426 N. West Avenue
Elmhurst, Illinois 60126-2171
Parish Office: 630/279-5700
Fax: 630/279-4667
Mary's Corner…
Joy and peace to you this Easter Season!
To all who join us on this happy day, welcome to the parish of Mary Queen of Heaven! Thanks to Bishop Imesch for celebrating the installation of this new ministry today. Thanks to all who celebrate with us this weekend. You are always welcome here. If you are looking for a spiritual home, we invite you to become part of our Mary Queen of Heaven family.
Today, I have been formally installed by Bishop Imesch as the pastoral leader for this faith community, in being named Pastoral Life Coordinator for Mary Queen of Heaven. We are beginning something new here, modeling a kind of pastoral leadership that works in collaboration with parish staff and the parish pastoral council, together discerning and calling forth the gifts that God has given to this community for the good of the church.
On the page directly across from this one, you will find a listing of our parish staff and parish pastoral council members. There are many others who volunteer their time and talent in service to this parish! In the near future, we will be putting together a booklet that will list all of the ministries represented by our parish commissions, with contact names and telephone numbers.
In June, all parish staff, parish pastoral council, and commission members are invited to participate in Parish Leadership Day, when we will begin a process of visioning and long-range planning for the parish. We are looking at one of two dates for this event, which will take place on a Saturday from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. The two dates are: June 12 or June 19. Please let your staff liaison know the date you prefer and we will schedule the day that most people can come.
In recent weeks, people have come forward to join ministries for the first time and, in some cases, have volunteered to begin new ones! As we continue to grow within our own parish, I would also like to see our presence continue to grow within the church of Joliet. We have an opportunity to nominate someone from our parish to become a member of the Diocesan Pastoral Council, the body that links parishes within our diocese and provides a consultative voice to our bishop. Each cluster of parishes within the diocese has one male and one female representative on the Diocesan Pastoral Council. There is currently an opening in our cluster for one male representative to the DPC. I would like to invite the men of our parish to consider serving in this important ministry. If you are interested in serving, please contact me for an application (by calling 630-279-5700 or by sending me an E-mail at MMRFoley@aol.com).
My heartfelt thanks to all who have welcomed me to this parish and to those who have helped in a myriad of ways as I have begun my new ministry here together with you! May God continue to bless Mary Queen of Heaven and all those who come to know Jesus Christ through us.
Mary Michele (Regina) Foley
Market Day Orders for May are due Monday, May 17, at noon. Turn in your order form in the box at the back of church or at the rectory. Pickup on Saturday, May 22, from 9:30 until 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. April Celebrations We welcome into the Mary Queen of Heaven Parish Family the following who were baptized in April: Kyler Gleason Gonzalez Lucas Ryan Barmada Maxwell Owen Barmada Worship Commission Meeting Notes April 19, 2004 To insure sufficient time for worship for both the Our Lady of Lebanon (OLL) and MQH faith communities, Mass times are changing. This affects our 10:30 Mass and OLL's 12:00 Mass. Beginning May 9, OLL has agreed to begin their worship at 12:15 PM. On May 16th, MQH will begin our 10:30 liturgy at 10:15 AM. We are looking into how we might invite more parishioners to join a Small Christian Community (SCC). In the near future, we will be providing a sheet for use at our Sunday Masses. It will include the hymn numbers and titles, as well as the location of the Sunday's readings in the hymn book. Future dates for your calendar: Sunday, May 16: May crowning by our Woman of the Year, Sheila Reiter. Sunday, August 22: Outdoor Mass Next meeting is May 17. We welcome visitors. RE Registrations June 1st will be here before you know it. If you want to register at the discounted fee, get those forms in to the office today. FYI - if you have a preschool or kindergarten child you would like to see in the program next fall, get your registration in today. Those classes fill up quickly and enrollment is limited at those grade levels. Catechists Needed We have had some folks respond to our request for help and we thank you. However, we are still in need of catechists at various grade levels. These classes meet on Wednesday afternoon from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m. and evenings from 7 to 8:15 p.m. If you are a loving, welcoming, accepting, forgiving person, you have the most important qualifications for being a catechist. You don't have to be a theologian, just someone who can help our children understand how the Gospel can be applied to their lives. Come share your Faith with the young people of Mary, Queen. Call for more info. Thank you Thanks to everyone