426 N. West Avenue
Elmhurst, Illinois 60126-2171
Parish Office: 630/279-5700
Fax: 630/279-4667
November Celebrations We welcome into the Mary Queen of Heaven Parish Family the following who were baptized in November: Margaret Ann Cotner Ryan Thomas Veach Market Day Orders for December are due Monday, Dec. 8, at noon. You may turn in your order form in the box at the back of church or at the rectory. Pickup is on Saturday, Dec. 13, from 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. in the Social Hall. If you have questions or would like to place an order, please call Mary at 832-8263 or Karen at 279-4108. Catholic Charities Serves Needy Families Catholic Charities, Diocese of Joliet, hopes to make Christmas a little brighter for low income families in DuPage County. This year, through the agency's Holiday Outreach Program, over 3000 individuals have already been "adopted" by donor families and local area businesses and school. During the fall, client families completed a "wish list" at the Lombard office. Catholic Charities staff then coordinated with area churches, businesses and individuals to provide toys and needed clothing for the children. Donors also provided food certificates for each needy family so that they might enjoy a traditional Christmas dinner. Although most families were assigned to donors during October and November, Catholic Charities is still in great need of donations to purchase food and gift certificates for families who will ask for our help in December. Your donation to purchase food and gift certificates for these families and their children may be mailed to Catholic Charities, 26 W. St. Charles Road, Lombard, IL 60148. The agency relies on the continued generosity of the community to help them serve every needy family. Without your support, some families may not have much to celebrate this Christmas. Marmion Abbey Christmas Trees Marion Abbey is on Butterfield Road between North Aurora and Warrenville, about 5 miles west of Hwy 59. Thousands of beautiful pine trees at $20 - $30 each! When you buy a Marmion Christmas tree, you get a fresh tree that will last and last, and you are also helping the Monks at Marmion to support their educational and missionary work. Open until Dec. 23, from 9 a.m. till dusk. For more information, call 630-897-3011. Experience Life! Mercy Volunteer Corps Committed to a more merciful and just world, Mercy Volunteer Corps invites women and men to work alongside the Sisters of Mercy and give one year of full-time service to people who are poor, sick or uneducated. Each year, men and women ages 21-70 respond to the call of the Spirit and serve as Mercy volunteers in many parts of the U.S. and South America. For information, contact Sister JoAnn Persch, RSM, at 773-779-6011, ext. 50. e-mail: mercycorps@mercychicago.com www.mercyvolunteers.org. Deaf Community Mass (Signed) With Father Jim Hall & Father Mark Fracaro Joliet Diocese Ministry to the Deaf Sunday, December 14, at 4:00 P.M. At St. Isidore Catholic Church In Bloomingdale, in the Chapel (Mass and Social Time Afterwards) Please tell your family and friends They all are welcome! For more information: e-mail: Jack Crotty at knetdad@msn.com Joe Linder at jlinder01@msn.com Fax: Gail Partridge at 630-893-1849. Deaf Community Mass is held the 2nd Sunday of every month at 4 p.m. Also, there is an Interpreted Mass on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month at the Main Church of St. Isidore Parish in Bloomingdale. Resurrection Parish Reunion Resurrection Parish Reunion will be held Sunday, June 27, 2004, at Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace. The gathering of former parishioners and Resurrection School alumni will begin with Mass at 11 a.m., followed by cocktails at noon, lunch at 1 p.m., and entertainment and reminiscing from 2 until 4 p.m. For more information, or to send names and addresses of former parishioners or graduates, write to Kathleen Cahill Barclay, P.O. Box 72192, Roselle, IL 60172. The St. Michael (Wheaton) Class of 1974 Class Reunion, Summer of 2004. If you are or know of someone who is a 1974 graduate, contact Sheila Murphy Russell at 630-754-6060. Pro-Life Prayer Services Friday, December 12, is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Unborn. The Joliet Diocesan Life Office, under the banner of Helpers of God's Precious Infants, has arranged prayer services at the 5 abortion clinics in the Diocese from 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. The clinic locations are: Advantage Clinic, 203 E. Irving Park Road, Wood Dale; ACU Clinic, 736 N. York Road, Hinsdale; Access Health Center, 1700 75th St., Downers Grove; Anchor Medical Center, 1186 Roosevelt Rd., Glen Ellyn: West Suburban Gynecological Clinic, 523 W. Galena, Aurora. Please encourage family and friends to attend. For more information call 815-838-1002. Advent, Christmas and New Year Schedules Reconciliation Tuesday, December 9 Adults-7:00 p.m. Wednesday, December 10 Grade 4-3:45-4:30 p.m. Grades 5-8-7:00-8:15 p.m. Christmas Masses Wednesday, December 24 