We had a very productive meeting earlier in the month to discuss the future of the Food Pantry Ministry at Holy Family-Notre Dame Parish. As we look to the future, and the ways that Holy Family-Notre Dame is committed to the Corporal Works of Mercy, it is clear that feeding our brothers and sisters in need continues to be a priority. The Food Pantry will move to the Notre Dame de Chicago site. Collaboration will happen with the Franciscan Outreach Ministry and we will continue to look for ways to grow in our service to the community. We need your help in order to make this happen! If you are interested in volunteering with the Food Pantry ministry, please contact Victoria (vdbusiness@gmail.com) or Chef Dan (dkopanke@hotmail.com).

Where are we at in the Renew My Church process right now? Right now, we are in the Operations Transition phase of RMC (and we will be through June). We are creating a foundation, both with resources and a long-term vision, to support vitality in our newly united parish. We are analyzing how our financial structures are set up, what our facilities are being used for, and how our staff and volunteer time is focused. Our goal is to ensure that all our resources are working towards evangelization, to bringing people to Jesus. The way that the communities from both the Holy Family site and the Notre Dame site came together to pray during Advent and Christmas reveals the hospitality and evangelization that we want all our resources to continue to work towards. Do you have Renew My Church or operational questions? Feel free to send me an email! spelrine@archchicago.org.

Children of Peace, our parish school, is having an Open House on Sunday, January 26, 2020, from Noon to 2:00 p.m. to kick off Catholic Schools Week. We are a diverse community of learners with students representing five continents and living within 40 zip codes throughout Chicago and the suburbs. We provide a challenging curriculum in an environment that is culturally sensitive and emotionally supportive. In addition to our traditional educational program for students from Pre-K to 8th grade, we have a Montessori class for students ages 3-6, and we are the only Catholic school in the state of Illinois to provide an education to students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Thank you to all who made the Children's Christmas Party on Saturday, December 21st a great success. Special gratitude goes to Jerrilyn Young and Virginia Clayton for organizing the event, to the dedicated team of volunteers who kept the event running smoothly, and to Santa and Mrs. Claus for traveling all the way from the North Pole to visit with the children. Thank you to everyone from the parish who generously donated toys for the party. Your donations ensured that children at the party and in other areas of the city were able to receive gifts at Christmas.Finally, tremendous thanks to St. Raymond School in Mount Prospect. St. Raymond School has generously donated toys for the party for years, but outdid themselves this year with a donation of nearly 600 toys! We were truly blessed by their kindness and care, and our gratitude is immeasurable.

Please help us bring the gift of dance and joy to our deaf and hearing impaired students at our parish’s elementary school, Children of Peace. Children of Peace School is the only Catholic school in the state of Illinois that provides an educational program for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. We have partnered with the Joel Hall Dance Center to provide an exciting program for the students. Joel Hall established his dance school and professional dance company in the 1970s in Chicago. Mr. Hall is hard of hearing and decided he wanted to work with our school. We first met Joel Hall last year when his company provided two performances and two workshops for our students. Our students fell in love with him and he fell in love with our students, especially our deaf students. We are blessed to have this opportunity! Be a Magi for our children! Visit Magi’s Christmas Creche and take a “wish card”. We hope your gift will help us reach a $5,000 goal to pay for the program. Thank You!

The annual Cardinal's Christmas Concert was held on December 22 at Holy Family to a packed church. The concert featured Cardinal Blaise Cupich and The City Lights Orchestra conducted by Rich Daniels. Highlights included the Cardinal's reading of the Gospel Christmas Story According to Luke, Suzanne Palmer, Paddy Homan and Paul Marinaro's stunning vocals, as well as an old fashioned Christmas Sing-a-Long. The spirited music in such a beautiful setting left all attendees with a warm feeling in their hearts. Special thanks to Cardinal Cupich, Rich Daniels, the wonderful musicians of The City Lights Orchestra, and the Chicago Federation of Musicians, Local 10-208.

This is a busy time of year for everyone, but your help is greatly needed to prepare both worship sites for the Christmas Season. Please come help us decorate on one or more dates. Please click on the title link or picture for dates and times.

Please help to add to the beauty of both worship sites by making a donation toward flowers for Christmas. Donations may be made in memory of a loved one by simply adding the name to the envelope containing the donation. Envelopes may be found in the back of each church.

Parishioners and friends of HF/ND will find the annual Giving Tree in the back of both worship sites. This year, we are asking for donations of new or gently used winter clothing items (coats, hats, scarves, sweaters, gloves and socks). Simply choose an ornament from one of the trees and return the unwrapped clothing to one of the designated bins at either worship site by Christmas Day.

