SERVING THE NEEDY OF THE MOMENCE AREA DURING THE WINTER MONTHS

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

I was told that THIS YEAR'S FIRST CONFESSION CLASS WAS SIX TIMES LARGER than when I first started in 2019 at St. Patrick’s Church in Momence. I was also told that a bunch of kids could not come to first confession today because of the weather.

All I know is that if it’s grown six times as large in six years, Lord knows what’s going to happen a decade from now! I hope my health insurance is good so I can keep going! God bless our catechists and our teachers and everyone who serves these wonderful treasures of the church!!!

With a whole slew of activities coming down the pipeline very shortly, I received a phone call from Momence Police Chief Patrick Siemsen of Momence, asking if the city could use the gym as a “warming center” again for the sake of the city’s residence. Some time back, I gave Chief Siemsen and Chief Todd Navratil of St. Anne a “grand master key” of both respective campuses (I am the most boring priest of the diocese – if you want to see me work, sleep and pray, they can knock themselves out entering our campuses). Thus, the Academy and Parish Gym and Community Center has been made available for the residents of the city in this wintery time of need.

Meanwhile, Secretary Ema Elvir is overworking her husband Antonio Elvir and our reliable maintenance guru Artemio Ojeda in upgrading St. Anne’s electrical system in the gymnasium, bleeding the gas lines at both hall’s kitchens and helping us install security systems at both parishes to protect our campuses. Artemio and Antonio have been working “round the clock” since Thanksgiving on these various projects, often volunteering a great deal of their time to the benefit of our parishioners.

Today, I had a chance to pick up the Parish Newsletters that we have created for 2025. The Newsletter’s theme is “Testimonial,” where parishioners, alumni and friends of St. Patrick’s write about the importance that this Church plays in the city of Momence and the parishioners we serve.

While doing so, I stopped off at St. Joseph’s Church in Joliet (one of the Churches I have served over the last two decade). I had a nice conversation with Fr. John Hornicek, who spoke to me about his experience with a “bat problem” from a former parish that he addressed with a simple fix. I got the “fix” online (no, it’s not a shotgun – I don’t carry firearms and wouldn’t hit water in an ocean if I did). Thank you Fr. John!!!

This week, we will distribute the newsletters to our parishioners. Those who do not pick up their newsletter will receive a “door-to-door” visit from our evangelization team, making sure our parishioners know we care about them and promoting St. Patrick’s in the process. We also are distributing our 50/50 Raffle Tickets at that time to help the parish out in this way.

We also are gearing up on the March 8, 2025 Annual Irish Mass & Dinner, which begins with a 4:00 Bagpipe Mass and continues with our annual Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner (and Irish Stew!) with entertainment by the Galway Guys. This year, we are making a concerted effort to advertise on Facebook (and whatever other social media we can find) to extend this invitation out to our community. If you “right click” your mouse on the Clip Art for the dinner, you can “paste” the clip art on to whatever social media you are connected to get the word out concerning this annual event.

Now that we have installed new ovens at both parishes (thank you Kyle Volek!), both parishes are kicking into Fish Fry Season. Similar to the Irish Dinner, we are advertising this event on Facebook and other social media (we already have done so in both cities, to some degree). If you can “right click” the clip art for the event and “paste” it into your social media platforms, you can help us advertise the event around the area. We would appreciate your help with this!

Per the request of our Online Parishioners, I am starting to record special Lenten Videos for our at-home parishioners. The first video is an Online Stations of the Cross, featuring a tour of both parishes. We are hoping to get a Lenten Reflection Online this year as well. One of our most popular videos from last year concerned the covering of statues – if there are any special topics you would like us to address, feel free to contact us

Business Manager Julie Bisaillon reminded me that this month, St. Pat’s debt finally went below $30,000, a $300,000 drop from three years ago! If we can get that debt down to ZERO!, then we can discuss Capital Improvement Projects that would benefit the parish (like generators for our church and rectory buildings, parking lots for the gym and church, etc.). We can also talk about classrooms for the kids – our First Confession group was SIX TIMES larger than five years ago (Lord knows what will happen ten years from now when I hit retirement age – pray the bishop will let me carry on!!!).

Finally… since a kind, anonymous donor paid over $3,500 for the new sanctuary banners at St. Patrick’s, we took the banners previously used at the parish and brought them over to St. Anne (waste not, want not!). I also purchased altar “scarves” for the sanctuary to “punch up” the liturgical solemnity at the church, distinguishing each liturgical season by their corresponding color. Thanks St. Pat’s Liturgy Group for donating the banners to St. Anne’s!

