WHAT AN ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR WEEK AT OUR BORDER TOWN PARISHES!!!

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.

In front of St. Patrick's Church, Cones will be placed in the area where cars are asked not to park, out of respect for our Neighbors.

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

Pictured in the GIF Above...Highlights from the St. Patrick’s CCW Christmas Dinner on December 12, 2024; Pictures from the THIRTEEN AND A HALF PALLETS of Frito Lay Products distributed last week (thank you Wielgus family for getting the food and Bishop Glancy for “stealing” three cases); a picture of two of our nonagenerians at St. Patrick’s (Lorraine McNulty and Evalyn Surprenant) – Evalyn passed away this week and her funeral takes place at St. Patrick’s on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m.

As so many of you were aware, in the middle of me grading the final exams for the college students at the University of St. Francis, the “CCW Christmas Dinner” at St. Patrick’s on December 10, the “Our Lady of Guadalupe” celebrations on December 12 at St. Patrick’s, the “Fritos at First Confessions” at St. Anne’s on December 14 and the annual Blessing of the Horses at the Camino y Esperanza Retreat House on December 14, we were trying to negotiate a food haul of frozen meats from the Poor Clares in Minooka, IL and the THIRTEEN AND A HALF PALLETS of Frito Lay products that we needed to pick up from Alsip, IL. In between all of our activities, we were trying to find institutions of care that would take the boxes of snack food – from Fritos Scoops to Garlic-Parmesan Pretzel Twists to Flaming Hot Funyuns and whatever other snack foods were in those crazy boxes! By the time that Betty Wielgus and her family brought the food back to our parishes, I had no room in any garage for my car… or anything else! Luckily (and with God’s help), we were able to distribute ALL OF THEM to whatever food pantries we could find, Good Shepherd Manor, the Manteno Veterans’ Home and the local grade schools. That, and the haul of toys and coats I brought from all of you to the Centro Vilaseca Daycare Center in Joliet and we had an AWESOME weekend of ministry at our parishes!

I tried to include as many of those pictures that I could in the Online Christmas Mass we have opened for you, which you can find in these notes. We also have provided a flurry of pictures and videos from our events last week as well.

In addition to all of this, Antonio Elvir diligently has been working on converting the second floor shower rooms of the St. Patrick’s Academy Gymnasium into a meeting room for our parishioners. When John Rehmer gives me a list of students for First Confessions that was TWICE AS LONG than last year’s list, the need for more classroom space has become that much more evident.

Little by little, we are growing at our parishes, enough so that we are off the “diocesan radar” – too much is happening at our parishes that no one would want to close us with the direction that we are moving. This is all because of YOU! Please keep doing what you are doing!!!

One quick story from last week’s events that really lifted my heart. When Bishop Glancy (who also celebrated the Sunday Masses at St. Pat’s for us this weekend) came to celebrate the “Las Mañanitas” liturgy at St. Patrick’s at 6:00 a.m., I asked him to distribute flowers to the mothers at the end of the liturgy (which we normally do exclusively at the evening Mass). When you have a bishop coming to our “Periphery Churches” to reference Pope Francis), you try to pull out all the stops, which we did with the bishop. By the end of the distribution, Bishop Glancy was hugging and smiling at every woman he met and then TOOK PICTURES WITH ALL OF THEM (bishops take a lot of pictures during the year and they usually are not partial to them but this bishop did… and had a great time doing so!).

We are in the process of distributing all your gifts to Harbor House, the Veterans’ Home, families from the Angel Tree and I delivered the toys and coats this morning to the Centro Vilaseca for all of you. What a blessed end-of-Advent we are having at the Border Town Parishes!!!

Pictured in the GIF Below... Fr. Pete and Dana Miramontes distributing some of the THREE HUNDRED pumpkins pies donated by the Costco Grocery Store in Oak Brook Thanksgiving Weekend; Fr. Pete’s Inspiration for His Christmas Video Homily This Year; A Picture of our Guadalupe Committee preparing for the big event on December 12; Pics from the “Fritos for First Confessions” at St. Anne’s on December 14 (each kid got a bag of Fritos after their First Confession… what a deal!); Fr. Pete blessing horses at the Centro Vilaseca on December 14; Antonio Elvir demolishing the second floor shower room at St. Patrick’s Academy Gymnasium, turning it into a classroom (an $8,000 project whose funds were paid by outside sources!!!) and Fr. Pete delivering toys and coats to the Centro Vilaseca Daycare Center in Joliet, IL on December 16.

BONUS MASS FOR CHRISTMAS DAY

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



On-Site Masses at the Border Town Parishes

Tuesday - December 24, 2024

3:00 p.m. at St. Patrick's Church

(119 N. Market St. - Momence, IL)

5:00 p.m. at St. Anne's Church

(230 N. 6th Ave. - St. Anne, IL)

10:30 p.m. at St. Patrick's

Wednesday - December 25, 2024

9:00 a.m. at St. Anne's

10:30 a.m. at St. Patrick's

This homily cost Fr. Pete $7,500 but the value of what was given to others cannot be estimated. The best gift at Christmas is learning how Jesus was born to die, how Jesus took us from the creche to the cross, from the wreath to the crown of thorns. The gift is realizing to what extent God really loves us and the extent we choose to offer ourselves to others in God's name. HAVE A BLESSED, SAFE AND VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Finally, we are firming up three of our big parish socials in the upcoming months – mark these dates on your calendars!

