Faithful can subscribe to the notes by contacting the parish office and providing their e-mail address. Thanks for your support of our border town parishes!!!

Please remember - Fr. Pete does not send out text messages, e-mails or social media posts to solicit

funds for himself or any organizations outside of the parishes he serves. Fr. Pete's emergency phone

number is (815) 685-1359 and his e-mail addresses

are either pjankowski@yahoo.com or pjankowski@stfrancis.edu.

Please do not trust any correspondences that

utilize any other phone number or e-mail address.

Feel free to contact Fr. Pete at email pjankowski@yahoo.com. If you have an emergency, please contact Fr. Pete at (815) 685-1359

I would like you to remember this picture of the St. Pat's 3:00 Mass on December 24, 2023, if you would.

If you recall when we began our journey together at Pat's in 2019, our Christmas Eve Mass was more like a “ghost town” than what you see above. After thirty-five years of all kinds of things happening in this parish prior to my arrival (save six years with Fr. Dennis White), we started our time together with very few families, no Hispanic Ministry and little hope for a parish, which served as a vibrant light for this community since 1859. The attendance in Religious Education was not good, to say the least. The future of our little slice of heaven was kind of grim.

This month, almost fifty families consecrated themselves to the devotion of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Novena. The numbers in Religious Education have grown so much that some of our faithful have asked that we build a classroom building to accommodate all our kids (first we have to tackle our $131,000+ debt!!!). Activities have caused double bookings, because now we do not have enough space to accommodate so many good things happening at the parish. And on December 24-25, not only did we reach our weekly collection budget of $3,000, but we reached our $10,000+ Christmas budget with the in-church collection, without including any of the donations offered online or in the mail!

I was reflecting on this growth in relation to my last parish in Joliet, which was also in a perilous situation some years back. Where we also began with thirty souls at our first Spanish Masses in 2006 (as we did here), last fall the parish hosted a retreat with over 1,500 hundred in attendance! To those who are a little bit more forward-thinking, as the Hispanic population continues to grow (according to the 2020 census, it was the only demographic growing in the US, by a factor of 23%), by allowing that one demographic alone to thrive allows everyone else to win at the parish.

Now, all of a sudden, the largest demographic at our parish that is growing is not the Hispanic community – it is families, in general. Kids are filling the pews. The old church axiom is working in reverse at our parish… if the Church ain’t crying, it’s dying. A lot of kids are crying in church (and you think my homilies are just driving the adults nuts!).

Our future at St. Patrick's looks really good and all of you are the reason. When we let the Holy Spirit guide us, good things come as a result.

Over at St. Anne’s… we are still tweaking the Video System for broadcasting our Masses (my personal microphone is fine but we need to work on the rest of the sound system). This is evident when you watch below the St. Anne’s Christmas Mass at dawn for December 25, 2023. Nadine White and the good souls as SoundTronix continue to help us with this project, as they did with the church’s sound system and the outdoor pavilion system as well.

Last night (Wednesday – December 27, 2023), we celebrated a Memorial Service for Irene “Reney” Budz, who passed away earlier this year. Among her other talents, Reney helped us write Easter & Christmas Cards to the homebound the last couple of years. At last night’s Memorial Service, I preached about Reney’s dedication to the homebound in our community and implored her family and friends to write cards and notes to those they know who may feel neglected or alone this time of year. Perhaps we all can do this as one small way to show we care.

Speaking of caring… literally thousands of dollars in donated funds (which were restricted for the sake of the needy of our community) were distributed to those most in need of God’s mercy. Because of all of you, a great deal of mittens, socks, hats and slippers were donated to the needy families at Harbor House. Toys, coats and food were brought to the needy of Joliet through the Centro Vilaseca Daycare Center. Artemio Ojeda delivered everything you donated on behalf of the Manteno Veterans’ Home. Yesterday night, I delivered the last of the literally hundreds of cases of food to the Food Pantries of the area. A couple of our donors even travelled from DuPage County to deliver personal checks to those in need within our area. The testimony of the Christmas message being lived out by our faithful is a symbol of what Christmas is supposed to mean for those in need. God bless all of you for doing this!