What a busy week! God bless all of you for supporting our parishes!!!

FELICIDADES/ CONGRATULATIONS TO SOON-TO-BE FATHER JHOBANY ORDUZ, CSV

On February 9, Deacon Jhobany Orduz preached his last two Masses at St. Patrick’s as a Catholic Deacon as a Viatorian Cleric. On February 22, Bishop Christopher Glancy, CSV will ordain Deacon Jhobany as a Catholic priest at St. Viator Church in BogOta, Columbia. Following his ordination (Fr. Jhobany is celebrating a wedding Mass for his brother the week after his ordination), he will return to the US to celebrate his first Masses at St. Patrick’s in Momence on March 16, 2025 at the 10:30 a.m. Mass in English and the 12:00 noon Mass in Spanish. After the 12:00 Mass, we will hold a reception for Fr. Jhobany in the Church Hall. ALL are invited to attend!

(We will record these two Masses for Fr. Jhobany and his family down south. Fr. Jhobany will become the SECOND ordained priest in his family – WHAT A GIFT!!!)

If you CLICK THIS LINK (or the picture below), you will have access the 2025 St. Patrick's Parish Newsletter. In this year's edition, we have included various testimonials from parishioners, alumni and friends of the parish who offer wonderful reflections about what is going on at our little Border Town Parish.

After decades of faithful service to the St. Pat’s Community (both as principal of the academy and faithful parishioner), Rick Preston passes on the baton as he enjoys his “senior years” at St. Pat’s. Taking over the Golf Outing is Sandy Malpasuto, one of the many generations of LaMotte Family Members who have served our parish so well. Sandy and husband Bob coordinated the Golf Outing at Bishop McNamara High School for years; now they bring their talents to their home parish!

This Year’s Golf Outing will take place on Saturday June 21, 2025 at the Oak Springs Country Club in St. Anne, IL

Taking the lead from our "Frito Lay Guy" Nick Skokna, Ema Elvir came in contact with Kyle Schaumberg. Kyle works for a distribution outlet for the Post Cereal Company. Because of his kind heart, Kyle heard about what we were doing in the Border Town and donated FIFTEEN CASES of Post Cereal Products (who doesn't like Grape Nuts and Fruity Pebbles) as well as a few trays of peanut butter to the pantries of our area. Thank you, Kyle, for thinking of us!!!

Over the last two months, Antonio Elvir (husband to secretary EXTRAORDINARIA Ema Elvir) converted an unused shower room at the Academy Gym into a nice room for meetings. Antonio replaced the heaters in the room and our AA Group is in the process of taking care of the lighting and electrical.

The next step in the process is to name the room. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

GRACIAS ANTONIO and everyone involved with this project!!!

We will participate in our annual Baby Bottles for Life fundraiser in February. Bottles to fill with change can be picked up at next weekend’s Masses. Information will be placed in next week’s bulletin concerning this fundraiser, Thank you for supporting life at our parishes!

Earlier this month, I sent a note out to anyone who was an alumnus, parent of an alumni, family or friends of St. Patrick’s Academy and Church, asking for testimonials concerning the good work that our local Church offers the residents of Momence, IL today. So much has taken place these last few years for the sake of the Border Town Communities and the residents of East Kankakee County that I was giving them… and YOU!... an opportunity to share the manner in which St. Patrick’s Church has been helping the area over the last few years.

The first of the testimonials arrived in my e-mail this week from Ted Peterson (two-time champion of the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers and Community Liaison of Van Drunen Farms). The Van Drunen Family have been responsible in helping St. Patrick’s in so many ways, from paying for the installation and materials of our academy gym windows, purchasing tables and chairs in the gym, and, most recently, donating $5,000 towards the upgrades on the second floor of our gymnasium (converting the old shower room into another meeting room on campus).

As I preached during last weekend’s Masses (you can read the homily if you CLICK HERE!), four other sources have written me personal checks for over $80,000 last year that I deposited in the checking accounts at both parishes. This $80,000 has been used, in part, to lower our debt (which went from $330,000+ four years ago to less than $34,000 currently), the purchase of tables and chairs for our parish hall, paying for Silvia Tejada’s salary (Silvia has brought in scores of Hispanics to our parishes because of her tireless work in our community), purchasing air conditioners for St. Anne’s, payment for the newly installed ovens at both parishes and so much more! I promised our communities last weekend that whenever I received significant donations from others (not the small “take yourself out for dinner donations” but the BIG ONES!), I would turn around and deposit those donations into our parish accounts – YOU ARE ALL WORTH IT AND YOU NEED TO KNOW YOU ARE LOVED!!!

