Dear Parishioners,

I am delighted to share with you the news that this past Tuesday, September 19, St Joan of Arc School was named a recipient of the National Blue Ribbon Award for 2023. The U.S. Department of Education recognized 353 schools in our country as “Blue Ribbon Schools.” This means that St. Joan of Arc School is among the top ten percent of all school in this country that take standardized tests. This recognition is based on a school’s overall academic performance or progress in closing achievement gaps among student group assessments.

As we all know, people come and go into the fabric of our personal lives and in the lives of our religious communities as well. As such, we bade farewell to Mrs. Lynne Passarella this past Friday as she completed her final hours as our parish receptionist. Lynne took the initiative to apply for this position eight years ago after leaving the previous parish in Joliet at which she was employed.

You are all aware that the Catholic Church in this country has been engaged in, what it is calling, a “Eucharistic Revival” designed to deepen peoples knowledge and love of the great mystery of the Holy Eucharist. Last year this revival was conducted on the diocesan level. As of this past June 11, the Feast of Corpus Christi, this revival has been transferred to the parish level. The following are some of the efforts we are doing toward this revival at St. Joan of Arc.

Dear Parishioners,

On August the 15th, the Solemnity of Mary’s Assumption, those present at the 7:00pm liturgy called upon God to bless our newly fashioned statue of the Madonna and Child. It was a simple but festive rite at which the artist, Wiktor Szostalo, was present. It was a privilege, not only to have this international sculptor join us for the celebration, but to also have him to speak to those gathered about his background and vocation as an artist along with his unique approach to art, especially sculpture.

Dear Parishioners,
The following include several updates and reminders.

Capital Campaign

Our parish Capital Campaign, Cherishing Tradition, Creating Vision, continues to unfold in a timely manner. It serves as yet another reflection of the generosity of our parishioners. In the near future all our parishioners will receive a statement about the campaign’s progress along with a final invitation to contribute to it if they have not done so and may wish to. Eventually there will be a memorial wall in the church narthex identifying (in alphabetical order) all those who participated in the campaign. It will not list the amount of each donation, however.

Dear Parishioners,

I am delighted to welcome to our parish staff Konnor Damery as our new Director of Adult Faith Formation. I am also happy to welcome his family as parishioners -- Ayla, his wife, and his two children Eden Marie (1 yr.) and Augustine Rex (2 mo). Konnor grew up on a small farm outside of Decatur, IL while his wife was originally from Naperville. Konnor was raised Catholic. During his first year in college, while at the Newman Center of Illinois State University, his faith in Jesus Christ deepened especially as he experienced Christ in the Eucharist.

Dear Parishioners,

On July 11, 2023, our parish staff celebrated the feast of St. Benedict with Mass at 8:15 and a festive midday lunch at which Abbot Austin Murphy OSB from St. Procopius Abbey honored us with his presence. In addition to his company, Abbot Austin presented our parish with a check for $100,000.00 as the Abbey’s contribution to our capital campaign. This very generous gift from the monks of St. Procopius community will greatly assist us in our efforts to repair and enhance the place where we worship which is a major aspect of our upcoming centennial celebration.

Dear Parishioners,

St. Benedict, in full Saint Benedict of Nursia, Nursia also spelled Norcia, (born c. 480 CE, Nursia [Italy]—died c. 547, Monte Cassino; feast day July 11, formerly March 21), founder of the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino and father of Western monasticism; the Rule that he established became the norm for monastic living throughout Europe. In 1964, in view of the work of monks following the Benedictine Rule in the evangelization and civilization of so many European countries in the Middle Ages, Pope Paul VI proclaimed him the patron saint of all Europe.

Dear Parishioners,

Our new statue of Mary and the child Jesus has been in the church for two weeks now and the reception of this original piece of art, by our parishioners, has been overwhelmingly favorable. Like all fine art, this image of the Mother of God keeps revealing its beauty and spiritual significance the more one ponders it. I believe this is how one comes to appreciate art of any genre or medium, by standing back from it and viewing it with a contemplative eye over a period of time.

I have spent several hours at various times of the day in prayerful contemplation before this statue. I continually discover new features of its craftsmanship as well as new dimensions of its meaning. I share some of these below.

Dear Parishioners,

On Sunday, June 11, the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (traditionally called Corpus Christi), St. Joan of Arc launched the second year of our Eucharistic Revival – a national initiative called for by our US Bishops. This second year will focus on parish communities and how they might deepen their knowledge and love of the Eucharistic mystery.

To inaugurate this year, we celebrated a festive liturgy at 9:30am on Sunday that was followed by a procession with the Blessed Sacrament around the entire parameters of our parish campus. Despite the cool temperature, challenging winds and annoying rainfall, approximately 200 hundred parishioners walked in this procession and gave public witness to their belief in Christ’s presence in the Eucharistic food.

Dear Parishioners,

Today the church celebrates the great solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, more popularly referred to as Corpus Christi. This feast emerged in the 13th century after a Belgian nun, Juliana of Liege had a vision. In her vision, Juliana saw a disc-like image that resembled the full moon. A portion of the disc was darkened. She however, interpreted the disc to represent the church’s official Liturgical Year, and the darkened portion to represent a feast that was absent. Juliana maintained that the absent feast was one that focused solely on the Holy Eucharist. Although the annual celebration of Holy Thursday has the Eucharist and the Last Supper as its focus, she felt that Good Friday and Easter Sunday overshadowed this focus and so convinced Pope Urban IV to inaugurate the feast of Corpus Christi.