January 19, 2010

Dear St. Mary’s School Families,

I am writing to give you an update on where we stand with the Meitler study recommendations. As we told you previously, the St. Mary’s School Board put together a response to the recommendations, which we submitted to the Diocese just prior to Christmas. St. Mary’s Parish Council also reviewed the recommendations and put together a separate response, which was aligned with the School Board’s response.  Both responses were also aligned with the Diocesan recommendations (with a few suggestions for minor changes).

Unbeknownst to both the Council and the School Board, Fr. John put together a separate response with his own thoughts. We have just recently found out that his response was very different from our response. Fr. John recommended that we close the school, focus the mission on the poor in the parish, and reopen the school on a smaller scale with less financial risk.  We are saddened that Fr. John did not share his true thoughts and ideas so we could collaborate on a unified response.  We have been in contact with the Bishop’s office to let them know of our deep concern with this process and have asked to meet with the Bishop.  We would like a chance to figure out a solution that will benefit all. In addition, the School Board is meeting tonight with the Diocesan Chief Financial Officer to discuss this further.  We will follow-up with another communication after this meeting.  Like all of our School Board meetings, this meeting is open to parish and school families if you would like to attend.

As of right now, we don’t know what all this means for St. Mary’s School. The Bishop will review all recommendations this week, and we should have an answer by the end of this month as to how they would like us to proceed.  We are hoping that he will give us a chance to implement our proposed recommendations.

In the meantime, we are asking all of you to pray for our faculty, our students, and our parish/school families. It is important that we all stay positive and not lose our faith in this process. We need to keep moving forward and spreading the good news about our school. The School Board is committed to an open and transparent process.  I encourage you to reach out to any of the School Board members for additional discussion or questions.  You can contact me via email at mike.bullock@stmarywc.org or call me at 630-377-9817.

Sincerely,

Mike Bullock

School Board President

El ministerio del Proyecto Gabriel esta al servicio de la mujer embarazada que necesita apoyo en su decision de tener a su bebe; para ver a Cristo en Su Bendita Madre en cada mujer y niño que El envia en nuestro camino. En una manera de construer una relacion con una mujer embarazada en necesidad, el Proyecto Gabriel prove la oportunidad de mostrarle el amor y la misericordia de Dios. Este proyecto se describe a si mismo usando tres fundamentos principales: pastoral, educacional y evangelico. Es en el pastoral en el que la Iglesia asiste a mujeres embarazadas cubriendo las necesidades espirituales y materiales de la madre. En el educacional, la Iglesia tiene un canal para explicar el valor y la dignidad de toda la vida, especialmente la no nacida. Y al final, el evangelico es en el que la Iglesia llega a todas las mujeres embarazadas necesitadas, no importa su fe o creencias religiosas. Si usted quisiera mas información sobre este proyecto, venga auna sesión de entranamiento que ofreceremos en Santa Maria el domingo 7 de febrero, de 1 a 3 p.m. en el Centro Parroquial. Venga después de la Misa a saborear del almuerzo que proveeremos. Por favor llame al (630)788-6382 o en Debbie@womanschoiceservices.com para confirmar su asistencia.

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 1 Kings 19: 11-12, KJV

National Vocation Awareness Week

January 10th-16th

Father Burke Masters, the Vocation Director for the Diocese of Joliet,  is a particularly inspiring example of how a young man falls “in love with the Eucharist and the Catholic Church, ” as he puts it in his excellent blog, and begins to feel and ultimately act on the call to a priestly vocation.

Discernment of our vocations can be difficult in a world that moves quickly and often seems to push us toward secular concerns.  This week, let us pray together that all of us might find the peace and serenity we need to listen to God’s still, small voice, and to follow His guidance as we choose how best to be of service to Him, to  each other,  and to our communities.

Prayer for Vocations

Live Nativity and Cookie Walk, 2009

Thank You!

The St. Mary’s Parish School Family thanks all of the generous volunteers whose contributions made this annual event so special and so successful!  We thank you for

• Coordinating
• Organizing
• Baking
• Serving
• Singing
• Decorating
• Acting
• Donating
• And so much more!

Your combined efforts provided us all with a warm, wonderful, spirit-filled start to the holiday season.

Merry Christmas to All from the St. Mary’s Parish School Family!

