 Save the date! Saturday September 28th will be our Parish's annual Oktoberfest! We cannot wait to celebrate together as a Parish. As always in order for any event to run smoothly, we need your help. Please consider volunteering by visiting the Signup Genius HERE. Prost!   Please join us on August 15th as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Holy Day of Obligation.
 BCA parishioners Liz and Pat received a special blessing from Fr. Ed and the 8am Mass congregation. As our parish representatives, they are heading to the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis this week. Please keep Liz, Pat, and all the pilgrims in your prayers throughout their journey. The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is a milestone moment within the three-year grassroots movement of Revival. Read more about it by clicking on the photo.
 On Wednesday nights the Iskali youth group made up of BCA parishioners meets at the parish office to further their faith. If you are interested in joining please email or call the parish office.
Here is a little more information about the group. "At Iskali, we guide young Latinos through retreats, intentional community, and comprehensive formation, igniting faith and fostering love. Developed in collaboration with the McGrath Institute, our program enriches discipleship by prioritizing the integrated growth of young Latinos. Rooted in Catholic faith, we empower them to embody its principles in their daily lives, emphasizing human formation and nurturing their faith journey." More information can be found here, https://www.iskali.org  El Grupo Guadalupano de Nuestra Parroquia - Benedecido Carlo Acutis sevirá para Nuestra Comunidad Hispana. AGUA FRESCAS.
El proximo domingo Julio 07 Después de la misas de 9:45, 1:00 y 12:30. The BCAP Our Lady of Guadalupe committee will be serving up some delicious Agua Frescas after the 9:45, 11 and 12:30 masses this weekend, please join us, All are Welcome!  As we look back on your tenure, we’re amazed and grateful for all you did for your flock throughout the years. It’s obvious that the education and training you received in the seminary truly prepared you to fulfill your vocation as priest, and your role as our pastor. I can support this statement with the following examples:
You excelled at rolling out of bed at the crack of dawn on many frigid, winter mornings. You took your place behind the wheel of a pickup truck and plowed all the snow around the parish grounds. This made the pathways to the church safe for the people attending morning Mass. (This is what a priest does, right?!) You learned to be a custodian. More times than not, your daily routine included opening the church, closing the church, unlocking and locking church and rectory doors, turning lights on, turning lights off…..you get the idea. And you were never afraid to get behind a broom, dust mop or wet mop, and push it from one end of the gym or rectory dining room floor to the other. (This is what a priest does, right?!) You learned how to efficiently invert the foil wrappers around all the Easter lilies, changing them from purple to silver in one quick hand movement and flick of the wrist. The Easter decorating team was most appreciative to learn this skill from you. What a time saver! And speaking of decorating, you would fearlessly climb to the heights of any altar. Like a clerical Spider Man, you placed and removed flower arrangements and candles, or placed and detached large wooden background supports after Christmas and Easter holidays. (These are things a priest does, right?!) Your decorating skills are matched by your artistic ability as a painter. One can view an example of your work by admiring all the gold trim on the altar in the Blessed Carlo Acutis chapel. Father Tomasz “Michelangelo” Wojciechowski! And how about your athletic prowess? You developed your running skills, which allowed you to race between two churches in the past three years. Such was your determination to make it to all major celebrations on time. Practice in this area really paid off – just ask any member of the Saturday Morning Holy Rollers running club. I daresay any one of them would be willing to admit that you left them eating your dust on the 606 trail every week. And the Running Club reminds us of your culinary and hospitality skills. The Holy Rollers, and anyone else lucky enough to be at the parish and performing any kind of volunteer work on a Saturday morning, was treated to Chef Father Tom’s special breakfast. Delicious bacon, eggs, pancakes, bagels, toast and jam, you name it! Father Tom’s Diner…no greasy spoon here! You poured coffee for people at meetings and chilly Oktoberfests, and distributed candy and cookies anywhere you felt a treat was in order. You functioned as agent on our behalf in realty, property sales, property management, and as landlord. At this point, you might want to consider taking a couple of classes to add a law degree to your academic credentials, because you now have “on the job training” in that field. (I ask again, these are all things a parish priest does, right?!) But through it all, we, the members of this community, were blessed with – above all – a friend, a priest, a pastor – who is totally driven by his love for Jesus Christ and His Gospel. You are our spiritual leader, our guide, our shepherd. You are known to say, “If it’s for Jesus, ‘yes.’” Baptisms, First Holy Communions, Confirmations, Reconciliations, Marriages, Anointing of the Sick……. you assisted hundreds and hundreds of people in their participation in the Sacraments, inspiring every man, woman, and child to experience each Sacramental celebration as a personal encounter with Jesus, and salvation. You prayed with and comforted the sorrowful in their grief when God called a loved one home. You were there to give a special blessing to an expectant mother and her baby, or to a student facing a difficult exam at school. Results of a recent, unofficial survey revealed that you are the most spontaneous and best hugger in the parish! You are generous. You are kind. And we know this speech is excruciating for you, partly because of its length, but mostly because you are so humble, and hate all this attention! So, I’ll close by simply saying….. May the Lord continue to bless you with physical and spiritual strength, and an abundance of happiness as you take the next steps on your journey. We know your love, devotion, and passion will be a tremendous blessing to those you are going forth to serve, just as it has been for us all these years Dziękujemy księdzu za wszystko i życzymy wiele błogosławieństw!  On Monday, July 1, the College of Cardinals met with Pope Francis in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace for an Ordinary Public Consistory, where they voted to approve the canonization of Carlo Acutis. Read more by clicking on the image.