Christmas Eve Mass in Spanish - Dec 24

Christmas Eve 3:00 English Mass - Dec 24

Christmas Mass at Dawn - St. Anne's

Christmas Online Mass at St. Patrick's

Three years ago, we came to realize that the task of plotting out our respective cemeteries would be quite a monumental task to accomplish on our own. To spend any kind of money for cemetery software or outsourcing this project to a for-profit agency would have been extremely expensive for our parishes.

I contacted Mr. Rich Tapella, who used to serve as Director for the Catholic Cemeteries Office for the Diocese of Joliet and currently serves as a funeral director for Farkus Funeral Home in Joliet (his brother is Fr. Joseph Tapella, the former Vicar General of the Joliet Diocese). Rich suggested we find a college student seeking an engineering degree to plot out our cemeteries; this would be good experience for an engineering student and would look good on that student’s resume.

We contacted Kankakee Community College and worked with student Ethan Fritz, who recently earned his bachelor’s degree in Engineering. Ethan laid out the cemetery plots for both St. Anne’s and St. Patrick’s and then handed the job over to Rich Tapella. Over the last few months, Rich was able to list the names of all 2,100+ souls in our St. Patrick's burial database and associate those names with the plots and actual locations of the gravesites.

Yesterday, Rich handed over this good work to Roger “Bones” Hess who, with the help of Kathy Juriss-Bukowski and Paul Bukowski, will tweak what Rich started. Because of the good work by so many, we now have a type of computerized database on an Excel spreadsheet that can help us organize who is buried where and help our family members and friends find the exact location of their loved ones whose plots are located at our cemetery.

Starting at the beginning of the year, Rich will begin the process of laying out St. Anne’s Cemetery in the same way. Neither Rich nor Ethan sought out remuneration for their work; we are so grateful to both of them for the Christian service they offered, as well as Bones/Kathy/Paul and the St. Pat’s Cemetery Staff as well as Jim Sparenberg over at St. Anne’s.

Have a safe and blessed New Year, everyone! On New Year's Day, we will offer Masses at St. Anne's at 9:00 a.m. and at St. Patrick's at 10:30 a.m. - Fr. Pete Jankowski

Pre-Christmas Festival on December 10 with Brass Sextet

Advent Reflection, Based on Gospel of Luke 1: 26-39

Watch the Las Mañanitas Liturgy at St. Patrick's Church on December 12!

Watch the Evening Mass from Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12!

ONLINE VIDEOS THIS WEEK

Mass for the Solemnity

of the Holy Family

Celebrated at St. Anne's Church - St. Anne, IL

Referencing special Christmas "gifts" by the likes of Zaira Zelinda Cosenza Jankowski, Ben Jankowski, Lucia Houk and Lynn Michels, Fr. Pete preaches at this Mass about the importance of God's family, our "Domestic Church" family under the roofs of our home and all of YOU - Fr. Pete's brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Mass for the Solemnity

of Mary, Mother of God

Celebrated at Fr. Pete's Makeshift House Chapel - St. Anne, IL

In his homily, Fr. Pete talks about the Rosary serving as an important prayer to raise to God all those good souls who have asked for God to intervene in their lives. Fr. Pete references the numerous times the rosary has been prayed on behalf of those he serves... INCLUDING YOU!!!

For Catholic Daily Reflections (based on the scripture readings of the day),

CLICK HERE!!!

CLICK HERE to Access the Readings for This Sunday's Mass,

From the Website of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops

One of our seniors has taken it upon themself to take courses on writing grants. The US Government offers millions of dollars of grants that are accessible for those who apply for them. Since both parish halls are seen as "Community and Emergency Centers" by our respective cities, we need help in getting generators and internet on our properties to help the cities... and us!!! ... in our efforts to serve the people of our area.

