Virtual Bulletin
get the scoop on the latest going-ons at our parish
We are calling on Ushers, Lectors, and Eucharistic Ministers to help. Please reach out if you are interesting in serving.
Ushers: Karl Heerdegen 847-560-5929
Lectors: Cindy Blank 847-9247876
EME's: Deacon Bob 847-726-4712
We are looking for high school & college aged young adults interested in joining our Tech Team! The Tech Team is our expert set of trained individuals who will learn how to use our streaming and projecting equipment for Masses!
You will work in the loft helping stream Masses to our parishioners on Facebook & YouTube, as well as projecting slides during Mass!
No experience needed. We will train you. A stipend is being offered for this important work! Email plynch@stfrancislz.org if you are interested.
Registration is open for Hoopsters Basketball Camp!
Dear Parents - It's that time of year again to start thinking about summer activities and the Hoopsters Basketball camp! The camp date is July 17-21st. The morning session runs from 9-11am and the afternoon session is 11;30am-1:30pm. Camp will be held in the West Parking Lot of St Francis de Sales Parish in Lake Zurich. We will be working with the kids on basic skills and how positive attitude and strength is demonstrated off the court.
MORNING SESSION \ 1st-4th Grade (2023-2024 school year) \ 9am - 11am
AFTERNOON SESSION \ 5th-8th Grade (2023-2024 school year) \ 11:30am - 1:30pm
REGISTER TODAY AT
Know a teen who wants to volunteer? email Ingrid.Freeland@astellas.com
The Catholic Charities LOSS PROGRAM was started by Fr Charles Rubey in 1979 with 3 couples who had lost children to suicide. At that time, they would meet regularly in their homes. Today this program has spread throughout the Archdiocese and beyond bringing hope and meaning to those affected by suicide.
Open monthly group meetings will be held at the Parish and Ministry Center on the 3rd WEDS of EACH MONTH; 7-9pm.
www.catholiccharities.net/LOSS
Anyone who has lost a loved one to suicide is invited to attend. **Please register if you are new to this program by calling (312) 655-7283
Suicide loss is complicated and traumatic. Together we walk through this specific type of grief and offer each other support. A licensed clinician and a trained facilitator will run each meeting. No matter how recent or how long ago you experienced loss by suicide -all are welcome! Any questions, please call Tish Guinter (847) 293-4332
Donations may be dropped off in Fr. Valker Hall. Please label for Emmaus House.
Emmaus is looking for volunteers to harvest food locally and bring it to Fr. Valker Hall. This food will then be distributed to folks that come to the Sunday Harvest Room. If you have an hour to spare to this worthwhile ministry, please consider contacting
Becky Corrado to find out how you can help, rcorrado@allstate.com or 847-707-0148.
Thank you!
Rachel's Vineyard is a safe place to renew, rebuild and redeem hearts broken by abortion. Weekend retreats offer you a supportive, confidential and non-judgmental environment where women and men can express, release and reconcile painful post-abortive emotions to begin the process of restoration, renewal and healing.
Do not continue to live in the shame, fear or numbness.Call our toll-free national hotlines:
Rachel's Vineyard: 877 HOPE 4 ME (877)467-3463
H3LPLINE: Help, Hope, Healing...After the Pain of Abortion. call or text (866)721-7881
Come spend time with Jesus. Open your heart and let Him make a difference in your life. Join us for First Friday Adoration anytime between 9am-2pm. All are welcome to stop by for a few minutes, an hour or for however long you are able. In order to offer this amazing experience, we need a few adorers to commit to each hour. If you are able to commit to an hour, please scan the code to the right or call the Ministry Center to sign up!
“Go, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born!”
This melody and many others still resound in our hearts and minds from our Christmas celebrations. It takes a lot of musicians to make our liturgies at Christmas such glorious ones. Starting on Christmas Eve at 3:00 mass in the church, Rosie Aitken, music teacher in our school, led 9 students in song along with 2 cantors. They were also accompanied by a flute. They faithfully attended rehearsals and sounded like angels. We are truly blessed. The 3:00 mass in Valker Hall and the 5:00 mass in church were accompanied by Olga Lunetta. We had a cantor and flautist at both of these masses. Olga also played at the 6:30 AM mass with songs led by Fr. Merold. Thank you, Olga, for all you do for us and thank you to these musicians who made the Christmas music come to life! The midnight mass was led by a quartet accompanied by a violin and cello. It was wonderful to hear the congregation sing prelude songs along with our solos. A handbell player, Jocelyn Purtell, played a solo on the bell tree. Truly beautiful music. The 11:00 mass had a trio, choir, handbells, and violin and cello. Thank you to Dave Strutzel for playing organ for us! With his help, I was able to direct everyone. Thank you, musicians, for your countless hours of rehearsal. You made it possible for all of us to truly celebrate the birth of “Our Newborn King”! The 9:00 Christmas Day mass was led by our high school/college students. How wonderful it is that our young people want to come home and share their talents with us! Led by Chris Misik, we heard beautiful voices sing “O Holy Night”. They were accompanied by Matthew Nerenberg on oboe and Elizabeth Vinnes on flute. We can never forget to thank our cantors. They, and their families, give of their time and talent so that we can all sing the music of our church. Thank you for your leadership and all you give to this ministry! We could not have done it without you! So I give a big “Shout-Out” to all of you. Thank you, beautiful job, and Happy New Year.
