BULLETIN ARTICLE - FATHER CARL'S CORNER - April 10, 2026

We are the Resurrection - Here and Now. This was the message I tried to convey at the Easter Vigil as well as on Easter Sunday. On Easter Monday, the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 28:8-15), is read and we hear two very different responses to the Resurrection. Some ran with joy and awe to share the good news. Others tried to explain it away to hold onto what was familiar, even if it meant missing what God was doing right before them. The same choice is before us.

Here in our Catholic Communities of Oak Park and Neighbors, we find ourselves in a continued time of change. Our church structures are shifting. The way we gather, minister, and live our faith is evolving. And yet, if we look closely, if we open our eyes and hearts, we will see something extraordinary: God is not absent in this change. God is creating something new. And isn’t that what the Resurrection is about?

Last Saturday at our one shared Easter Vigil, we witnessed it. We came together as one body, across parishes, welcoming new members into the church. There were nine baptisms, three professions of Catholic faith and five others who completed their sacraments of initiation into the Church. We saw faith come alive. We felt the spirit of the Risen Christ moving among us.

That moment was not just a ritual - it was a revelation. And my message at the vigil is the same message I offer to all in my corner today: open your eyes and your heart. In the ways we serve one another through ministry, in the bridges we build in our community, in the formation and faith we share across boundaries, we are becoming a new creation. This is what it signifies to be the living Body of Christ active in our parishes and within the broader Catholic Community we have formed. This is Resurrection!

The Resurrection is not just something that happened long ago. It is happening here. It is happening now. And it is happening in us. So, do not be afraid of what is changing. Instead, look for what is being born. Because we are the Resurrection - together.

At the Vigil, members of both choirs sang, we had the paschal candle from Ascension, the baptismal pool from Saint Edmund and the processional cross from Saint Catherine of Siena-Saint Lucy. Great thought and care were given to having something that represented each community. However, the most important aspect of the vigil was the community that came together - from our united parishes, from our neighbors, and even from those we didn't know who all showed up. One in the Risen Body of Christ. It was powerful, visible and the real presence of what we were celebrating, Jesus alive and living among us.

Congratulations to all who were newly received into the church at the Easter Vigil, and sincere appreciation to the OCIA team, Diane, Tim, Pat, Kathleen, and Marci, Director of Spirit and Light, for their guidance and formation. To all who worked on creating our beautiful Triduum liturgies: musicians, guest musicians, choir members, cantors, lectors, ministers of communion. servers, ushers, and those who decorated our worship spaces, THANK YOU!

Have a blessed week. Happy Eastertide!

With you a Christian, for you, a priest.

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

Christmas Markets in Poland! Any interest? I am organizing this trip, and you are invited - November 28 through December 8. We will visit Gdansk, Warsaw, Krakow and more sites. For information, please pick up a brochure at the parish office.