April 11, 2021
On April 11, Divine Mercy Sunday, Fr. Shane Johnson presided at the 10 a.m. Mass at the North Church, with Deacon Michael Malucha assisting. Since the beginning of Lent 2021, the 10 a.m. Sunday Mass has been celebrated ad orientem. This means that for parts of the Mass, the priest and the people face the same direction, symbolizing that the words during that time are spoken directly to God. When the priest turns toward the people, he is in dialogue with the people. Fr. Shane is a priest-son of St. Francis Borgia; he attended Mass at the historic stone church and graduated from the parish grade school. He was ordained in 2009 and since 2012 has served parishes in New York City. Fr. Shane’s parents are parishioners Alan and Cheri Johnson.
March 2, 2014 On Sunday, March 2, 47 parishioners went on a pre-Lenten pilgrimage. The pilgrims traveled to Chicago and toured St. John Cantius church, where they attended Mass. St. John Cantius is one of the patron saints of Poland and St. John Paul II had a particular devotion to him. The pilgrims also went to Marytown in Libertyville, IL, which is the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who offered his life for another prisoner at the Auschwitz death camp. The pilgrims viewed a video on St. Maximilian, toured the Kolbe museum, and then consecrated themselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary. By traveling on a rented coach bus, the pilgrims could pray the rosary together, and watch a DVD about the restoration of St. John Cantius church. They also watched DVDs by Fr. Michael Gaitley. The genesis for this trip was from the “That Man is You” parishioner group. Members had gone through a 33 day at-home retreat, studying the book “33 Days to Morning Glory” by Fr. Gaitley, to culminate in a consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The pilgrimage offered the consecration opportunity, with a tie-in to the book, and was opened up to other parishioners who wanted to attend. Click to view gallery.
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