scientific evidence that it is true in relationship to lovers or friends.  I think it should be true related to the Eucharist!  The Eucharist is not something that we should relate to as a “thing” – the Eucharist is a person!  The very soul and divinity of Jesus Christ himself.  The longing we might feel when absent from a lover or friend is the same longing we should have for the Eucharist if we have not received Jesus in Holy Communion in quite some time.  I’m hoping that when a vaccine is found and people feel safe, they will jump at the opportunity to come back to Mass and once again have that physical relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist.

Our scripture readings today tell us that Jesus feeds every hunger.  If we lose the hunger for the Eucharist, there is nothing to substitute for the bread of life.  The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes in today’s gospel ends with an important detail.  There was enough food left over to fill 12 wicker baskets.  God feeds in abundance.  We need to receive that Eucharistic food so that we can go out and feed others in abundance.

Let not the necessary steps to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic deaden our desire and need for receiving the Eucharist.  Actually, we need that food more than ever!  When the time comes, let the pews of Our Lady of Mercy be filled with starving people hungry to receive Jesus our bread of life!

Have a blessed week!

Father Don

 

July 26 – Seventeen Sunday in Ordinary Time

Okay, I admit it. There are times I
fantasize about becoming rich when I
buy a lottery ticket once or twice a year.
What would I do with all that money?
Of course, I know when I buy the ticket
that God would never put me in that dilemma!
But, it is fun to dream. Today’s two parables of the
“treasure in the field” and the “pearl of great price” ring a bell in
each of us because many people dream of striking in rich. The success
of casinos and state lotteries come from the hope people have
that they might win and all their problems will be solved. But, we
often read stories of maybe it wasn’t the best thing that ever happened
to them. If we satisfy all of our material desires, emptiness
remains because we are more than a body. We have a soul. Consider
a human life without friendship, love, purpose or faith and we
can understand why our greatest need is spiritual.

The spiritual is also the organizing principle of our life like the
function on a computer that cascades all the data we enter into an
order that is arranged alphabetically, numerically or chronologically,
whichever way we want. The Gospel call this organizing principle
of the human heart, the “kingdom of God.” As Jesus says elsewhere
in Matthew’s Gospel, “Seek first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” The
kingdom of God has little to do with wealth, territory, castles, damsels
in distress or knights in shining armor. It does have to do with
the reign of God in our hearts, our lives and our homes.

As St. Paul writes in today’s second reading, “For those who love
God, everything works for their spiritual good.” Once we have the
true God at the center of our life, we never have to fear being
trapped by false gods, becoming devotees of image and celebrity,
slaves of ambition or lust, servants of power or greed, prisoners of
our job or career, because we have found our greatest good in God.

However we come to the kingdom of God, by discovery, like the
treasure in the field, or by search, like the fine pearl, we have to invest
ourselves in His reign to discover the riches, the wealth, the
perspective, the abundance of life in Christ. Those who embrace
the reign of God, the kingdom of Jesus Christ, in their lives are the
ones who really “strike it rich!”

Have a blessed week!

Father Don

 

July 19 – Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today I want to give you an update on a few things…..you may not remember, but in the structure of parish administration I have a small Pastoral Leadership Team that meets with me weekly to talk about and address any parish/staff concerns that need immediate attention.  At one longer meeting each month, we do strategic planning.  With the transfer of Fr. Mark and parishioner Phil Britton moving out of the area, I have appointed our new Parochial Vicar, Fr. James Guarascio, and parishioners Kim Harris and Bob Maxwell to serve on the Pastoral Leadership Team.  Including the new members and myself, Zara Tan and Mary Jo Trapani also serve on the Team.  I thank all members for their generosity of time and to the new members for accepting my invitation to serve.

I mentioned that Phil Britton is or has already moved out of the area.  Phil and his wife JoAnn has been long time active and dedicated members of Our Lady of Mercy.  When Fr. Mark and I arrived three years ago, Phil was one of the first volunteers we met with.  Phil was the volunteer director of adult education and formation.  He provided much helpful insight for Fr. Mark and myself as we began getting a sense of OLM.  We wish them all the best in their new home and parish in Tinley Park where they are now closer to their daughter, family and grandchildren.  Thanks Phil and JoAnn for all you did for OLM.

