Chicagoland First Sunday Mass alternatives

Background

Effective January 25, 2022, Archdiocese of Chicago policy states that, “priests and those groups that receive permission from the Archbishop of Chicago to celebrate the Mass using the Missal of 1962, are bound on the first Sunday of the month to celebrate Mass only using the Missal of Paul VI.” In other words, the Tridentine/Extraordinary Form mass, “The Latin Mass,” is banned on the first Sunday of the month in all archdiocesan parish churches in Cook and Lake Counties, Illinois.

To aid those marginalized and persecuted Catholics striving to live the Gospel and fulfill their First Sunday obligations at a valid mass, we have compiled this list in a spirit of missionary discipleship. The majority of the churches herein are “particular churches” which are Catholic (if not Roman/Latin), in communion with Rome, with ancient valid liturgies and languages.

We have included some chapels that are in irregular situations or independent.

We’ve organized this list alphabetically by state, county, church/rite, and church. We don’t list mass times but do link to church websites (where available) for the latest schedules.

Pray for the swift restoration of the Mass of the Ages here and throughout the world. May the Lord open.

– @thefourmarks on Gab & Twitter

ILLINOIS

COOK COUNTY

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago

Chaldean

Mart Mariam Chaldean Catholic Church
2700 Willow Road
Northbrook, IL 60062
Website: https://chaldeanchurch.org/portfolio/mart-mariam-church/

St Ephrem Chaldean Catholic Church
2537 W Bryn Mawr Ave
Chicago, IL 60659
Website: https://chaldeanchurch.org/portfolio/st-ephrem-mar-aprim

Melkite

St. John the Baptist Melkite Catholic Church
200 E. North Ave.
Northlake, IL 60164
Website: https://stjohnmelkite.com

Latin/Roman

Our Lady Immaculate Church & Priory (SSPX)
410 Washington Boulevard
Oak Park, IL 60302
Website: https://sspx.org/en/community/priories/our-lady-immaculate-church-priory-432

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Chapel (Independent)
205 Fulton Street
Elgin, IL 60120
Website: https://ourladyoftheholyrosarychapel.com

Shrine of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP)
6423 S Woodlawn Ave
Chicago, IL 60637
Website: https://institute-christ-king.org/chicago-home

Romanian Greek Catholic/Romanian Byzantine

SS. Peter and Paul Church
3107 W Fullerton Ave
Chicago, IL, 60506
Website: (Not found)
Phone: (630) 896-4807

Syriac

St Mary Virgin Immaculate Mission
1243 Church St.
Northbrook, IL 60062
Website: (Not found)
Phone: (201) 455-8151

Syro-Malabar Church

Mar Thoma Sleeha Syro Malabar Cathedral
5000 St Charles Rd
Bellwood, IL 60104
Website: http://smchicago.org

Sacred Heart Syro-Malabar Knanaya Catholic Forane Church
611 Maple Street
Maywood, IL 60153
Website: http://www.shkcparish.us

St. Mary’s Syro-Malabar Knanaya Catholic Church
800 W. Lyons Street
Morton Grove, IL 60053
Website: https://smkcparish.us

Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

St. Mary’s Malankara Catholic Church
1208 Ashland Avenue
Evanston, IL 60202
Website: https://chicagomalankara.org

Ukrainian Greek Catholic

St Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral
835 North Oakley Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60622
Website: https://stnicholaschicago.com/en-us/

SS. Volodymyr and Olha Ukrainian Catholic Church
2245 W. Superior St.
Chicago, IL 60612
Website: https://www.stsvo.org

St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Catholic Church
5000 North Cumberland Ave
Chicago, IL 60656
Website: https://stjosephukr.com

Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church
116 E Illinois Ave
Palatine, IL 60067
Website: https://icshrine.org

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church
8530 W 131st St
Palos Park, IL 60464
Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups/324392048175796/

DUPAGE COUNTY

Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet

Latin/Roman

St Mary (diocesan)
140 N Oakwood Ave.
West Chicago, IL 60185
Website: https://stmarywc.org

SS. Peter and Paul (diocesan)
36 N. Ellsworth
Naperville, IL 60540
Website: https://www.sspeterandpaul.net

Maronite

Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church
950 N. Grace Street
Lombard, IL 60148
Website: https://www.ollchicago.org/web/home

KANE COUNTY

Latin/Roman

Holy Angels (diocesan)
180 S. Russell Ave.
Aurora, IL 60506 
Website: https://www.holy-angels.org

Romanian Greek Catholic/Romanian Byzantine

St. George Byzantine Catholic Church
720 Rural Street
Aurora, IL, 60505
Website: http://www.stgeorgeaurora.org