For many years, the Children’s Christmas Party at Holy Family has offered a fun holiday experience for local children and their families and provided toys at Christmastime to children who might otherwise have gone without. This year, the event will be held for the first time in the Notre Dame Lower Hall on Saturday, December 21st from 10AM to 1PM. We have learned that one of our main donors of toys is not able to provide us with donations this year. To ensure that we have enough toys to distribute to every child who attends the Party, we are asking the parish community for donations of new children’s toys for ages 0 to 10 years old. The toys do not need to be gift wrapped and can be placed in designated donation bins at both worship sites on Sunday, December 8th and Sunday, December 15th. In order to sort the toys and prepare them for distribution at the Party, we are asking for donations to come in by Sunday, December 15th. Thank you for any help you can give to bring Christmas joy and magic to children in our community!

The word “Hospitality” means "the warm and generous reception of others.” Hospitality is an occasion of welcome and community. Hospitality seeks to build up the Body of Christ through sharing in fellowship together. Starting Sunday, December 1st, as we enter the Season of Advent and this time of coming together in prayer and community at both worship sites, parishioners from both worship sites are invited and encouraged to serve as Greeters and Ushers before and during 10AM Mass and/or as Servers at after Mass Receptions throughout the Advent and Christmas Seasons. Please prayerfully consider being part of these efforts to extend hospitality during these Holy Seasons, on whichever Sundays and in whatever ways that you are able. As St. Paul wrote, every member of the Body of Christ has something essential to contribute. If you are able to serve in one or more of these Hospitality roles, please contact Jim Bruton at Jim@holyfamilychicago.org.

During Advent & Christmas season, the 9:45 AM liturgy at the Holy Family and the 10:00 AM liturgy at the Notre Dame de Chicago will come together for ONE 10:00 AM Sunday Mass. The combined 10:00 AM Mass will be held at Holy Family on December 1, 15, 29, and January 12, and at Notre Dame de Chicago on December 8, 22, January 5, and 19. All other Masses will be held at the regularly scheduled times. The combined liturgy will provide parishioners the opportunity to come together with Jesus in the celebration of the Eucharist. Transportation will be provided.

Fr. Peter is asking for volunteers to help prepare for Sunday liturgies. The three (3) committees are Communication, Hospitality, and Art/Environment & Music. Each will have specific tasks and responsibilities to ensure that our Sunday celebration our joyous and that the needs of our parishioners respectfully attended to. Kindly sign up for one of the subcommittees below by reaching out to: Communication: Mark Valentino (mark@gazettechicago.org); Hospitality: Jim Bruton (jim@holyfamilychicago.org); Art/Environment & Music: Fran Lamonica (frances.m.lamonica@gmail.com)

Holy Family/Notre Dame de Chicago parish is happy to welcome Sarah Pelrine as the newly appointed Operations Director for the parish. Before coming to HF/ND, Sarah worked in the same position at Mary, Mother of Mercy in West Lawn. She sees the Operations Director as the person who works to ensure that the resources of the parish are used wisely. Sarah is recently married and lives in Chicago. Both her undergraduate and graduate studies were done at the University of Notre Dame. Welcome Sarah and good luck in your new position.

Cardinal Cupich has approved new guidelines designed to assist parishioners and parish staff in the preparation of Masses of Christian Burial. In his Chicago Catholic column, the Cardinal stated, "I am intentionally issuing these guidelines on All Souls' Day, Nov. 2, the day we set aside exclusively to pray for the dead. As such, it serves as a point of reference for all of our rites of Christian burial." Please click on the title link or picture to see the new guidelines.

Remember to set your clocks back one hour as we switch back to Central standard time at 2:00 AM on November 3 or you will be very early for Mass.

Fr. Peter has shared that the parish office will be moving all parish staff and functions out of Holy Family and to Notre Dame de Chicago sometime in November.

Unfortunately, plans to reopen our parish Food Pantry have been delayed. Now that the parish offices will be based at the Notre Dame de Chicago site our ministerial space in Burke Hall opened up. Working with our Food Pantry Ministry we discussed and planned to move our ministry up from Damen Hall into some of the spaces in Burke Hall. However, there are some issues with both the lease and the intentions of the donors on how the space can be used. Fr. Peter will soon meet with representatives of all parties involved to come to understanding and decision.

After not being seen for almost 50 years, the renovation of the beautiful stained glass window of St. John Nepomucene on the east side of the church has been completed. The restoration was done by Daprato Rigali Studios of Chicago. The window, which symbolizes the seal of the confessional, depicts St. John Nepomucene before King Wenceslaus IV, with sword in hand, commanding St. John to tell him what the Queen has confessed. St. John refused to reveal the secret of the confessional and, as a result, was tortured and thrown into the river where he drowned. He is considered a patron saint of the Czech Republic. Additional plaster work and painting will be completed in the near future.

In keeping with its mission, the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women annually provides one four-year renewable scholarship. The recipient should be a young woman graduating from high school and continuing her education in a college or university. The student must belong to a parish in the Archdiocese of Chicago. Please click on the title link or picture for general rules and links to printable letters, including last year’s scholarship essay.