Here is your homework assignment... I am looking for as many people from our academy (and extended family) as possible to write a one paragraph article about why St. Patrick's Church is important to our community today. I would like to include these paragraphs and pictures in our next alumni newsletter in March.

We have done so much to help out the people of our area, but we do not want to stop. Over the last couple years, the parish has helped significantly towards supporting our local alcoholics anonymous group, our food pantry, our police department, the Gladiolus festival people, Kankakee Community College and their ESL program, as well as all kinds of other Activities for the benefit of this community.

Our debt has been reduced in the last three years from $330,000 to less than $35,000 now. We have done a lot to make this community grow and I need your help to keep the good news moving forward.



If anyone could help me with this, please send your email response and picture to pjankowski@yahoo.com. I would like these responses returned by the end of January.

God knows what all of you have done for our parishes – we need to make sure the residents of our area and our donors of the community also know what we are doing!!! God bless all of you for contributing your time, talents and financial resources to get our parishes in the black and helping our communities grow. – Fr. Pete

BELOW ARE THE TWO HOMILIES (IN ENGLISH & SPANISH WHICH I PREACHED ON SUNDAY ABOUT THE WRITING OF THESE TESTIMONIALS! 

Referencing the king of welcome and hospitality offered at the Border Town Parish, Fr. Pete reads three "testimonials" from Kristen Stockle (Good Shepherd Manor), Ted Petersen (Van Drunen Farms) and alumnus Rita Brezenger-Orth, who all offered wonderful reflections of what St. Patrick's means to them today.

WE ENCOURAGE OUR PARISHIONERS AND FRIENDS OF THE PARISH TO WRITE A ONE PARAGRAPH TESTIMONIALS (WITH A PICTURE), REFLECTING ON WHAT ST. PATRICK'S IN MOMENCE means for the community they serve today. Fr. Pete will include many of these reflections in the upcoming March Parish Newsletter.

Haciendo referencia a la gran bienvenida y hospitalidad que se ofrece en la parroquia de los pueblos fronterizos, el padre Pete lee tres "testimonios" de Kristen Stockle (Good Shepherd Manor), Ted Petersen (Van Drunen Farms) y la exalumna Rita Brezenger-Orth, quienes ofrecieron maravillosas reflexiones sobre lo que significa San Patricio para ellos hoy.

ANIMAMOS A NUESTROS FELIGRESES Y AMIGOS DE LA PARROQUIA A ESCRIBIR UN TESTIMONIO DE UN PÁRRAFO (CON UNA FOTO), REFLEXIÓN SOBRE LO QUE ST. PATRICK'S IN MOMENCE significa para la comunidad a la que sirven hoy. El padre Pete incluirá muchas de estas reflexiones en el próximo boletín parroquial de marzo.

Finally, LAST YEAR FOUR SPECIFIC DONORS/ORGANIZATIONS WHO ARE NOT EVEN ASSOCIATED WITH OUR PARISHES DONATED OVER $90,000 TO OUR PARISHES! The Online Masses, special events and such have made a wonderful impact on our communities. As a result, St. Patrick’s has been able to shave almost $300,000 off the parish debt and St. Anne was blessed last year for monies used to upgrade the air conditioning in church. All of our hard work is paying off! Thanks to everyone who has supported our cause.

We will participate in our annual Baby Bottles for Life fundraiser in February. Bottles to fill with change can be picked up at next weekend’s Masses. Information will be placed in next week’s bulletin concerning this fundraiser, Thank you for supporting life at our parishes!

Click Here

to Access

the St. Anne Novena Page!!!

ONLINE VIDEOS THIS WEEK

MASS FOR THE SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Celebrated at ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH - Momence, IL

Truly to "love one's enemies" is a discipline that requires a great deal of humility and love. In today's homily, Fr. Pete references how our Lord infinitely is better at forgiving than he could ever be (see Luke 23: 34). He also references the lives of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1978), St. Pope Celestine V (1215 - 1296) and St. Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879), all of whom were terribly treated by others in the faith yet persevered in the faith because of their wonderful love of 'God.

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 $30,000 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

February 23, 2025

CLICK HERE!

To View St. Anne's Bulletin for

February 23, 2025

CLICK HERE!

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR SICK: June Burns, Guadalupe Mike Cronk, Maria De Leon, Cindy DeYoung, Debbie Georgiani, Joanne Hermann, Don Hout, Gustavo Lopez, Jesus Ariel Lopez, Evelyn Provost, Art Schmidt, 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...