While churches throughout the Chicago area were encouraged to hold anti-violence marches on Memorial Day weekend, Holy Cross-Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in the city’s Back of the Yards neighborhood had specific reason: to mourn the death of 16- year-old Angel Cano, who was gunned down May 21, 2013. The march took place May 24. Earlier, Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Parish sent a letter to pastors in the Archdiocese of Chicago encouraging them to participate in Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s “Faith In Action” effort, which called on members of churches, synagogues and mosques to be outside their houses of worship from 7 to 9 p.m. on May 23, the Friday evening of Memorial Day weekend. The weekend, the traditional start of summer, was a violent one in Chicago the last two years, Pfleger noted in his letter. At Pfleger’s parish, St. Sabina, hundreds of people gathered for an antiviolence block party. This year, there were no shootings reported in Chicago for a 42-hour stretch, from the evening of May 22 to the afternoon of May 24. But on May 24, Saturday, two people were killed and 10 more were shot in the afternoon and evening.
St. Stanislaus Kostka: Once one of the largest parishes in nation Founded in 1867 as the first Polish parish in Chicago, the Resurrectionists have administered St. Stanislaus Kostka since 1869, and founded many other North Side Polish parishes from St. Stanislaus such as St. John Cantius and Holy Trinity Mission. At the end of the 19th century it was one of the largest parishes in the city and country.
175th anniversary: Old St. Mary’s, the archdiocese’s first parish In April 1833, Chicago wasn’t much more than a small frontier settlement, a collection of houses and commercial buildings surrounding Fort Dearborn. It was not yet a town, let alone a city.
Archdiocese of Chicago is home to three basilicas Chicago-area pilgrims are lucky because they can visit not one, but three basilicas in their own backyards.