In today's newsletter ... Parish Vision Statement, Food Pantry, Pope Francis - Pray for Ukraine, and more!

In today's newsletter ... Congrats SJB School Grads; NEW Parish Mission Statement; Unification Celebrations archived YouTube links, and more!

Sunday, June 5th - 11:00 am at St. Hedwig Site
If you cannot make it in person, join us via live stream.
The Unification Mass & Installation of Rev. Tomasz Wojciechowski, C.R. Pastor
Live stream found here, https://youtu.be/Z4t5s4ZrhwU

​Blessed Carlo Acutis Parish, the newly unified parish of St. John Berchmans Church and St. Hedwig Church, will host a Celebration Week leading to the feast day of its namesake, Blessed Carlo Acutis the first Millennial considered for sainthood. 

Dr. Geraldine Rohling, archivist and curator of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., a renowned lecturer will speak on the communion of saints, canonization, and the Eucharist. Her remarks will be available via livestream. 

On Wednesday, June 1, at 7 p.m., Rohling will present on the communion of saints at St. John Berchmans Church, 2517 W Logan Blvd in Chicago.
Livestream link: https://youtu.be/SUxlpWYsDgE

At 7 p.m. on the following day, Thursday, June 2, Rohling will present on the Eucharist at St. Hedwig Church, 2226 N. Hoyne Ave., in Chicago.
Livestream link: https://youtu.be/VLbd5-LilkM

Celebration Week will conclude on Sunday, June 5, at St. Hedwig Church with the Unification Mass and installation of Rev. Tomasz Wojciechowski as pastor of the newly unified parish.
The Mass will also available via livestream at https://youtu.be/Z4t5s4ZrhwU

In 2022, Pope Francis named Rohling a Dame of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great, at the request of Wilton Cardinal Gregory, Archbishop of Washington, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Shrine. This papal honor was in recognition of Rohling's "excellence and exceptional work," which included building and establishing the archive at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. 

Blessed Carlo Acutis Parish is the first parish in the Western hemisphere to be named after Blessed Carlo, a 15-year-old Italian boy, He is already being referred to as the “patron saint of the internet” for creating a website that cataloged and promoted Eucharistic miracles. 

Blessed Carlo died of leukemia in 2006 within a week of his diagnosis. He was beatified last October in Assisi, Italy, where he is buried. Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to Blessed Carlo, the healing of a 7-year-old Brazilian boy from a rare pancreatic illness after coming into contact with a Blessed Carlo relic. 

This morning, our hearts are broken along with millions of other families across our country and especially with the families of Uvalde, Texas.  We grieve for the mothers and fathers, the sisters and brothers, the aunts and uncles and all the families who are forever changed by the unspeakable events that unfolded yesterday.

It is hard to even think clearly about what to do. Here are some suggestions.

Pray . . . as Catholics, we can pray.  Pray for mercy, pray for grace and pray for an end to all violence.

Hug and hold our kids close . . .  Last night, in the midst of a busy crazy evening, losing my patience with my own son, I learned of the news and stopped in my tracks and just hugged him.  Life is short.  Make sure your kiddos know they are loved.

Act . . . if you feel moved, remember you can act.  Below are some resources about how to talk to your kids about what happened, along with some ways to make your voice heard and make change.

• How to Talk to Kids About School Shootings
  
• Find and Contact Your Elected Officials
  
• Engage with Advocacy Groups
  

Finally, know that we consider your children our children.  Their safety and well being is our primary concern.  We have a crisis safety plan, we engage in drills and we have secure buildings.  

Thank you for entrusting us with your children.  We will continue to work our hardest so that they learn, grow, share and believe every day with us.

With love and gratitude,

Peggy Roket
Principal

Today, a gunman walked into a grade school in Uvalde, TX, and slaughtered at least 18 children and two adults—one of whom was the shooter’s grandmother. Authorities say the suspect is dead. He was 18 years old.
 
The parents were told, “Please do not pick up students at this time. Students need to be accounted for before they are released to your care.” Imagine being a parent with a child in that school. Imagine having to bury them.
 
Parents now face a delay in identifying the victims—such was the extent of the damage done to these children’s bodies by the killer’s weapons. 
 
The NRA has its annual meeting on Friday in Houston, about 300 miles east of the massacre, less than a year after the TX governor signed into law a bill that allows people without license or training to carry handguns. 
 
We don’t yet know whether the Uvalde gunman took advantage of “permitless carry,” but we do know that America is awash in guns. We have more firearms than people.
 
It was not always this way. But more Americans died from gun violence in 2020 than during any other year on record: more than 45,000. That was a 25% increase from 2015, and a 43% increase from 2010. 
 
Mass shootings have become a daily reality in America today. Two people died and 7 were injured last week during a mass shooting just down the street from Holy Name Cathedral. Last weekend in Chicago, 28 people were shot. 
 
The size of the crisis, and its sheer horror, make it all too easy to toss up one’s hands and declare: Nothing can be done. But that is the counsel of despair, and we are a people of hope. What do we hope for our children?
 
That as a regular feature of their schooling, they learn how to behave should a shooter attack? That they feel endangered by simply doing what society says is good for them—going to school? That they come to wonder whether they even have futures at all?
 
Tonight our airwaves will fill with pundits who offer predictable lamentations and warnings and tut-tuts and thoughts and prayers. And we must pray—for the victims, their loved ones, for the parents who will send their kids off to school tomorrow.
 
We must weep and soak in the grief that comes with the knowledge that these children of God were cut down by a man who was just a few years their senior. But then we must steel ourselves to act in the face of what seems like insurmountable despair.
 
We know that gun safety measures make a difference. A 2021 Northwestern Medicine study found that the Federal Assault Weapons Ban prevented 10 mass shootings during the 10 years it was in effect. https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2021/03/assault-weapon-ban-significantly-reduces-mass-shooting/
 
Researchers also determined that if the ban had remained in place in the years since it was allowed to expire, it could have prevented another 30 public mass shootings that killed 339 people and injured 1139 more. 
 
As I reflect on this latest American massacre, I keep returning to the questions: Who are we as a nation if we do not act to protect our children? What do we love more: our instruments of death or our future?
 
The Second Amendment did not come down from Sinai. The right to bear arms will never be more important than human life. Our children have rights too. And our elected officials have a moral duty to protect them.