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Renew My Church Book

Northside Catholic Academy

Visit website: www.northsidecatholic.org

Dear Parishioners and friends,

We are drawing so near to the Great Christmas Feast celebrating the birthday of Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity becoming human.   Advent gives us an opportunity to calm our hearts and experience inner peace, helping us to enjoy the full joy of welcoming the Lord.

The beautiful scene of Noel with multicolored lights has been put up everywhere, from inside the house to the street corner, from the countryside to the city.  The joyous sounds of Christmas music permeate the air everywhere.  Seeing beautiful decorations and listening to joyous Christmas carols make our hearts filled with gratitude to God for His love for mankind.

We are so blessed to be loved by God Most High.  Happy are we, among whom Jesus chooses to dwell.

With profound gratitude and deep devotion to God Most High, each of us vows to always live in a way that is worthy of the love and compassion that God has been given to us.

My daily prayer for St. Henry’s parish is that God keeps our parish community united and peaceful, and the Holy Spirit sets every parish member afire for love of God.

To all families of the Parish, the best and most holy Christmas wishes.  May the warmth and holiness of “God comes to earth and dwells among us” abate differences in families.

May our trustful surrender to Divine Providence be blessed, sustained by God and accompany this great parish family on the journey of faith.

In the love of Jesus Christ,

 Fr. Phi Nguyen

Pastor

The Parish Grouping Process

At the heart of our Renew My Church efforts is the renewal of vital, sustainable parishes that have the leadership, resources, and vision necessary to create an effective culture of evangelization that makes disciples, builds communities and inspires witness. This requires prayerful discernment and challenging conversations on our part. It also necessitates great trust that Jesus, our Good Shepherd, will lead us to where He wants us to go.

As I’ve shared, our parish is working with St. Timothy, St. Margaret Mary, and Blessed Aloysius Stepinac Mission as one group to discern and provide input into how we can best structure our parishes and ministries to make disciples, build community, and inspire witness. Together, we will work through multiple stages on a shared journey of renewal:

1. Discernment & Decisions. A selected team known as the Grouping Feedback and Discernment Team will reflect upon potential scenarios of how our local parishes and schools may be organized differently in the future and develop potential ideas to achieve the mission imperatives. This stage concludes when Cardinal Cupich makes his final decisions regarding any structural changes affecting the grouping.
2. Transition Support. Once decisions are made that result in structural/organizational changes to the grouping, a dedicated support team from the archdiocese works on-site to help pastors manage the transition - both the pastoral accompaniment to walk with people through this time of change and operational transition to ensure new parishes have strong, sustainable operational foundations, upon which the great work of ministry can be built to achieve our mission imperatives.
3. Building the New Reality. At this point in the process, with the structural, operational, financial, and personnel foundations in place, the grouping will focus its efforts on vibrantly living out the three imperatives. At the core will be a culture of evangelization that supports the work of making disciples, building community, and inspiring witness. This will be a journey over the next several years in our parish.

Along this journey, our Good Shepherd guides our steps. He is with us always and assures us in the Gospel, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (Jn 10:27-30). It’s on us to keep our ears open and to listen with our hearts throughout this process.

As always, for more information, visit RenewMy-Church.org, or ask me, your pastor, and parish leaders.

Grouping Meeting Schedule

In English Language

In Spanish Language

In Polish Language