St. Michael Romanian Byzantine Catholic Church
609 N Lincoln Ave
Aurora, IL, 60505
Website: https://www.stmichaelromanianchurch.org

LAKE COUNTY

Archdiocese of Chicago

None

LASALLE COUNTY

Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria

Latin/Roman

Queen of the Holy Rosary Memorial Shrine (diocesan)
529 4th Street
LaSalle, IL 61301
Website: http://www.lasallecatholic.org

Illinois Valley Latin Mass Society
Website: https://ivlatinmass.org

WILL COUNTY

Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet

Latin/Roman

St. Joseph (FSSP)
1329 Belleview Ave.
Rockdale, IL 60436
Website: https://fsspjoliet.wordpress.com

Ruthenian Greek Catholic/Byzantine

Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church
14610 S. Will Cook Road
Homer Glen, IL 60491
Website: https://byzantinecatholic.com

INDIANA

LAKE COUNTY, IN

Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary

Latin/Roman

St. Joseph Oratory (ICKSP)
5310 Hohman Ave.
Hammond, IN. 46320
Website: https://institute-christ-king.org/hammond-home

Northwest Indiana Latin Mass Community
Website: https://nwilatin.org

Ruthenian Greek Catholic/Byzantine

St. Mary
2011 Clark St.
Whiting, IN 46394-2023
Website: https://stmarywhiting.org

St. Michael
557 W 57th Ave.
Merrillville, IN 46410-2540
Website: https://www.stmichaelbyz.org

St Nicholas Byzantine
8103 Columbia Ave.
Munster, IN 46321
Website: https://stnicholasmunster.com

WISCONSIN

KENOSHA COUNTY

Roman Catholic Diocese of Milwaukee

Latin/Roman

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (diocesan)
5400 19th Ave.
Kenosha, WI 53140
Website: https://olmckenosha.org

MILWAUKEE COUNTY

Roman Catholic Diocese of Milwaukee

Latin/Roman

St Hugh of Lincoln (Independent)
2401 South 12th Street
Milwaukee, WI 53215
Website: http://www.sainthugh.org

St Pius V Chapel (SSPX)
425 Grand Avenue
Mukwonago, WI 53149
Website: https://sspx.org/en/st-pius-v-chapel-mukwonago-milwaukee

St. Stanislaus Oratory (ICKSP)
524 W. Historic Mitchell Street
Milwaukee, WI 53204
Website: https://www.institute-christ-king.org/milwaukee-home

Cupich axes nearly all archdiocese Tridentine masses (UPDATED)

Reports coming in this 3rd Sunday after Epiphany that Blaise Cupich, recognized by many as the archbishop of Chicago, has denied permission for the Tridentine mass (“The Latin Mass”) to all of the seven diocesan parishes that offered it except one, possibly two: St John Cantius in Chicago and St Peter in Volo.

No word on the status of the Shrine of Christ the King in Chicago. The Shrine is the US Provincial Headquarters of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) and does not offer the Mass of Richard Nixon, also known in some quarters as “the Novus Ordo.”

The four parishes are:

• St. James at Sag Bridge, Lemont (This church only started offering the Tridentine mass six months ago, in July 2021, when Cupich transferred it there when he closed St Thomas More on Chicago’s South Side.)
• St. John Vianney, Northlake (This parish on the outer rim of the archdiocese resumed offering the Tridentine mass under indult in the 1990s and then every Sunday – albeit in their basement chapel, not their main church – after Summorum Pontificum)
• St. Mary of Perpetual Help – All Saints-St Anthony, Bridgeport, Chicago
• St. Odilo, Berwyn

In lieu of the Apostolic Roman Rite, Cupich will allow those parishes to offer the Nixon Rite Mass in Latin and ad orientem. We view that as a temporary accommodation.

Please pray for those of us who find Christ in the Apostolic Roman Rite mass.

UPDATED – January 30

Since last week we’ve learned:

• St. Peter in Volo granted permission to offer the Tridentine mass.
• Two priests granted permission to continue the Tridentine mass at St James at Sag Bridge in Lemont.
• Shrine of Christ the King Sovereign Priest will continue completely as-is.

Chicago’s collapsing Mexican Catholicism

Epiphany in Chicago’s South Lawndale neighborhood

Among the parishes to be extinguished and merged together effective July 1, 2021 in the Archdiocese of Chicago’s downsizing campaign, branded “Renew My Church” (RMC), are two parishes in Chicago’s Mexican South Lawndale neighborhood.

