Our hearts and prayers today are united with our brothers and sisters in our Lincoln Square grouping who have worked with us this Summer and Fall during the Renew My Church process:
- St. Hilary Parish and School
- St. Matthias Parish and School
- Queen of Angels Parish and School
- Transfiguration of Our Lord Parish
Full Text of the Decision Document: English * Spanish
(Para leer en español la descripcion a bajo, haga clic de “Translate” en azul a la izquierda.)
The following structural changes decided on by Cardinal Cupich were announced by Bishop Hicks, Vicar General, and Mr. Cliff Barber, Chief Strategy Officer, at the November 8, 2019 community meeting:
Parishes and Churches:
Queen of Angels and St. Matthias Parishes will unite to form a new parish, effective July 1, 2020. Queen of Angels Church will be the parish church, where the pastor’s office and parish records will be kept. During the next year, St. Matthias Church will close as a site of regular worship.
St. Hilary and Transfiguration of our Lord Parishes will unite to form a new parish, effective July 1, 2020. St. Hilary Church will be designated the parish church, where the pastor’s office and parish records will be kept. During the next year, Transfiguration Church will close as a site of regular worship.
- The leaders and parishioners of each newly formed parish, will discern possibilities for the name of the new parish within guidelines provided by the archdiocese, and will submit their candidates to Cardinal Cupich for his decision on the permanent names.
- The Priests’ Placement Board is working to decide who will be the pastor of each new parish, whether that will be one of the current parish priests or a new pastor from outside the grouping. The announcement is expected around March, 2020, with the Pastor to take up the new role on July 1.
- The closing churches will move their regular Masses over to the parish churches by next Advent (Nov. 28-29, 2020).
Schools
St. Hilary, St. Matthias, and Queen of Angels Schools will remain in their current programs, subject to each school remaining financially independent.
- Queen of Angels School will be the parish school of the new parish formed by St. Matthias and Queen of Angels Parishes.
- St. Hilary will be the parish school of the new parish formed by St. Hilary and Transfiguration Parishes.
- St. Matthias School will be governed as an archdiocesan school, not directly affiliated with a parish. The archdiocese will work closely with St. Matthias leadership and school board to define support needs moving forward. The pastor of the new parish formed by Queen of Angels and St. Matthias parishes will have a seat on the governing board of St. Matthias School and may be the school’s chaplain.
When one part of the body of Christ suffers, all parts suffer with it.
We may know that change is necessary because we have few priests and limited resources, but that does not make the changes easy to bear. We do not know or fully understand the grief and pain that others feel, because everyone experiences change and loss in different ways. Many are angry, many are scared, many are hurt. Please pray today for our community, our neighbors in the parishes and schools of our grouping, and for the leaders at the parish and archdiocesan level who will soon begin with work of putting these changes into practice.