We are in the final stages of preparing to inform parents with details about our Religious Education Program for the coming year.  Due to budget challenges, I am not replacing this year Candy Rice, who retired and served as Director of Jr. High Youth Ministry (EDGE).  I am most grateful to Dave Miserendino who offered to coordinate EDGE with the adult leaders currently serving in the EDGE Program.  The COVID-19 protocols issued by the Diocese, State, and CDC present quite a challenge to offering classes in the building.  Before we can open the building for in-person children and teen classes or activities we much first be approved by the Diocese of Joliet.  This certification process is much like what we went through to open the church. Like the challenges the public schools and all public gatherings face, we must maintain 6 feet between tables and chairs and people.  The facilities manager of the Diocese has already been out and set the occupancy limits for all the rooms in the PLC and they are significantly reduced.  Additionally there must be the compliance of children wearing facemasks, hand sanitizing, having temperatures taken and keeping 6 feet apart when moving in the building.  It’s pretty daunting!! So, I ask for your prayers, your patience, and your understanding.

Have a Blessed Week!

Father Don

 

July 12 – Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Do you have hope?  In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the civil unrest in our country, the uncertainty of the future, add other personal difficulties and challenges, do you find it difficult to have hope?  How does one develop hope?  To develop hope is to cultivate mystery.  All too often, we are seduced into thinking that only the present counts.  We are encouraged to believe that nothing can really be changed.  We are constantly exhorted to hold that there is only one way to go – namely, the party line.  We thereby become victims of despair.  In such a debacle, only hope can save us.  But to develop hope is to cultivate mystery.

In the first reading today the exiles in Babylon had written off the Lord.  They accepted what they believed to be their fate.  For them the Lord could not do anything and, if he could, he was not interested.  This was the party line of ancient Near Eastern theology.  The prophet Isaiah counters with a message of hope:  “Cry out, do not fear!  Say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God!” (Is: 40:9).  But it was a hope interwoven with mystery.  Their ways were not God ways.  God would again speak his creative Word.  To respond to that Word, however, was to give God the liberty to act as he chooses.  To develop hope is to cultivate mystery.

In the gospel the disciples had begun to write Jesus off.  Some were no longer walking with him.  Jesus, however, responded to this situation by noting the natural agricultural process of failure and success.  The mode of failure is readily explicable – the mode of success is rarely intelligible.  Yet despite the obvious failures, God is at work.  To hope is to let God work in his own mysterious fashion and not impose human restraints.  To develop hope is to cultivate mystery.

There are countless ways in which we may develop hope and thereby cultivate mystery.  Parents who refuse to calculate their children’s success merely in terms of academic achievement and personality point to another standard.  Career people who refuse to accept the manipulative practices of big business as the only way to go testify to another dynamism. The sick and dying who refuse to see their present pain as useless and worthless indicate another value system.  All such people restore God’s liberty to give as he chooses to give.  All such people attest that to develop hope is to cultivate mystery.

The Eucharist communicates this as well, reflecting Jesus’ anxiety before his death and communicating Jesus’ acceptance of the Father’s mysterious plan for him.  All who share in the Eucharist confess that the paths, rocks, and thorns of Jesus’ passion and death are transformed into the abundant harvest of the resurrection.  The Eucharist articulates a hope, but a hope based on God’s freedom to act.  The Eucharist asserts that to develop hope is to cultivate mystery!  Let hope and mystery be a part of your life!!

Have a Blessed Week!