On March 11, the archdiocese announced that Good Shepherd, founded in 1907 for Polish immigrants, and Epiphany, founded in 1901 for Irish and German immigrants, will be extinguished as separate parishes and merged into one, with one pastor, sacramental records kept at Epiphany (which keeps its grade school, for now), a new name eventually, and masses at both churches (for now). The extreme left-wing local news blog “Block Club Chicago” posted on the merger. The archdiocese’s decision cites Epiphany’s $704,973 in debt and 38 percent drop in mass attendance from 1999 to 2019. Plus, the two parishes are only a half mile apart. 

Chicago’s South Lawndale neighborhood is located on the Southwest Side of the city. Once teeming with Czechs and Poles, its ethnic composition changed to Mexican starting in the 1960s. In 1964, the 26th Street Chamber of Commerce pushed to rebrand the neighborhood as “Little Village” in homage to its European “Old World” heritage. Today it’s nearly all Mexican, is referred to as “La Villita.”

The Chicago Archdiocese’s last major round of parish closures occurred in the late 80s when homosexual Joseph Cardinal Bernardin merged or closed about 40 parishes to close a budget gap. South Lawndale’s once-Bohemian St Ludmilla and once-Polish St Casimir were among the victims. But overall, the majority of Bernardin’s closures occurred in neighborhoods that weren’t Catholic anymore.

But that’s different with Cupich’s multi-year plan to shrink the number of parishes by 30 percent. While Cupich and the archdiocese market the campaign on a tripod of a priest shortage, changing demographics, and the cost of repairing and maintaining old churches, ultimately it’s about the mass apostasy of Catholics. That includes Mexican Catholics. They don’t “go to church.” They don’t believe.

It’s not just Mexican Catholics – Hispanics across the Western Hemisphere are catching up to their European-descended brethren in their falling away and abandonment of the one, true faith. Pew’s Religious Landscape Study on Latinos in the US shows 77 percent identify as Christian, with only 48 percent identifying as Catholic. Nearly a quarter of US Latinos – I’m using Latinos and Hispanics interchangeably – identify as Protestant.

That’s evident in Chicago’s Mexican neighborhoods, where Pentecostal ecclesial communities occupy both storefronts and former European Protestant ecclesial community buildings – even some former Catholic churches.

Half of all Hispanics born in the US are bastard children, born out of wedlock, growing up in fatherless homes, falling prey to all the culture of death consequences linked to that. Several Latino Chicago Alderman openly admit they’re Socialists.

Whenever the next round of parish closures occur, and they may be a slow-drip instead of the current tidal wave, count on even more Mexican parishes to face the guillotine.

Dying order selling off Chicago monastery lands

In Block Club Chicago we read a strangely balanced and probably accurate story about the Benedictine sisters who ran St Scholastica in West Ridge. With about 25 sisters left – average age in low 80s – they want to sell off part of their 15 acre monastery grounds to build a senior living center for 100 residents, including them.

I don’t have any photos of St Scholastica because it’s surrounded by so many trees.

Abortion-loving perverts invade Chicago church sanctuary during funeral

There was a funeral mass on Saturday, May 14 at St Barbara in Bridgeport for Bernie Wong. Mrs. Wong founded the Chinese American Social League in Chicago’s Chinatown. Apparently she was Catholic.

Over the weekend, we saw a local newscast story where Illinois Senator Dick Durbin was shown speaking from St. Barbara’s pulpit giving a eulogy at her funeral. He is the same Catholic senator who most holy Bishop Thomas Paprocki prohibits from receiving the Eucharist in the Diocese of Springfield. Durbin is an unrepentant and persistent supporter of killing unborn babies and promoting sexual perversities like sodomy.

St Barbara in Chicago

I can’t remember what station I saw it on. I can’t find the clip on the websites of channels 2, 5, 7, 9, or 32.

But I did find a story by Disney’s WLS-TV – with video – that causes further scandal. It shows the additional following Party of Death members speaking in front of the tabernacle:

• Openly-lesbian Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot
• Congressman Danny Davis
• Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle
• Illinois House Representative Theresa Mah

In my mind, this is just as bad as Cupich welcoming arch-antisemite Louis Farrakhan to roar about “Satanic Jews” from the pulpit of St. Sabina in 2019. Those who promote hatred of God’s commandments are just as bad as those who promote hatred of His people.

As a side note, eulogies have NO place in a funeral mass, which is offered for the repose of the soul of the dead. Give the eulogy at the funeral parlor, or at the reception afterwards.

What I’m horrified to ask is, did Durbin approach for the Eucharist and did the priest administer it to him?

