There will be exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on the Third Monday of the month from 5:00 to 7:00pm. Adoration will next take place on Monday, September 16. To learn more about Eucharistic Adoration, watch this short video by Fr. Mike Schmitz. 

The Assumption team continues to support the family who immigrated from Mexico to obtain treatment for their son's leukemia. This support includes subsidies for rent, transportation services, and more. Click for the updated story. 

Alpha is for everyone. If you are a life-long Catholic, Alpha affords you the opportunity to develop a more personal connection with Christ and a greater ability to share your faith with others. If you are not a churchgoer, or go only occasionally, or if you are asking yourself the big questions in life, Alpha allows you to ask your questions, express your doubts, and share your grievances in a non-judgmental atmosphere. Bring a friend! For more information or to register, email alpha@assumption-chgo.org

It was 138 years ago that The Assumption Parish celebrated the first Mass in this building. This celebration recognized that event, linked with the Feast of The Assumption, on Sunday, August 18. The inaugural stone is shown below;
click to see the rest of the celebration.

The dignity of workers has long been a concern of the Catholic Church. Why not come and pray for justice for all who labor? Mass on Labor Day, Monday September 2, will be at 7:30 and 10:30am.

Friday August 23 is the Feast of St. Philip Benizi, a fourteenth century Servite Friar held in such high esteem that he was considered a leading candidate for Pope. Once when a town was experiencing famine, Philip prayed for relief and bread miraculously appeared. Since that time, it has been a Servite custom to bless bread on the Feast of St. Philip. Our Servite Secular Order is providing bread that we will bless and distribute at the 7:00 and 12:10 Masses on August 23.

Assumption is celebrating our 143rd anniversary as a parish and the 138th anniversary of the First Mass offered in the present church. We are celebrating the Feast of the Assumption into the weekend!

To celebrate our anniversary, we are having a picnic following the 12:15pm Mass on Sunday August 18. Enjoy real Chicago Style Hot Dogs for $2 each, with chips, cookies, and beverage. Test your skills at picnic games in our beautiful garden. Guided tours of Assumption Church will be offered at 1:45pm and 2:00pm. All are welcome! Surviving for 143 years is no small feat. Come and celebrate!

Thursday, August 15, is the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, a holy day of obligation and our parish feast day. Our present church building was dedicated August 15, 1886.

The Dogma of the Assumption holds that at the end of her earthly life, Mary was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. Mass will be celebrated at 7:00am, 12:10pm, and 6:00pm on August 15.

Parking at 311 will be available for the 12:10pm and 6:00pm Masses.

The Servite Secular Order at Assumption is conducting a toiletries drive for a men's and a women's shelter. Please place your donation in the box near the Vatican flag. The collection runs through August 11.

Our annual blessing of the parish garden was on Sunday June 30.  It was a beautiful day to gather outside in the June breeze. After the blessing, refreshments and friendship were served! 

Click here or on the photo for a video re-cap. 

Our “adopted” family, having travelled to Chicago from Mexico last summer, has moved into a home in McKinley Park whose rent is being paid by our generous parishioners.

Four year old Emiliano has received a bone marrow transplant from his 6 year old brother and continues to be treated for his leukemia at Lurie Children’s Hospital. Members of our group are driving Emiliano and his mother to the medical appointments once or twice a week. They are so grateful for our help.
More drivers are needed if anyone has time to help.

Babysitters are also needed at various times if anyone is interested.
We are asking for donations to continue so we can help with food and transportation costs and babysitting if we can’t get enough volunteers.

This family of a mom and six children ages 2 to 12 are adapting to life in Chicago with the help of many volunteers. We hope to bring them on a few outings this summer and welcome everyone’s participation.

From July 17-21 in Indianapolis, there will be a National Eucharistic Congress, the first one in our country in 83 years. Four Eucharistic pilgrimage groups have departed from four parts of the United States, to converge in Indianapolis on July 17. One of these pilgrimage groups will stop in Chicago from June 28 to 30. In union with Eucharistic events planned in the Archdiocese that weekend, Assumption will have a special Holy Hour on Saturday morning, June 29, following the 7:30am Mass.

Assumption Young Adults are having a summer barbecue at Assumption on Saturday, June 29 from 6:00 to 8:00pm. For more information, email assumptionaya@gmail.com. AYA is for anyone in their twenties or thirties, single, coupled, or married.

On Saturday, May 18, members of the Archdiocese’s Laudato Si’ Action Platform Team met at Assumption to engage in dialogue about the church’s calling for all people to care for our common home.
As part of this event, the team planted a bush in the Assumption Garden. Say hello to our newest plant, Henry’s Garnet (Sweetspire), which was chosen based upon the fact that this pollinator is native to the area, sports white flowers in the summer, and blazes fall colors later in the year. It will make a perfect addition to our garden  (Click "More info" above for more photos).

