In his Sunday homily at Holy Family, Fr. Peter reiterated his comments from the Transition Team meeting that Masses will continue at Holy Family for the foreseeable future. This news was welcomed by Holy Family parishioners with applause and relief, as parishioners have worked hard to maintain a Sunday presence at Holy Family. In addition, Fr. Peter stated that an archdiocesan priest will be helping with duties till August, at which time a newly ordained Jesuit priest will take over an assist with the Mass schedule.

On July 1, the parishes of Holy Family and Notre Dame de Chicago merged to become one parish. Holy Family welcomes the opportunity to work with our brothers and sisters at Notre Dame de Chicago to continue to build on the legacy of these two historic and important churches in Chicago. For now, Masses will be held at both churches. "Sunday Mass will continue at Holy Family Church at 9:45 a.m. and 5 p.m. Our doors will continue to be open wide for all,” Odell Gordon, who has served as President of Holy Family’s Parish Council for the past many years, said in his concluding announcements at the Sunday, June 30 Mass.

Members of the Comiskey family were thrilled to be welcomed as visitors at Holy Family’s June 30 Mass. “ Visitors” may be somewhat of a misnomer, for the Comiskey family members, former Illinois State Representative Patti Bellock , her daughter, Dorothy, and sister, Mary Sharon Rigney Kellens, are direct descendents of Alderman “Honest John” Comiskey, President of the Chicago City Council, who was a close collaborator of Fr. Arnold Damen, S.J. According to the 1923 parish history, “ Holy Family—Priests and People,” by Br. Thomas Mulkerins, S.J., in 1857, John Comiskey walked the streets of the teeming Irish neighborhood where Fr. Damen planned to build his church and asked for contributions. He is memorialized in one of the large 12-foot round clerestory windows high atop Holy Family church that are the oldest stained glass in the city of Chicago, dating to 1860. John’s son, Charles Comiskey, a former St. Louis Browns first baseman and founder of the Chicago Whlte Sox, was baptized in Holy Family on August 19, 1859, the year before the church was dedicated. He was one of the 37-students to enroll in Fr. Damen’s new St. Ignatius College (now St. Ignatius College Prep) when the Jesuit-sponsored school, the forerunner of Loyola University Chicago, opened September 5, 1870.

The Golden Wedding Anniversary Mass will be celebrated by Cardinal Cupich on Sunday, September 8, 2019 at 2:45 p.m. The Mass will be held at St. John Brebeuf in Niles. For more information and to register for the event, please click on the picture or title link.