1973 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

1981 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

1986 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

1993 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

2004 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

2006 St. Patrick's Academy 100th Anniversary Commemorative Booklet

2010 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

2016 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

2023 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

1960s St. Anne’s Church Photo Directory

1970s St. Anne’s Church Photo Directory

1989 St. Anne’s Church Photo Directory

1998-2004 St. Anne’s

Church Photo Directory

2023 St. Anne's Church Photo Directory

For weddings and such, Fr. Pete offers a special blessing on the first Sunday weekend of each month and is willing to purchase an Apostolic Blessing for anyone who asks (and if he can afford it... since he pays out of pocket!!!).

If you are interested in receiving an Apostolic Blessing, you can do so by clicking the link below or by calling the parish offices.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR OWN APOSTOLIC BLESSING!!!

Fr. Pete offers the anointing of the sick at both parishes at the First Friday Masses every month (St. Patrick’s at 9:15 a.m. and St. Anne’s at 5:00 p.m. (English) and 7:00 p.m. (Spanish).

1. The offices remained closed until January 2, 2024.
2. Masses for the Solemnity of Mary take place on January 1 at St. Anne's (9:00 a.m.) and St. Patrick's (10:30 a.m.)

To View St. Patrick's Bulletin for

December 31, 2023



CLICK HERE!

To View St. Anne's Bulletin for

December 31, 2023



CLICK HERE!

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR SICK: Mary Kay Blankestyn, Ashley & Jesse Childress, Guadalupe Maria De Leon, Austin Fuhrmann, Ron Gall, Joel Hart, Karen Hensa, Joanne McCracken, Marilyn Peterson, Joanne Prather, Evelyn Provost, Ruth Sparenberg, Cynthia Vickery, Gary Witherall... and all those on our sick list.

At St. Anne's... Eva Bell, Paula Bertrand, Lola Billings, Duane Blanchette, Cheryl Boswell, Patrick Burns, Cindy Capriotti, Jesse & Ashley Childress, Abraham Daily, Tom Dandurand, Aria Dionne, Carol Futcher, Raelynn Garrett, Jack Houk, Val Lagacy, Bentley Lottinville, Linda Miramontes and John Wojnowski.

At St. Patrick's... P. Anderson, N. Atkinson, R. Bailey, D. Barth, Beedle Family, D. Brown, W. Bukowski, B & E. Coffman, S. Conner, M & D Cousin, M. Cruz, A. Delaney, D. Demack, M. Dionne, J. Dobbins, E. Duke, D. Dunlap, G. Field, C. Fritz, R. Gall, J. Grill, R. Harper, J. Hibbs, D. Hiller, C. Jones, L. Kane, R. Kazee, A. Kijewski, L. Lee, L. Leranth, E. Lopez, B. Love, J. Marcotte, W. Marten, L. McNulty, L. Mercado, R & V Morse, C. Ortman, D. Petronio, M. Peterson, C. Piec, C. Provost, E. Provost, R. Rehmer, P. Reising, D. Roberts, B. Ryan, A. Schaff, J. Schopf. Schmied, K. Simpson, B. Siwicki, B. Spagnola, M. Tolbert, M. Tolmer, H. Tousignant, M. Velazquez, C. Vickery, M. Williams, M. Witherspoon, S. Young, A. Zimmerman, M & L Zink and G. Zokal.

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR BELOVED DECEASED: Irene "Reney" Budz (Memorial Service on December 27 at 5:00 p.m. - St. Anne's Church)

CLICK HERE TO READ

FR. PETE'S HOMILIES

Click Here for the Parish

Registration Form in English

Click Here for the Religious Education Registration Forms FOR BOTH PARISHES

Click Here to Register for the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults

Click Here for the Time

& Talent Form in English

Click Here for the Link to All the Parish Forms

Help support our parishes buy purchasing copies of Fr. Pete’s Homiletic Books! You can purchase them at the parishes or online at Amazon.com!

Cycle A Homilies - Cycle B Homilies

Cycle C Homilies