 A great article by the Chicago Catholic about Saint Carlo and BCAP.
Here is a small part, The parish logo pays homage to its patron in the form of the shape of a Eucharist in a monstrance. The name “Carlo” is spelled out in binary code around the perimeter of the monstrance. “The incorporation of binary code into the parish’s logo is a symbolic representation of the interconnectedness of the material and spiritual realms,” explained Resurrectionist Father Thomasz Wojciechowski, who has been pastor since Blessed Carlo Acutis Parish was created by the union of St. Hedwig and St. John Berchmans parishes in 2022, in an email. “Just as binary code translates complex data into a series of ones and zeros, so too does Blessed Carlo Acutis’ life distill the complexities of faith into simple yet profound truths. The logo serves as a visual reminder of Acutis’ message that even in the digital age, the language of faith remains universal and accessible to all who seek it. Through the logo, parishioners are invited to contemplate the deeper meanings encoded within Acutis’ life and to reflect on how his example can inspire a deeper connection to God and his church.” Full Article found here, www.chicagocatholic.com/chicagoland/-/article/2024/06/12/local-catholics-react-to-news-of-carlo-acutis-upcoming-canonizati-1  Have you heard about the National Eucharistic Revival? This movement is a grassroots response of the Church in the United States to the Holy Spirit’s invitation to be united around the source and summit of our faith – The Eucharist!
At this very moment, four Eucharistic pilgrimages are underway in our country. Four groups of people have started walking from points in the north, south, east, and west United States. They will converge in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on July 17th, where the 10th Eucharistic Congress will take place. Thousands of ordinary people from our Catholic family across the nation will gather for five days to experience profound, personal renewal. They will attend sessions featuring renowned Catholic speakers, who will talk about the power of the Eucharist. In anticipation of this magnificent event, each vicariate in the Archdiocese of Chicago will hold a night of Eucharistic devotion, including Saturday Vigil Mass, Adoration and/or Eucharistic Procession. Blessed Carlo Acutis parish is a member of Vicariate II. Our parish, along with our Vicariate II partners, are invited to participate in a Eucharistic Pilgrimage Mass and Procession at Queen of All Saints Basilica, located at 6280 N. Sauganash Avenue in Chicago. The evening starts with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at 5:00pm, followed by procession, and a reception on the front lawn of the Basilica. The date is Saturday, June 29th. Our parish outdoor Mass and picnic takes place the next day, Sunday June 30th, so that weekend will be a busy one, for sure! Our parish’s patron, Blessed Carlo Acutis, dedicated his life to bringing awareness to the miracles of the Eucharist to the world. The June 29th Mass and Eucharistic procession, followed by our outdoor parish Mass the next day, give us two amazing opportunities to demonstrate our devotion to Christ, and our belief in His presence in the Eucharist. What an exciting way to kick off a year that will lead to sainthood for our Blessed Carlo. We invite all our parishioners to attend these celebrations. Please consider attending either Saturday or Sunday – OR BOTH! We would love to see all our parishioners and their families participating in these joyous events! |
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