Christmas Eve-5:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Thursday , December 25 Christmas Day-8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. New Year's Masses Wednesday, December 31 New Year's Eve-5:00 p.m. Thursday, January 1, 2004 New Year's Day-Mary, Mother of God 9:00 a.m. Prayer Requests To pray for the sick is an important responsibility of the Christian Community. We hope that you will pray for these persons every day, alone or as a family. Thank you. Rose Caffarelli Cosmo Ciancio John Costello Vito Rigliola Mary Hagerty Art Heisen Tom Janicke Jack Lupo Joanne McGovern Kelly Peters Anne Marie Raye Patricia Sabel Patricia Staseck Patrick White Marion Whitting If you know someone who would like our prayers, please call Mary Alice at 279-1159. Benedictine University Sports Clinics Softball clinic offers kids individual instruction in basic skills. The clinic is at 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 12 for boys & girls ages 7-17. The fee is $35. The camp is a fundraiser for Benedictine's softball team. For info., call 829-6140. Baseball camp offers kids the opportunity to work on fundamentals. The time is 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. on four Fridays, Jan. 30 through Feb. 20. The camp is designed for youngsters ages 7-14, and individual attention is the main goal. The fee is $35/session or $125 for all four sessions. For information, call 630-829-6160. Christmas Food Collection Again, we are collecting non-perishable items to make up Christmas food baskets for needy families. We have 37 families to take care of this Christmas. Some of the items we will need are: canned vegetables, cranberries, dressing mix, potatoes, cereals, fruit, soup, canned meats and fish, peanut butter, jelly, Jell-O, boxed cake mixes, dish soap, soap bars, deodorant, hair shampoo, and paper products such as Kleenex, toilet paper, and paper towels. If you wish to donate a turkey, we ask that you please purchase Jewel or Dominick certificates and put them in an envelope indicating that they are for the purchase of a turkey. These certificates will be given, along with food baskets, to the families. Items can be brought until Sunday, December 14. Baskets will be provided in church for your donations. We will be preparing the baskets for distribution on Monday, December 15 at 10:00 a.m. If you have an hour or so free and would like to help out, please call Sheila Reiter at 833-6657. Thanksgiving Food Baskets A special thank you to all the parishioners who donated food and gift certificates for our Thanksgiving Food Baskets. Our parish was able to provide 37 needy families with Thanksgiving food. This was possible because of your generosity, the wonderful parishioners who helped sort the food and fill the food baskets, as well as funds received from our St. Vincent DePaul Society. Christmas Giving Tree There are still quite a few ornaments left on the tree. We have promised the families they would receive these gifts for Christmas, so please help us out by taking 1 or 2 ornaments off the tree and purchasing the item requested. Wrap the gift in Christmas wrapping paper, tape the ornament securely on the top of the package, and place the gift under the Giving Tree. The deadline for returning your gifts for the needy families and the nursing home residents is Sunday, December 14. Advent Penance Service Tuesday, December 9, at 7:00 p.m. After a short communal prayer service, priests will be available to hear individual confessions. Plan on setting this evening aside with your families to ready your hearts for the Christ Child's coming. The Holy Father's Intentions For December 2003 That the members of all religious may cooperate to alleviate the human sufferings of our time. Come Christmas Caroling With people from Mary Queen of Heaven to sing to seniors (no expertise needed). December 12 at 7:15 p.m. We will meet and sing at the Anchorage of Bensenville 111 E. Washington Street in Bensenville (Off of York Road) Please call, so we know how many song booklets we need. Call Debbie Styka at 941-7224 or Rose Wilkes at 833-7238. Worship Commission Notes From the Meeting on November 17 Fr. Richard Bayuk led an excellent meeting for ongoing training for the proclaimers on two different nights. The ushers, including several new ushers who signed up at the Ministry Fair in October, met with Tom Nanak recently. Plans for the celebration of Christmas have been finalized. All Masses will have either a choir or ensemble to lead the singing. Plans are being made to train new Eucharistic Ministers in January. Feed the Poor Drop Off Used Printer Cartridges Thanks to your generous donation of used printer cartridges, over 10,000 starving children have received a potential life-saving meal. The response to this drive has been excellent! The Mary Queen of Heaven Men's Group will continue to collect empty inkjet and toner cartridges to help feed the poor in Latin America and the Caribbean. With the non-profit organization, Food for the Poor, empty printer cartridges are recycled and the