who helped us with our Confirmation and First Communion Liturgies. You know who you are. All of our catechists, musicians and choirs, liturgical ministers and, last but not least, our wonderful young Confirmandi and First Communicants have been awesome. Thank you all so very much. Thanks also to all of our wonderful RE families for another fantastic year. We look forward to seeing you all back in the program in the fall. We also hope to run into you frequently at Mass during the summer. If you have questions or need more information, please call Mary Ann Woods at the REO, 832-8962. Special gatherings to meet The Pastoral Life Coordinator Please join Mary Foley to share your hopes, dreams and ideas about Mary Queen of Heaven Parish. These are two special gatherings in May, with more sessions to come! Newcomers and Young Adults You are welcome! Come and enjoy some wine and cheese as we share ideas. Friday, May 21, at 7:00 p.m. in Barrett Hall R.S.V.P. to Karen Vicary, 279-4108 Teenagers - The Future of Our Church Please come and share pizza as we get to know each other and talk about the ways that you would like to be involved in the life of our parish community! Sunday, May 23, At 6:00 p.m. in Barrett Hall R.S.V.P. to Kathleen Gusloff, 832-4348 Installation of Mary Foley Pastoral Life Coordinator Bishop Joseph Imesch will formally install Mary Foley as Pastoral Life Coordinator at Mary Queen of Heaven Parish at the 10:30 Mass today on Mother's Day, May 9. All members of the parish are invited to share in this celebration, along with Mary's family and guests. A reception will follow in Barrett Hall. CCW Ladies Night Out Tuesday, May 18, at 7:00 P.M. The Council of Catholic Women is sponsoring this wonderful opportunity to relax and enjoy fellowship with your friends from MQH. We will be honoring Sheila Reiter, our Woman of the Year, for her dedication and work in our parish over the years. The celebration will be held at Ki's Restaurant in Glendale Heights. Dinner will include soup or salad, chicken, beef, pasta, potato, coffee, soft drinks, an ice cream dessert and wine. A cash bar will also be available. The cost for the evening will be $25.00 per person. Please make checks payable to Mary Queen of Heaven CCW. The deadline for reservations is Sunday, May 16. Reservation forms are available in the church. They can be returned to the rectory or placed in the basket in the church vestibule. For more information, please call Mary White (833-9809) or Phylis Twardowski (279-6239). Men's Group Kane County Cougars Friday, August 13th Tickets are $8.00 per person and parking is free. Gates open at 4:30 p.m. and game time is 6:30 p.m. There will be a fireworks show after the game and a chance to run the bases after the fireworks. Money is due by June 28. For more information or if you have questions, call John Menarek at 630-834-4075 or jmenarek@sbcglobal.net. MQH Men's Group 3rd Annual Golf Outing Friday, June 18 At Glendale Lakes Golf Club in Glendale Heights 11:30 a.m. Registration, and 12:30 p.m. start $95/person includes lunch, golf, door prize & dinner For more information, please contact Jim Japczyk at 833-6853 or Mark Connelly at 782-7626. 2004 Diocesan Annual Appeal Diocese of Joliet Pledge Weekend, April 24/25 Seeds of Hope All of us share in the life of the Diocese of Joliet. We are many people, but one Church. If you have not made a gift to the Annual Appeal, please do so today. Your gift will touch many lives. Thank you. All pledge cards should be returned to the parish for forwarding to the diocese. By doing this, all pledges will be recorded and everyone will receive proper acknowledgement. Yoga Class by Debbie Styka This centuries-old art uses a series of postures that bring the mind, body and spirit into harmony. Yoga at Mary Queen welcomes all ages. It creates community as we meet each other in class. All are welcome. May 12 thru June 16 Wednesdays from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. $24 for one person or $36 per family. All that is required is a yoga mat. Please call Debbie 941-7224 Prayer Requests To pray for our sick is an important privilege of our parish family. We hope that you will pray for these persons every day, alone or as a family. Thank you. Pam Bondfide Kathleen Bryers John Brani Kathy Calzante Cosmo Ciancio Eugene Clarke Michelle Humann Maureen James Tom Janicke Tom Kwiatkowski Lisa Langler Anne Marie Raye Therese Shaheen Mary Alice Sypian If you know someone who would like our prayers, please call Mary Alice at 279-1159. Thank You We'd like to thank all the Voices of Angels members who sang with us this year. We feel very fortunate to have such a dedicated group of singers (and parents!) to help make our Family Masses so beautiful. We'd like to extend a special thank you to Derek Maple and Rebecca McGovern. Derek acted as our rehearsal accompanist, accompanied several selections during Mass and lent vocal support. Rebecca helped our singers learn parts through her vocal support and assisted Mrs. Maple with conducting and leading the Choir. Could there be “Assistant Youth Choir Director” titles in their futures?! Have a safe spring and summer. All you Angels - continue to make a Joyful Noise. See you next Fall. Mrs. Maple & Mrs. Adkins PADS Update MQH has completed