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.
Three local parishes dedicate new parish spaces When parishioners at St. Edna in Arlington Heights began considering the need for a new parish center during the creation of a parish master plan in 2010, they had no idea how long the process would take.
‘Broken Mary’ focus of peace procession On the evening of May 31, the feast of the Visitation of Mary, over 1,500 people walked out of St. John Cantius Church at Chicago and Ogden Avenues and processed — holding candles and reciting the rosary — to the historic Water Tower to pray for peace in the city.
Notre Dame de Chicago Parish takes up collection for Paris cathedral Notre Dame de Chicago Parish, 1334 W. Flournoy St., had a special Mass and took up a collection for Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris and the homeless in that city during a June 2. The Chocago parish has roots in French culture, and the consul general of France and a delegate to Chicago of the government of Quebec spoke.