cash received used to supply food for the needy. One inkjet cartridge can feed a nutritious meal to 80 children! One toner cartridge will feed 300 children a nutritious meal! Of the estimated 300 million printer cartridges sold every year in the United states to businesses and individuals, only 2 percent, or 6 million cartridges, get recycled. The other 294 million cartridges, worth a minimum of $588 million, end up in the trash! Please look for the special Food for the Poor box in the vestibule after Sunday masses. Although most brands of inkjet and toner cartridges are accepted, a complete list of approved cartridges can be found at www.foodforthepoor.org/recycle. Thank you for your help and generosity. For more information call Russ DiOrio at 630-617-8844. Christmas Eve Children's Liturgy As we prepare to celebrate the wonderful gift that God, our Father, shared with us by sending us the gift of Jesus on Christmas Day, we are reminded of just a few ways that Jesus touches our lives. And we will celebrate with a special Children's Liturgy at 5:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve. We hope to have many of the children of our Mary Queen of Heaven Parish Family present and also hope that some will share the gift of themselves as participants. Parents and older teens, we especially need your participation, as Mrs. Matthews and her family are unable to oversee this year's liturgy. We need Parent Aides, Group Leaders, Greeters, Readers, Angels, Shepherds, Banner Bearers, Mary, Joseph, Gift Bearers and Music Ministers A general "getting to know you" session will be held on Sunday, Dec.7, at 2 p.m. in the church. Everyone who plans to participate, and a parent, needs to attend. For more information please call Ruth Maple at 279-5612. Grin 'n' "Retired" Barrett I saw an advertisement for a T-shirt that read: SO MUCH TO DO, So few people to do it for me. The T-shirt pictured there caught my eye because of our (parish and personal) situation. The Diocesan Personnel Board has not recommended anyone to the bishop for the position of Administrator here at Mary Queen. I suspect that they are advertising the position as if one person, whether priest or lay, would have to take over all the functions of the parish by himself/herself. But, of course, that is not how the parish runs now, or the way I had envisioned it happening after I retire. We have staff, although part time, and many volunteers that make the parish work so well. We are indeed grateful for them and hope they will continue to serve our parish. Maybe the reason no one has come forth to fill the Admin. position is that there is no one (with the required religion degree and required experience) that wants to put in the hours necessary to lead the Liturgical, Educational, Administrative, and Service areas of the parish. The last I heard from the bishop, he said that he did not see how he could appoint anyone before Christmas. I will keep you informed. In the meantime, it is "business as usual," but with the extra time off the bishop allows for me to regain my health and strength. I still plan to be at MQH for two masses each weekend - and the more important parish meetings. The parish secretaries know where to reach me, if other things develop that require my attention. Remember the saying I had on our signboard some years ago? The CH_ _CH is Not Church, Unless UR (you are) in it! More tired than retired, Don't forget to Grin 'n' Barrett Father John Attention: Widows and Widowers Have you recently lost your spouse? Are you struggling with the loss? Have you been widowed for some time and sense the need for something to help you over the hump because you feel "stuck" in your grief? Then, Joyful Again! may be what you need. Joyful Again! is a weekend (Saturday & Sunday) program designed for both men and women of all ages who have been widowed and are seeking to renew hope and joy in their lives. When: Saturday, February 7 and Sunday, February 8, 2004 Where: Mary Queen of Heaven church, in Elmhurst Donation: $75 usual donation, includes meals and handout materials. (Adjustments can be made if the cost presents a difficulty at this time.) For further information, call Joyful Again! at 354-7211. Sponsors: St. Alexander & Mary Queen of Heaven parishes Paul Joseph Kill and Jennifer Lyn Schumacker William Bernard Westrick & Elizabeth Jean Hammer MQH Men's Group Bear's Wrap Up Thanks to all the men of the parish who joined the Men's Group to cheer on the Bears to victory over the Denver Broncos. Fun was had by all (as guaranteed), and our president made good on his guaranteed victory promise. To those guys who couldn't make it, we ate your pizza, but we look forward to seeing you at our next meeting on Thursday, December 11, 8 p.m. at Crossroads. Stop By and Try US, You'll Like Us, Guaranteed! Last Day for Advent Toy Collection Wednesday, December 10, is the last day to bring in new unwrapped toys for our annual toy collection. They will be distributed to the children of Marillac House at Christmas. Toys may be left in the box in the school.