• December 8 at both churches – A Visit from St. Nicholas on Sunday (all Masses), a concert by the RA Brass Sextet after our English Masses and a mini-posadas by the kids of St. Anne’s Religious Education after the 9:00 a.m. Mass
• February 8 – Our Annual Parish Appreciation Dinner at St. Patrick’s, starting with a 4:00 p.m. Polka Mass with Ray Koncar and Ray’s music following (dinner served by St. Patrick’s Funeral Committee)
• March 8 – St. Patrick’s Annual Irish Mass & Dinner (Brian McKee on the Bagpipes at the 4:00 p.m. Mass, the “Galway Guys” from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. and the Knights of Columbus serving their annual Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner (with Maria Jankowski and her Irish Lamb Stew)

Lots of good going on this month and following. God bless all of you!!!

• 2024 Parish Calendars (in English & Spanish) are available in church to take home.

Click Here

to Access

the St. Anne Novena Page!!!

ONLINE VIDEOS THIS WEEK

MASS FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

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

On this last Sunday before Christmas, we focus on what is called "The Visitation" of our Blessed Mother to St. Elizabeth and the great "Magnificat" Mary offers, a prayer recited by priests and religious throughout the world each night as part of their evening prayer. Between this prayer at night and St. Zechariah's canticle prayed each morning, our lives each day have "bookends" that reveal the Messiah to us at his birth, leading us eventually to his Passion, Death and Resurrection from the Dead at Easter. Please feel free to join us in prayer as Fr. Pete reflects on these two "bookends" of the Church!

Fr. Pete's Homily in Spanish last Sunday

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 USCCB's website)

WE HAVE FINALLY MADE IT UNDER THE $50,000 MARK! LET'S KEEP GOING!!!

St. Patrick’s Church Debt finally is now just above $80,000 but we still have a bit to go. We talked about how that debt grew to over $330,000 and how our business managers have been able to reduce it by a factor of $250,000 in two years. Before we can get to the other side of our ledger at Pat’s (and think about parking lots, classrooms for our kids, etc.), this debt needs to be eradicated. Thanks for those who have helped us reduce our debt and please consider doing what you can to lowering it even further!

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 Book

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 Photo Directory

2023 St. Anne's Church Photo Directory

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

How to scan a QR code with the Camera app



1. Open the Camera app from the Home Screen, Control Center, or Lock Screen.
2. Select the rear facing camera. Hold your device so that the QR code appears in the viewfinder in the Camera app. ... 
3. Tap the notification to open the link associated with the QR code.

Congratulations to Leonard & Bernie Ratuszny from St. Anne's their 50th Anniversary of Marriage!

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).

To View St. Patrick's Bulletin for

December 22, 2024

CLICK HERE!

To View St. Anne's Bulletin for

December 22, 2024

CLICK HERE!

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR BELOVED DECEASED: Arlene Zielinski, Evalyn Surprenant (Funeral at St. Patrick's on Wednesday - December 18 at 11:00 a.m.

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR SICK: June Burns, Guadalupe Maria De Leon, Cindy DeYoung, Debbie Georgiani, Joanne Hermann, Don Hout, Gustavo Lopez, Jesus Ariel Lopez, Evelyn Provost, Art Schmidt, Bob Thompson, Cynthia Vickery.. and all those on our sick list.

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

At St. Patrick's... P. Anderson, N. Atkinson, R. Bailey, D. Barth, Beedle Family, D. Brown, W. Bukowski, M. Cárdenas, P. Caro, 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, A. Fuhrmann, R. Gall, Tony & Adrianne Gallinaro, J. Grill, R. Harper, K. Hensa, J. Hibbs, D. Hiller, C. Jones, L. Kane, R. Kazee, A. Kijewski, Joe Kraus, L. Lee, L. Leranth, E. Lopez, B. Love, J. Marcotte, W. Marten, J. McCracken, L. McNulty, L. Mercado, R & V Morse, C. Ortman, M. Peterson, C. Piec, M. Pontow, J. Prather, C. Provost, E. Provost, R. Rehmer, P. Reising, D. Roberts, B. Ryan, M. Saldaña A. Schaff, J. Schopf. D. Schmied, K. Simpson, B. Siwicki, B. Spagnola, M. Tolbert, M. Tolmer, H. Tousignant, M. Velazquez, C. Vickery, M. Williams, Gary Witherell, M. Witherspoon, S. Young, J. L. Zagal, A. Zimmerman, M & L Zink and G. Zokal.

CLICK HERE TO READ

FR. PETE'S HOMILIES

CLICK HERE for the Parish

Registration Forms in English

(CLICK HERE for Spanish)

CLICK HERE for the Religious Education Registration Forms FOR BOTH PARISHES (CLICK HERE for Spanish)

Click Here to Register for the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (CLICK HERE for Spanish)

Click Here for the Time

& Talent Form in English

(CLICK HERE for Spanish)

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

Call the Offices at (815) 472-2864 or (815) 427-8265 for more information...

Greeting Cards of These Images are Now Available for Purchase in the Parish Office.

$25 for Books of Twenty...