]]> http://stmarywc.org/voices/2009/12/11/photo-friday-live-nativity-and-cookie-walk/feed/ 0 http://stmarywc.org/voices/2009/11/23/livenativitycookiewalk/ http://stmarywc.org/voices/2009/11/23/livenativitycookiewalk/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:33:13 +0000 St. Mary's Voices http://stmarywc.org/voices/?p=109

Calling All Cookie Bakers!

(And Everyone who Loves to Eat Christmas Cookies, Too!)

On December 6, 2009,  St. Mary’s will hold its Annual Live Nativity, Christmas Concert, and Cookie Walk. Join us for an evening of Christmas spirit! Mingle near the live animals as you watch our 8th graders and a St. Mary’s family perform the Live Nativity. Savor delicious cookies while sipping hot chocolate or hot apple cider. Enjoy the lively caroling as our students sing some of your favorite Christmas songs

The Cookie Walk is a big fund-raiser for our PTO. In addition to our school families, we are also asking parish families who would be willing to participate to donate home-baked cookies for the event. If you are interested in donating cookies, please drop off your cookies (in disposable containers) at the School Office during the school day on Friday, December 4, or bring them to St. Francis Hall (the church basement) on Sunday, December 6 between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM.

For those of you who are interested in buying cookies during the event, you can pay $10 for the first bakery box ($5 for each additional box) and fill the box up with delicious holiday cookies. The Cookie Walk is from 4pm to 6:30pm on Sunday, December 6 in St. Francis Hall. We will also have hot cocoa and apple cider available.

Live Nativity presentations are at 5:15 and 6:00 p.m. and Christmas caroling by the students is going to be performed in between presentations.

If you have any questions about the Cookie Walk please contact us at cookiewalk@stmaryswc.org.

DID YOU KNOW? In 1223, St. Francis of Assisi, having a great love for Christmas, felt that people had lost the real meaning of Christ’s birth and the celebration had become too materialistic (sound familiar?). St. Francis came up with what he hoped would put the spotlight back where it belonged: on Jesus’ birth. He asked a friend who owned some wooded land in the little town of Greecio, Italy, to recreate that night in Bethlehem when the Infant Jesus was born. His friend agreed to do so and set up the first nativity scene, using live animals and people. It was said on that night that Francis’ message was so powerful that when the people looked into the empty manger, they saw the Christ Child.

]]> http://stmarywc.org/voices/2009/11/23/livenativitycookiewalk/feed/ 0 http://stmarywc.org/voices/2009/10/14/catholics-come-home/ http://stmarywc.org/voices/2009/10/14/catholics-come-home/#comments Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:16:13 +0000 St. Mary's Voices http://stmarywc.org/voices/?p=58

Catholics Come Home, Inc. is an independent non-profit Catholic apostolate that creates effective and compassionate media messages and broadcasts them nationally and internationally, in order to inspire, educate and evangelize inactive Catholics and others, and invite them to live a deeper faith in Jesus Christ, in accord with the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church.

Catholics Come Home offers an inspiring reminder of what it means to be Catholic, and provides an excellent role model for the positive and creative use of new media. Enjoy the videos–some of which you will soon be seeing on television–and please do pass them along to friends and family members who might need a spiritual lift, which is something we could all use from time to time.

St. Mary’s Parish warmly invites you and your family to make our church and school your home for Catholic worship and education.

How will you make a difference in the world today? Youth Noise offers the following ten suggestions:

Help others.

Be honest.

Respect others.

Be kind.

Be patient.

Care about things.

Be an example.

Love others.

Think before you act.

Encourage.

Be honest.

Respect others.

Be kind.

Be patient.

Care about things.

Be an example.

Love others.

Learn more about Christian Saints and Heroes at Catholics Online.

An endowment fund is a way for benefactors to make a gift that keeps on giving every year towards a cause that is dear to their hearts. The interest earned from our Scholarship Endowment fund enables St. Mary’s Parish to provide support for families who find it a hardship to pay the school tuition.

Recently Father John Baluff visited with relatives of Mr. Robert B. Berkes who passed away in 2008. They related how their uncle spoke with great affection about St. Mary’s Parish School. He remembered  that when, due to financial hardship, his family was unable to pay his tuition at St. Mary’s,  the parish priest paid it. Robert never forgot that kindness and recently remembered St. Mary’s parish in his will.

In his honor the parish will be contributing $20,000 to St. Mary’s Scholarship endowment.

Please join us in remembering and thanking Mr. Robert B. Berkes and his family.

Thanks to Father John for submitting this article.