Thread: Waukegan: Sunday English Mass restored

Not sure what to say about this?! It's news that our community is getting an English Mass restored. Yes, it was a priest shortage -but we also have so many migrants and immigrants who need the other language the parishioners who only spoke English paid the price.


Sunday English Mass restored
North Chicago church gets additional priest

March 22, 2008
By JUDY MASTERSON JMASTERSON@SCN1.COM

NORTH CHICAGO -- Easter morning will see the resurrection of Sunday Mass in English at Queen of Peace Catholic Church, 910 14th St.

The former 9 a.m. Sunday Mass in English was eliminated last July because of a shortage of priests. A rotating number of priests from Mundelein Seminary are saying Masses for an increasingly immigrant parish community that also includes Holy Family and Immaculate Conception churches in Waukegan.

Parish Council Chairman John Krempotic said he and other parishioners kept pushing for a second English Mass -- one is also offered at 4 p.m. Saturdays -- after Cardinal Francis George, head of the Chicago Archdiocese, "promised from the pulpit" that it would be returned.

George visited Waukegan last August to celebrate the joining of the three churches into one faith community.

"We have a lot of older members who have attended here all their lives," Krempotic said. "Their ancestors built the church. But they stayed because they understood. The reality is that there just weren't enough priests."

While the Rev. Gary Graf, longtime bilingual pastor of Holy Family, has taken on pastorship of all three churches, Queen of Peace now has a priest in residence, the Rev. Nestor Torrez, a native of Colombia.

Krempotic said he is "ecstatic" about the change.

"A lot of parishioners don't feel comfortable without a Sunday morning Mass in English," he said.

Virginia Mullery of North Chicago, who said she is looking forward to attending Sunday mornings again, noted that the Saturday evening Mass in English is not convenient for some older people.

"People like me who don't drive after dark," she said. "In winter, it's dark by 4:30 p.m."

Krempotic acknowledged the growing need for Masses in Spanish.

"New immigrants are filling the churches," he said. "We welcome that with open arms. It's God's community. It's God's house, and we want to keep it full."

Queen of Peace was founded July 1, 1991, as the result of a merger of the former Holy Family (in North Chicago), Mother of God and Holy Rosary churches.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... S1.article

They should all be in English. This is America.

Best place to learn English is at a place of worship.

We have a lot of older members who have attended here all their lives," Krempotic said. "Their ancestors built the church. But they stayed because they understood. The reality is that there just weren't enough priests."

Imagine that irony. They cannot find enough priests in America who can speak English, but they had no problems locating any who spoke Spanish!

LOL what a complete joke! Whatever.

New immigrants are filling the churches," he said. "We welcome that with open arms. It's God's community. It's God's house, and we want to keep it full."







Uh-huh......and I suppose it's God's wallet they want to keep full too?