January 29, 2022
Dear Parishioners of the Oak Park Parishes,
We, your priests, write to share with you the results of the Renew My Church parish configurations. The pages that follow contains the official document coming from the Archdiocese of Chicago. You will find that the information is detailed, but offers a clear direction for building the new parochial reality that we shall soon begin to implement.
We are gratified that Cardinal Cupich, the auxiliary bishops, the archdiocese’s Presbyteral Council and the administrative leadership of Renew My Church, in coming to their decision, ultimately agreed with and chose to adopt much of what the Oak Park parish representatives had presented to them. To that end, we wish to thank so many of you who were involved in this lengthy but important process. The Grouping Members from the 4 parishes met regularly for months to pray about and discuss how to move forward in a manner that would honor our past, address current challenging realities and develop a blueprint for future. We are immensely grateful to them.
In addition, we wish to thank our parish Pastoral Staffs with whom we have had many discussions and from whom we have gained important insight for moving forward. Our Parish Councils have also been involved in these arduous and challenging discussions and we thank them sincerely for all the ways that they have guided us, encouraged us and offered valuable input to us.
Finally, we offer our heartfelt gratitude to you, our beloved parishioners, who have prayed along with us for a noble outcome, who have shared your thoughts and opinions with us and who have stayed the course, trusting that we would always have your best interest in mind as we addressed both the practical and pastoral needs of our 4 communities of faith.
The decision:
Ascension and St. Edmund Parishes will unite as one parish, effective July 1, 2022. Fr. Rex Pillai will become the pastor of this united parish.
Ascension and St. Edmund Parishes will unite as one parish, effective July 1, 2022. Fr. Rex Pillai will become the pastor of this united parish.
St. Catherine / St. Lucy and St. Giles Parishes will unite as one parish, effective July 1, 2022. Fr. Carl Morello will become pastor of this united parish.
Let us continue to pray for one another as we embark upon this new and exciting time. Challenges are sure to arise, but let us recall what St. Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians tells us: “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.” Let us, therefore, walk forward together in unity, embracing the new reality that we are asked to become and choosing to trust that the Holy Spirit shall walk along with us every step of this sacred journey.
May our Lord bless us all.
Fr. John McGivern
Pastor, St. Edmund Parish
Pastor Administrator, St. Catherine/St. Lucy Parish
Fr. Carl Morello
St. Giles Parish
Administrator, Ascension Parish