May the Lord have mercy on Mrs. Wong’s soul. She did not deserve such a disgraceful, scandalous sacrifice of the Mass offered for her. May the Holy Ghost inflame a sincere and public repentance in whichever priests and bishops permitted these blasphemies.

No parishes closing in Orland Park, Tinley Park

I’m surprised.

I thought, with the priest shortage, surely there would be a merger or two. Instead, the archdiocese announced in a news release on May 11 on this Renew My Church grouping that, “All seven parishes and schools, and Cardinal Bernardin School, will remain in their current structure.”

There’s nothing on the RenewMyChurch.com website about it (yet?) so we don’t know the demographic or parish details. Obviously the parishes are hitting all the strict financial and attendance markers the archdiocese sets.

Bulleted in the news release:

Part of the uniqueness of this Orland Tinley grouping is that the parishes are well situated, in that they cover a large geographic area. 

Many, I’m guessing most, of the Catholic residents of Orland and Tinley are descended from Chicago’s South and Southwest Sides. The Baby Boomers grew up in suburbs like Oak Lawn and Burbank or South Holland, or in the city in neighborhoods like Ashburn and Clearing and Scottsdale, attending parishes like St Bede the Venerable or St Thomas More – parishes that archdiocese announced its merging just one day earlier on May 10.

Those Boomers’ parents, the Greatest Generation, grew up in city neighborhoods like Marquette Park, Englewood, Gresham, Brighton Park, etc which either long ago ceased to be Catholic or flipped to Mexican and are seeing mergers and closures as that Catholic ethnic group now abandons the one, true Faith.

What I’m curious about is, how long are these Orland and Tinley parishes going to last as-is? They’re the quintessential “Church of Nice” parishes whose flocks don’t have any meaningful Catholic identity, don’t believe or practice what the Church teaches about marriage, sex, charity, etc. I have family in these parishes: Divorced Baby Boomers, some of whom have remarried without an annulment, whose Millennial children attended these parishes’ Catholic schools but who now do not practice the faith, who cohabitate in heterosexual and homosexual relationships, who embrace New Age spiritualism, and live in a world where they (not God) are the center of everything. Sure, if you ask them, “What’s your religion?” they’ll answer, “Catholic.” Even I did that when I was a twentysomething who never attended Mass and whose social life revolved around gay bars and hookup sites. They are Catholic in name only (CINO).

If we define the Baby Boom as running from 1946 to 1964, then the youngest of the Baby Boomer Catholics attending St Michael in Orland Park or St Julie Billiart in Tinley Park are in the late 50s, nearly 60-years-old. Behind them are Generation X, my generation, which has largely abandoned the faith.

So this grouping has maybe another 10-15 years to coast on fumes until the Boomers die off, retire to Arizone or Florida, or get wheeled off to assisted living, memory care facilities, and nursing homes.

With no sign that the archbishop claimant or the Firm have any commitment to saving souls and catechizing three generations, it’s really only a question of time before they decide to merge and close these parishes, and cash-in by selling off their (ugly!) church buildings and sprawling campuses to housing and retail developers.

St Julie Billiart in Tinley Park. Photo from BusinessYab.com

St Constance parishioners fight parish merger

Block Club Chicago, a website that claims to be a news outlet covering Chicago neighborhood news, reports parishioners of St Constance in Jefferson Park are protesting Cupich’s plans to extinguish their parish and merge it with St Robert Bellarmine on July 1, 2021.

I consider St Constance one of the ugliest churches I’ve ever seen.

• 

St Constance. Barf!

Block Club Chicago’s sub-head reads, “Parishioners at St. Constance Parish and School say they worry merging with a nearby church will undermine some of their long-held traditions.”

But the story never goes into what those traditions are.

The story cites only two parishioners as sources, and one of them as anonymous.

It makes only passing references to its Polish congregation.

What’s missing, and what would’ve been interesting to explore further in the story, is the slow bleed of Poles from Chicago’s once safe and stable Northwest Side. And reporter Ariel Parrella-Aureli needed only visit the Chicago Archdiocese’s “RenewMyChurch.com” (.com because it’s a business?) website to get some interesting demographic insights Cupich shares with us. You can view the full decision here: https://www.renewmychurch.org/documents/1607309/1607597/RMC+2021+RMC-3+Decree+of+Extinctive+Union+-+St.+Constance+and+SRB.pdf/

Excerpts:

These two parishes have been serving an area of the City in which the population is changing from large numbers of Polish-speaking faithful to a growing population of Spanish-speaking faithful

…

Many of the faithful attending St. Constance Parish live outside the neighborhood

…

The trends indicating an accelerating decrease in Polish-speaking faithful as they move from the area to suburban communities.

