BULLETIN ARTICLE - FATHER CARL'S CORNER - JULY 25, 2026

This time of year, usually around this time, I ask myself, where is the summer going? I just heard my first commercial about going back to school, and it’s mid-July!! It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating graduations, making vacation plans, and looking ahead to the long days of summer. Yet somehow the calendar keeps turning, and before we know it, school supplies are on the shelves, and pumpkin spice coffee is just around the corner. Time has a way of reminding us that life is a precious gift. We cannot slow it down or get yesterday back but we can choose how we live the days we are given.

Summer invites us to enjoy God’s creation, spend time with family and friends, travel, rest, and make memories. Those moments are important. They renew us. However, summer is also a wonderful time to renew something even more important - our relationship with God.

With vacations, weekend trips, sporting events, and family gatherings, it is easy for Sunday Mass to be considered optional. Yet the Eucharist is not another item on our schedule. It is the source of our strength and the place where Christ gathers us, nourishes us with His Word and His Body, and sends us into the world with new hope. When we look back on this summer, we probably won’t remember every errand we ran or every television show we watched but we will remember the moments that truly mattered: the time spent with those we love, the kindness we shared or received, the beauty we noticed, the prayers we offered, and the Sundays we gathered around the Lord’s table.

So as summer continues to race by; make the most of these days. Enjoy the sunshine. Visit family. Take that walk. Call someone you have been meaning to call. Reach out to a neighbor. And make time each weekend to gather with your parish family at Mass. The days may pass quickly, but every day lived with faith, hope, and love becomes part of the life that lasts forever. That is surely something to contemplate! Wherever your summer takes you, don’t take a vacation from the One who walks every step with you.

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INFORMATION RELATED TO ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA-ST. LUCY AND ST. GILES PARISH

I am pleased to introduce the new members of the Saint Catherine of Siena-Saint Lucy and Saint Giles Parish Pastoral Council (PPC).

In our selection process we were looking for people who reflect the heart of Christ as Shepherd, embodying love, compassion, and a commitment to the well-being of our parish community, including a respect for the various histories and traditions of our recently united parish communities. Another key quality for the new members on the council was a commitment to the spiritual renewal of our Catholic Communities of Oak Park and our Neighbors, as well as to the PPC.

Please join in welcoming our new members: Mary Bellmar, Cheryl Jackson, David Kralik, Jason Payne, Sara Payne, Michael Prus, Thomas Schouten, and Tom Sullivan. They will join our remaining members: Sandy Blake, Kim McGuire and Bob Roscoe.

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Have a safe and blessed week ahead.

With you a Christian, for you, a priest.

Father Carl Morello
Pastor
Ascension and St. Edmund Parish
St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy and St. Giles Parish