Assumption will be providing the evening meal for Chicago Help Initiative at the Catholic Charities building, LaSalle and Huron, on Wednesday June 26.   Would you . . . or a group of you or your family or friends… like to help serve the meal? Email
roz@chicagohelpinitiative.org and indicate that you are from Assumption. Volunteers are asked to be at Catholic Charities from 3:30pm to 5:30pm.

Join the fun! Become one of our Assumption garden helpers for the summer. No green thumb necessary. If you can water a plant, you're in! It's a great way to enjoy the outdoors.

Contact jeannesowa@comcast.net for more information.

Assumption's Leadership Group has produced a series of ten-minute videos about various aspects of prayer. One or more of them might help jumpstart your prayer life.

Note: These videos are not sequential and can be viewed in any order. Start with whichever one strikes you the most!

Try a Spiritual Temperaments Quiz 

The Servite Secular Order at Assumption is conducting a toiletries drive to aid the residents of a men's and a women's shelter in Chicago. Your donations may be left in the silver box in the front of Church. The drive ends August 11.

On Saturday, April 13, Assumption welcomed sixteen couples for a special Mass, renewal of wedding vows, and a bountiful brunch. Nine of the couples attended a morning session for couples married less than five years, led by Fr. John Fontana.

Saturday, May 4, is the Feast of St. Peregrine, a fourteenth century Servite Friar, who was miraculously healed of cancer, after spending all night before an image of Christ crucified. He is the patron saint of those living with cancer, and devotions in honor of St. Peregrine take place after the 12:10 Mass on Mondays.

In honor of St. Peregrine, we will offer the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick during the 7:30am Mass on May 4. This Sacrament is for those whose life is at risk because of age or illness.

At the Easter Vigil Mass we celebrated the Baptism of Gloria Corujo and Amanda Rodriguez, and received into full membership with the Catholic Church Elizabeth Hedrick, Conora Shaw, Jorge Vivas, Cindy Plascencia, Axel Leyva-Villegas, and James Garner. Click on the picture for a high quality version.

All of our Elect and Candidates were Confirmed and made their First Holy Communion at this Mass. How about you? Are you not baptized? Baptized Catholic but never made your First Communion and Confirmation? Baptized Christian but would like to know more about the Catholic Church? Contact Fr. Joe for more information.

Italian food returns to the Parish Hall! Join us on Saturday, April 20, following the 5:00pm Mass (or 6:00 to 8:00pm), for a simple meal of lasagna, salad, fresh baked bread, dessert, wine, beer, or soda. Tickets are $50 each, $25 for children under 12. Reservations are required. Purchase tickets on GiveCentral or by calling the Parish Office.

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!

We thank you for all of your support during our Pew Replacement Project this past January.  Enjoy this 4-minute retrospective of how it all went! 

Click on the picture (or HERE) to watch.

On Wednesday March 20 at 7:00pm, Fr. Joe will offer the final presentation in our Lenten Evenings of Faith series, focusing on the meal Jesus shared with his followers the night before he died. The talk will look at the meaning of ritual meals in the Jewish tradition, what the four Gospels actually say about the Last Supper and how this meal served as the culmination of Jesus' public ministry. In this year of the Eucharistic Revival (and, acccording to surveys, waning belief in "the real presence"), Fr. Joe will offer his perspective on what this meal celebrated in memory of Jesus can mean for us today.

Come to the Parish Hall at 7:00pm Wednesday, March 6. Even better, come for Mass at 6:00 and make a reservation for the meal at 6:30. The 311 garage will be open.

Our RCIA group of Catechumens and Candidates participated in the Rite of Sending on Sunday, February 18 before going to Holy Name Cathedral for the Right of Election. Please keep them in prayer, as they enter these final weeks of preparation before celebrating the Sacraments of Initiation on Holy Saturday night. 

We invite you to participate in a weekly guided study and discussion of the Scriptures assigned for the Sundays of Lent, using materials provided by Renew International. The group will meet in the Rectory on Monday evenings from 6:00 to 7:15pm from Feb 12 - Mar 18. For more information or to sign up email beth.schuman@gmail.com.

Over 30 members enjoyed pizza and comeraderie in a kick-off to a new season. Learn more about this organization and its variety of activities.  Click here for more images and videos!

Back by popular demand, our Lenten Fish Fry will be Friday, February 23 from 5:00 to 7:00pm in the Parish Hall. $25.00 per person (all you can eat); children 5 to 11, $15.00; under 5, free. Meal includes fish, sides, salad, dessert, and drinks. Reservations are requested. To make reservations, go on-line to GiveCentral or call the Parish Office at 312-644-0036. 