the 2003/2004 season. The season runs from October through April We serve at St. Alexis in Bensenville on the fourth weekend of each month and co-host with Bethel UCC here in Elmhurst on St. Charles Road. We had 18 volunteers to handle the 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. shift. In addition, we had several other volunteers working the dinner and breakfast shift with Bethel. I would like to thank all the volunteers for their efforts in helping those unfortunate persons who do not have a place to spend the night. We will be resuming operations in the fall and if you would like more information on our program, feel free to call Steve Lindberg at 941-1355 or 989-3392. Thanks! Parish May Crowning - May 16 Sheila Reiter, CCW Parish Woman of the Year, will crown the Blessed Virgin on Sunday, May 16, at the 10:15 a.m. Mass. Our Religious Education First Communicants, wearing their first Communion outfits, have been invited to participate in the procession with Sheila. All are invited to attend this special occasion honoring our Blessed Mother. St. Vincent DePaul Drive May 22 & 23 Last spring, our parish held a drive for St. Vincent DePaul Society and it was a huge success! We filled their truck with items for the needy. The truck will again be in our parking lot the weekend of May 22 & 23, so start your spring cleaning and pick out those items that you no longer need to hold on to or use and donate them to the needy. They could use those things right now! St. Vincent DePaul bags will be available in the vestibule of church the weekend of May 15 & 16. Take as many as you need or use your own boxes or bags. Fill them with clean gently used items such as clothing, shoes, purses, appliances, dishes, cookware, lamps, books, knick-knacks, towels, bedding, toys, etc. The truck will arrive before 9 a.m. on Saturday and will leave at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Drop off your items on Saturday during the day or bring your items with you when you come for Mass on the weekend. Let's fill the truck again! Receipts for your donations are available and are tax deductible. Please call 630-231-4658 for the Society to send a truck to your home to pick up furniture and other large items you wish to donate. Garden Club Spring Planting Weekend Calling all Garden Club members, adults (men and women), and teens. Your help is needed on Saturday, May 22, at 10:00 a.m. It's Spring Planting Time and we will be ready to plant all those flowers around the church, school, rectory and on the mound. Bring your gardening gloves and garden tools. Many hands make light work and we will once again beautify our parish grounds for the summer months. Give Rose Wilkes (833-7238) or Sheila Reiter (833-6657) a call and let us know if you will be able to give a few hours of your time to help out. Dear Friends, Yesterday I had the First Communion for the 2nd graders. It is so appropriate that my last official act was a spiritual one. I was very happy to be part of that special day. In throwing out many of my accumulations of the last 45 years as a priest, I came across the list of the physical accomplishments of our 8 years together, starting with the “miracle” of the A/C in the first few weeks, and ending with the completion of the new Parish Center. (And there are plans underway for the final landscaping in front of the new Gathering Space, as well as resurfacing of the parking lot. I hope those will be completed, too, in proper time.) I want to thank those who came to my farewell Mass and party. I am grateful for your prayers and gifts. I have not yet found time to write notes, so I thank you now all together but hope to get to the personal notes in the near future. More than the physical accomplishments, or even the spiritual celebrations, I am proud of the community of God's people that we have built in the last (almost) eight years. I am reminded of the line by William Butler Yeats “Think where man's glory most begins and ends -- and say, 'My glory is I have such friends.'” You, my friends, are one of the greatest blessings I received by choosing to come to “Dairy Queen”, i.e. Mary Queen of Heaven. I am not really saying “Good-Bye” but rather the German “Auf Wiedersehen” (Until we meet again.) as I know that I will be back to celebrate with you on some occasions in the future. Until then May God Give You His Peace. And until we meet again, don't forget to - - - Grin 'N' Barrett. Father John Father John Sullivan Cordially invites you to join him in celebrating The 50th Anniversary of his Ordination On Sunday, May 16, at the 11:30 a.m. Mass St. Petronille Church 420 Glenwood Avenue Glen Ellyn IL 60137 Reception follows immediately in the Parish Life Center R.S.V.P. 469-0404- ext. 0 This beginning attempt at an organizational chart will give you an idea of the parish leadership structure as it stands. There will be some changes in the coming months, with parish pastoral council elections taking place. Also, there may be some evolution with regard to interim staffing. For now, this will help everyone get to know who are the members of the pastoral and administrative staff and some of those who are part of our parish pastoral council structure. More detailed information will be presented in the future - Mary Foley