Unlike many suburban parishes, Assumption does not have a “slow season.” In many traditional parishes, summer is when much of the parish goes on cruise control.  School is out; the organizations do not meet; and attendance declines as people head off on vacation. At Assumption attendance grows during the summer. Chicago is a popular vacation destination, and we often welcome visitors staying at nearby hotels. Late spring to early fall is also the peak wedding season at Assumption. From July of 2024 until June of 2025, 68 couples celebrated their wedding at Assumption.

However, as we move into fall, some groups do “ramp up.” OCIA for adults and older children seeking baptism or initiation into Catholic Church begins in September. Our Pastoral Council also resumes meeting.  We began the year, as we always do, with a mini-retreat, which took place on Sunday afternoon August 17. Our new members are Conora Shaw, Bob Gordon, and Bill Ladewski. They join returning members Matthew Lee Own, Adam White, Jola Oliver, Al Ferolie, Luca Ripani, and Mark Chapman. We shared a light lunch, did some reflecting, and spoke about goals for the year. One of those goals is to improve our ever-hungry media presence. Another goal is to try to build community within parish organizations.

This past spring, the Pastoral Council put together our first ever ministry summit. Over the course of several hours, leaders of the various organizations and ministries spoke about what they do and their needs. Just about everyone said, “We need more people.”  This makes this a very good time to rethink how our ministries function and how we invite new members Renewing our ministries is an integral part of the Renew My Church process.  How do we move organizations from performing a function to being active agents of parishrenewal?

In the first half of the twentieth century, most of what we now take for granted as parish ministries did not exist. Typically a parish would have a Women’s Sodality, and maybe a Mother’s Club, a Holy Name Society for men and perhaps the Knights of Columbus. These groups usually had presidents, vice-presidents, secretaries, and treasurers, elected by the membership. During a time when most Catholics were middle class or lower middle class, when the men mostly worked in factories or held other blue collar jobs and the women were mostly homemakers, these groups prospered. That is because they gave people, who had little decision making power in the rest of their lives, the opportunity to choose leadership, to make decisions about fund-raising, and about the distribution of funds, just like the big shots who worked in the offices. Because these groups met regularly, there was a sense of community and often each meeting began with some ritual prayer. During my early years as a parish priest, many of these groups were still around, but the membership was aging and diminishing. Younger Catholics with greater options in life did not find these organizations very engaging. Some were able to change with the times, but most disappeared.

Now we have a multitude of liturgical ministries, charitable groups, and faith formation programs; but are we building community and are we praying together? A lot of the renewal literature speaks about a parish as a community of communities. Does our group in some way mirror what we do at Sunday Mass and make it more immediate and personal?  One group that took this challenge to heart was the Saturday Morning Sandwich Makers. They gather after the 7:30am Mass one Saturday a month to prepare bag lunches for Chicago Help Initiative. After preparing the lunches, they come together around a table to pray and talk about what was going on in their lives. Doing this habitually created a different spirit within the group and gave members a new reason to invite people to join them on Saturday morning.

So, one of the goals set by our Pastoral Council is to invite all of our groups to rethink how they operate. Some who come together as a group regularly might look to see how they might expand the spiritual element. Others, like our Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist and our Lectors, ought to have at least one gathering for reflection and conversation each year.  When we deepen our own appreciation for the Eucharist and the Word of God, it will show in the way we minister the rest of the year. When we become more energized by our ministry, we are more likely invite someone else to join us.

                                                                            Fr. Joe