…

The two parishes now serve an area with a decreasing Polish-speaking population

Couple that with a Polish anti-violence protest march in Portage Park in April – that Block Club Chicago reported on here – and we see even more evidence that there’s a major demographic change underway on the Northwest Side with major implications for the safety of Chicagoans and the city’s property tax base:

Jakub “Kuba” Marchewka, 28, was fatally shot in a Northwest Side parking lot on Easter Sunday after bumping another car with his car door, police and his family said.

Sun-Times: Missionary order sort-of lists abusers

The latest in the Chicago Sun-Times’ series on religious orders and sexual abuse of minors is out, focusing on the Society of the Divine Word finally releasing a list – sort of, there are holes – of members who’ve sexually abused minors.

You can read it here: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/5/14/22435254/exporting-abusive-priests-catholic-religious-order-society-divine-word-techny-northbrook-sex-abuse

Sunday’s front page

I had never heard of this order until the Sun-Times series this year. Their Chicago Province is headquartered in Northbrook, a suburb of Chicago in northern Cook County.

The gist of the Sun-Times’ ongoing series is that religious order priests and brothers do not appear on the Cupich’s list of priests who’ve sexually abused (mostly male teenage) minors and some religious orders aren’t posting these lists at all, or they’re incomplete. It appears their reporting finally forced the Society of the Divine Word’s hand.

Like a broken record, the Sun-Times’ latest piece notes Cupich won’t give them interviews for their stories.

But Cupich, who has declined to discuss the matter [emphasis added], has chosen to restrict the list he’s had posted on the archdiocese’s website to abusive diocesan clergy, those who answered directly to him or his predecessors — and to not make public the names or other information he has gathered about members of Catholic religious orders, including the Society of the Divine Word.

Transparency and trust abound! </sarcasm>

Cupich reinstates Beverly parish pastor

Less than a month (April 22, 2021) after pulling Fr Lawrence Sullivan out of Beverly’s Christ the King parish over allegations he, “made unwelcome verbal comments to a female” 36-years-ago, Cupich’s reinstated him. The accuser won’t talk.

Christ the King Church in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood

We first heard about it on an evening newscast last week. The archdiocese released a media statement on May 14 here: https://www.archchicago.org/en/statement/-/article/2021/05/14/letter-from-cardinal-blase-j-cupich-archbishop-of-chicago-on-the-reinstatement-of-father-lawrence-sullivan-to-active-ministry

A thorough review of this matter by the Archdiocesan Office of Child Abuse Investigations and Review and an outside investigator, including multiple unsuccessful attempts to obtain information from the accuser, concludes that the accusation against him, which was alleged to have occurred prior to his entering the seminary, cannot be substantiated.  Therefore, I am reinstating Father Sullivan as your Pastor effective immediately.

As a reminder, it’s standard practice to pull a pastor off onto the sidelines while the archdiocese investigates sexual allegations. It’s no different from the Chicago Police automatically putting cops on desk duty for 30 days after they shoot someone, even in self-defense.

We’re pleased Fr Sullivan’s been vindicated and we agree with Cupich here:

It is important to note that our policies also call us to do everything possible to restore the good name of priests when the process has determined allegations cannot be substantiated. This, too, is a matter of justice.  Therefore, out of regard for Father Sullivan and all our priests, I resolve to see his good name restored.  

But what about Fr C Frank Phillips of St John Cantius? He was exonerated of the allegations of “improper conduct involving adult males” made against him. Why wasn’t he welcomed back to the parish he saved from the wrecking ball and transformed into a thriving parish that spawned a new religious order of orthodox young priests committed to restoring the sacred?

We know the answer. That’s THE reason the phony charges were leveled. It was a premeditated coup d’etat. So Fr Phillips – may God bless him, for were it not for him, I never would have converted – languishes in exile in St Louis, in obedience, and in prayer.

And don’t say, “Ask the Resurrectionists.” Cupich could easily come out publicly saying Phillips should be reinstated and publicly ask the Resurrectionists to make it happen.

I think he will be declared a saint one day.

On China’s population time bomb

I couldn’t help but feel a sense of, “I told you so” last week reading all the prominent mainstream media coverage about China’s population time bomb, triggered by its “one child” policy.

Here’s an example story from Comcast NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-s-population-still-growing-barely-n1266904

Contraception kills countries.

This is a Wall Street Journal graphic from a story they ran three years ago.