Father Don

 

July 5 – Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

This weekend we welcome our new Parochial Vicar, Fr. James Gaurascio.  Just ordained a priest for our Diocese on June 20, 2020, Fr. James succeeds Fr. Mark Bernhard who served as Parochial Vicar at OLM for three years and is now at St. Mary Parish in Mokena. Fr. Mark was a newly ordained priest when he began at OLM.   I think is says a lot about our parish community when the bishop feels confident in assigning a newly ordained priest to OLM.  The first assignment of a newly ordained priest is critical in transitioning him from the academic seminary life to parish ministerial life of a priest.  Trust me, after 38 years as a priest, they do not and cannot teach you everything you need to know about being a parish priest in the seminary!  It is through the lived experience of being embraced by a community (parish) that is willing to forgive your faults, challenge you where you need to grow, and love you that forms you into the priest you become. That certainly describes Our Lady of Mercy parish! Parishioners have a lot to do in forming their priests to be good and holy priests.

As we welcome Fr. James (and that is how he prefers to be called), I am pleased to inform you he is bi-lingual and will be offering a weekly Mass in Spanish, as well as being able to hear confessions and counsel in Spanish.

Fr. James and three other priests of our Diocese are founding members in our Diocese of an association of Diocesan priests called “Companions of Christ.”  Please see the article in today’s bulletin regarding the “Companions of Christ.”  One thing to be aware of is that Fr. James and the other three priests will not be living at the rectories of their respective parish assignments.  They live at a rented home in Lisle.  They pay the rent out of their salary; there is no additional cost to the parish.

I look forward to mentoring and ministering with Fr. James.  Please warmly welcome him to Our Lady of Mercy parish!

As we celebrate this weekend the founding of our nation 244 years ago, let us pray for our citizens, our political leaders and our nation.  Founded as one nation under God, we need to turn to that God, and ask his help in embracing, once again, the vision that our founding ancestors enumerated….that all people are created equal, and ours is a nation of liberty and justice for all.  May God bless our work of uniting all people in peace.

Have a blessed holiday weekend!

Father Don

 

June 28 – Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sadly, today is Fr. Mark’s last weekend with us.  Most newly ordained priests find it difficult to leave their first assignment.  I hope Fr. Mark will carry with him treasured memories of his first priestly assignment here at Our Lady of Mercy.  I know I do after leaving my first assignment 35 years ago at St. Alexander in Villa Park.  I don’t know whether it is true or not, but it’s been said about priest transfers (to keep us humble I suppose) that 10% of parishioners are happy to see you go, 20% are really upset, and the rest just kind of go with the flow.  I suspect that a much greater percentage here at OLM are extremely sad to see Fr. Mark leave!  I join you!  I know that Fr. Mark and all of us feel short-changed with the COVID-19 restrictions. Not being able to express our gratitude, love, and best wishes to him with a proper reception and opportunity to greet him individually really stinks!  Priest transfers are strange in that this weekend we say goodbye to Fr. Mark, and next weekend, while we are still grieving the loss of Fr. Mark, we welcome Fr. James. And Fr. Mark is welcomed at a new parish.  A week hardly seems enough time to grieve!

I especially want to thank Fr. Mark for what he has done for our parish (the list is endless) and for me personally during his three years at OLM. As a priest nearing retirement, it was a special honor to have a newly ordained priest assigned to minister with me.  I have been a pastor 27 of my 39 years ordained, with eight different parochial vicars ministering with me during my four pastorates.  I cannot thank him enough for the youthful vision, hope, and hard work he has brought to ministry and rectory life. Fr. Mark encouraged me to embrace a new vision for the future church! – moving a parish from maintenance to mission.  Fr. Mark is an excellent preacher putting his heart and soul in preparing homilies.  I have said that he is the Bishop Fulton Sheen of our time!  His homilies at times challenged me in areas I didn’t want to be challenged.  He is a man with a deep spiritual life of prayer, lives a life of simplicity (compare his clothes closet to mine!) and is a convicted disciple of Jesus!  I once told his mother that I didn’t know if I was living with a future bishop or saint!!

While we have had our arguments over theology and rubrics of celebrating the Mass, we have had fun too. We have enjoyed bantering back and forth with each other at Masses to make you laugh. I just pray that one day his heart will be converted to liking dogs.  I hope so…his new pastor has 3 dogs!  God bless you Fr. Mark! May the people at St. Mary in Mokena be as blessed as we have been with your presence and ministry!

Father Don