Please make your reservations by THURSDAY AT NOON so that we can order appropriately. Thank you!

Click Here to pay online

The Assumption KofC provided refreshments to over 50 guests in the first "Hospitality Sunday" of the season.  Video of the event 

Welcome Back to Our Beautiful Church

On the Feast of St. Blase, Saturday, February 3, throats will be blessed during the 7:30am Mass. This ritual recalls the Saint's timely rescue of a boy choking on a fish bone.

THANKS:
Our Refugee Assistance Group continues to pray for our adopted Afghan family who moved to Muncie, Indiana in August.

Thanks to all the parishioners who donated both cash and winter clothing for refugees, migrants, and the unhoused. We received 189 coats, jackets, sweaters, and sweatshirts, along with caps, scarves, and gloves too numerous to count and items off the Target list. The cash has gone toward meals at the shelters and police stations and will continue to be used for the refugees.

If you have been wondering what your parish pastoral council has been up to lately, minutes are posted on our website. Click on "getting involved" and then go to "Pastoral Council".

An Advent Calendar has been created to help prepare your hearts and minds for the coming of Christ. The neat thing about our Advent calendar is that it features art as well as words. Some of us are more visual and are moved to prayer and medication by great works of art. Look for it here

On Friday December 8 we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. We honor Mary, who was privileged to be free from sin from the first moment of her existence. The Immaculate Conception is a holyday of obligation and our national feast day. Mass will be at 7:00am, 12:10pm, and 6:00pm.

The holiday season will soon be upon us. The pace of life will accelerate. Wedged between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the marvelous season of ADVENT, an opportunity to slow down and reflect on how to be more open to the coming of Christ. 

One way to truly enter into the spirit of Advent is to join the Bible Study, which will focus on the Sunday Scriptures of Advent. The group will meet on four Monday evenings from 6:00 - 7:15, beginning November 27. 

Email beth.schuman@gmail.com to register. 

The purpose of the Pastoral Council is to investigate pastoral matters, to consider them thoughtfully, and to propose practical conclusions about them, using a process of “discernment.”
Here are the parishioners who are part of the new council term.

Click to see their faces and learn more about them

 It's a grand Assumption tradition that goes back many decades and celebrates our parish's Italian heritage. The Italian Dinner is Thursday November 9 from 6:00 to 10:00pm at Maggiano's Banquet Center, Clark and Grand. Tickets are $125.00, which includes a five course Italian meal served family style amd wine and beer (There will be a cash bar for those who prefer spirits).
Click for details about many opportunities to win.
To make a reservation, call the Parish Office (312-644-0036) or log on to GiveCentral.

Secular Servites are lay men and women who seek to integrate the principles and spirituality of the Servite Religious Order in our ordinary lives, supporting one another and others in our families and our community. Integral to their charism is fostering a deeper relationship with God and Mary, woman of faith and the mother of Jesus. St. Mary, Source of our Joy, is the name of the Servite Secular Order community at Assumption. Learn more about them here.

34 runners in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon participated in a special blessing during the 5:00pm Mass on Saturday October 7. The Marathon is not just an athletic event. Millions of dollars are raised for charity.

Click on the photo for a larger version from this year's blessing.  Click here to watch a video of the blessing.

Christians around the world once again will celebrate a Season of Creation from September 1 to October 4, the Feast of St. Francis. Our prayers and actions to protect our common home take on a new urgency, as the effects of climate change are being experienced throughout the world. In his groundbreaking 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si', Pope Francis made care for our common home, the earth, an essential element in living out our faith. Fr. John Pawlikowski, OSM, a preeminent leader and scholar in social/environmental justice spoke on "Responding to Laudato Si': A Call to Action at the 9:00 Mass on September 10.

Click here to watch the video from the Mass.

Is your knowledge of the Catholic faith a little fuzzy? Are you an RCIA graduate who would like to learn more about the beliefs and practices of the religion you have chosen? Did the pandemic lead you to think more deeply about what really matters in life? For these and many other reasons, you may be interested in joining Deacon Kevin Zajdel for a course on basic Catholic beliefs, using the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults. Sessions begin this fall. For more information, contact Deacon Kevin at AssumptionDeacon@gmail.com.

At the 9:00am and 10:30am Masses on Sunday, September 17, we will celebrate Mass a little differently. As the Mass proceeds, there will be an ongoing narration, pointing out the significance and the history of the various elements that are part of our Sunday celebration. It's our way of celebrating Catechetical Sunday!

You can watch the livestream video of this Mass by clicking here.