When Margaret Murphy and her family moved to Oak Park seven years ago, it wasn’t easy making the adjustments required in returning to the Chicago area after 10 years in Indianapolis. But soon, with children in St. Giles School, she felt welcome in the parish. She was even invited to become a member of the parish council. A few years ago, when the council received feedback that some people did not experience the church as welcoming, Margaret joined in the brainstorming of solutions. She took on the challenge to create a Greeter Ministry, with the goal of making sure that everyone who arrived at the Saturday and Sunday liturgies would feel welcome.

Margaret considers her role as a greeter as one of the most satisfying experiences of community life. She appreciates that people may find it hard getting to church - with travel, family commitments, the busyness of life. “We want a friendly face at the door. Sometimes a warm welcome helps in the transition as they cross the threshold, becoming ready to receive Christ,” she said. “Sometimes we may be the only person someone talks to in a day.”

Margaret is inspired by seeing the face of Christ in each person as they enter. “I hope that I can be a face of Christ for them, as well - the welcoming presence of Christ.” This way of thinking has carried over into other parts of her life. “It helps me find the love in everyday interactions. I can see that even the smallest act of giving and receiving can mean a lot to someone.”

In 1999, when Katie was living in Berwyn and David lived in Oak Park, they were each looking for something more in their church experience. Katie wanted the sense of engagement she had experienced in college at the Newman Center. David wanted a church with a strong commitment to social justice. In a visit to St. Giles Church, they saw an announcement in the parish bulletin about a special liturgy of the Family Mass.

The next Sunday, David went to the 10:00 AM Mass in the gym. He met several community members who invited him to a meeting of the Action for Justice ministry that evening. When Katie attended Mass the following Sunday, she was invited to sign up for the Women’s Advent Night. “It felt like a place where people do church, not just where people receive church,” she said recently.

After they got married in 2001, their involvement in the community increased. Even after they moved to Rogers Park to be closer to Katie’s new teaching job at New Trier High School, they “commuted” to Oak Park to maintain their community connections. In 2008, when their daughter Rachel was a toddler and their son Nathan was on the way, they moved back to Oak Park. “We wanted our children to grow up in this faith community,” Katie said. Her father, a deacon at St. Francis de Sales Church in Lake Zurich, was able to baptize both Rachel and Nathan at Sunday liturgies within the St. Giles Family Mass Community.

Service and social justice have been unifying values for the Kralik family. Over the years, Katie and David have been liturgy coordinators, sacristans, and eucharistic ministers. David has been a member and leader of the Family Mass coordinating board and a member and leader of the Action for Justice ministry. Katie has been a member of the Liturgy Roundtable for nearly a decade. She has also been a catechist and is currently leader of the Level Two catechists in the parish Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Nathan and Rachel help with audio-video technology that has enabled streaming of outdoor and gym Masses.

Some years ago, the family joined other parish volunteers in providing a hot dinner once a month to homeless people sheltered in the PADS program at First United Church of Oak Park. As PADS became Housing Forward, and the Covid pandemic required other arrangements, shelter at various church locations has been replaced with individual rooms at a hotel. Though the team misses the personal interaction with our sheltered neighbors, they still enjoy assembling the meals together in McDonough Hall once a month. On any second Monday of the month, you might find Katie scooping mashed potatoes, Rachel slicing meatloaf, and David and Nathan packing the meals for delivery.

“The amount of gratitude that people have for this small offering of a hot dinner is just heartwarming...  and it helps put so many other things in perspective,” she said. “It is our duty to hold our blessings loosely and pass them along as best we can.”

Katie is meal coordinator for the second Monday of the month’s team. Volunteers sign up for one or more tasks as their schedules allow, using an easy internet form. “This is a simple, practical opportunity for people who want to fill a great need in our community. For someone who likes to cook, or doesn’t have a lot of time, or doesn’t mind throwing an extra package of juice boxes in the grocery cart, this is a flexible effort with a really big payoff.”

If you would like to volunteer, as your schedule permits - or if you would be interested in being a meal coordinator for an additional day each month - contact Katie at [email protected].

When Margie Rudnik joined the Prayer Shawl Ministry a half dozen years ago when she retired, she didn’t expect that she would soon become coordinator of this ministry of 30-35 knitters and crocheters. Their creations and prayers have reached out to people in need of comfort or encouragement throughout the Chicago/Oak Park area and as far away as the Pacific Northwest, the U.S. Mexican border, Italy, and many places in between. Nor did Margie realize that in addition to creating prayer shawls and lap blankets for those who were ill, grieving, or celebrating milestone occasions, this merry band of yarn crafters would soon be making hats, scarves, gloves, mittens, blankets, and many other necessities for refugees, the disabled, homeless, and U.S. veterans. “The makers are incredibly generous, with their time, their talent, and even with materials,” says Margie. Also, many people donate yarn or funds to purchase yarn or cover shipping expenses.

These knitted and crocheted items carry not only comfort and warmth, but also the prayers of the makers, the concern of the givers, and the prayers of St. Catherine-St. Lucy and St. Giles parishioners.

The joy of these connections keeps Margie enthusiastic as coordinator. But what has been even more unexpected is the way that people have responded. “I have been overwhelmed by how these precious representations of our support and prayer have been stunningly appreciated,” said Margie. Many people have responded with heartfelt letters of gratitude after receiving prayer shawls or lap blankets while they are grieving the death of loved ones. Others who are enduring serious and chronic illnesses have found great comfort in keeping the shawls with them through tough times.

Margie has found that the prayer shawls and other items are given and received as a visible sign of God’s love. “It is humbling to see how people receive these signs in the way intended. It never fails to convey God’s love,” she says. “Some people have called me in awe that this sign of love and prayer has arrived at the moment when they were most in need of support.”

For more information about the Prayer Shawl Ministry and how you can participate, contact Margie. To receive a prayer shawl or lap blanket for a loved one or someone else who needs a special sign of our support and God’s love, call the Parish Center at 708-383-3430 or email Margie at [email protected].