Patricia Stewart,
Director of Liturgical Music
The Catholic Charities LOSS PROGRAM was started by Fr Charles Rubey in 1979 with 3 couples who had lost children to suicide. At that time, they would meet regularly in their homes. Today this program has spread throughout the Archdiocese and beyond bringing hope and meaning to those affected by suicide.
Open monthly group meetings will be held at the Parish and Ministry Center on the
3rd WEDS of EACH MONTH; 7-9pm.
www.catholiccharities.net/LOSS
Anyone who has lost a loved one to suicide is invited to attend. **Please register if you are new to this program by calling (312) 655-7283
Suicide loss is complicated and traumatic. Together we walk through this specific type of grief and offer each other support. A licensed clinician and a trained facilitator will run each meeting. No matter how recent or how long ago you experienced loss by suicide -all are welcome! Any questions, please call Tish Guinter (847) 293-4332
Abortion leaves a lasting impact on people. Don’t wait any longer for help. Healing can provide a new found hope and freedom.
In this supportive, confidential small group, we will focus on recovering from the emotional and spiritual pain after abortion. We will use spiritual tools and prayer to go through Transform Your Story: A Path to Healing after Abortion workbook.
Starts February 9th (9 weeks) Thursdays 9:00-11:00AM CST | 10:00-12:00PM EST Virtual via Zoom
Contact Tammy Baczek (847)826-8309 for questions and to sign up. All contact is confidential.
The spirit of Advent is alive at St. Francis. The generosity of our parish community is truly heart-warming. More than 225 local families were sponsored, along with 92 women from Mt. St. Joseph. We were also able to supply Mother of the Americas (formerly Our Lady of Tepeyac) with a record number of gift cards, toys and other donated items. We were also able to provide gift cards to Holy Family in Waukegan, Mt. St. Joseph and Little Sisters of the Poor. We also supplied Little Sister of the Poor with gift bags for all their residents and poinsettias for their chapel and residence halls.
A shout out to the following:
Lake Zurich High School National Honor Society sponsored 12 families (60 people) this year. This is the 21st year that they have participated.
Lots of new hoodies, along with socks and underwear were donated and are being distributed to shelters in the Chicago area. Thank you to Pam Urban for coordinating this charity and helping keep those less fortunate warmer this winter.
Students in the Religious Education program assisted in the collection of gifts that parishioners dropped off on Friday and Saturday of Drop-off weekend.
Girl Scout Troop 1728 oversaw a Girl Scout event that drew Girl Scouts in the Lake Zurich Service Unit. Over 100 pairs of pajamas were collected and donated to the Gift of Love and Mother of the Americas.
The confirmation class of Rose Weismann was instrumental in helping us to distribute the gifts to St. Francis families on Sunday of Drop-off weekend.
Once again, the Ministry Center and maintenance staff provided invaluable support. They are unfailingly kind and considerate to all requests. The Gift of Love program could not succeed without them.
You may have heard the expression “it takes a village”. What it really takes is a parish like St. Francis.
On behalf of the parishioners of the Mother of the Americas Parish (former Our Lady of Tepeyac) and the Sharing Parish Ministry here at St. Francis, we would like to express our gratitude to the St. Francis Parishioners for all the gift cards that you gave us this past Christmas. We sent the unprecedented amount of $22,680 in gift cards. In addition, we sent:
Hats, gloves, scarves, and mittens (donated by the St. Francis de Sales students and the Religious Education students)
4 big boxes of coats (donated by the Knights of Columbus)
Many gifts donated by Parishioners Mora and Ken Priess
Toys donated by the St. Francis School students
10 bikes donated by parishioners and fixed by the Boy Scouts (Troop 309)
Food for the Food Pantry
Everything was distributed at the Mother of the Americas Parish, Food Pantry, High School, and Elementary School.
Our most sincere “Thank You” to Father Ryan and the Ministry Center Staff for always supporting this Ministry and allowing the friendship with the Mother of the Americas Parish to continue and flourish every year.
You are all an example of God’s love, and this project would have not been possible without the help of so many. May God bless you abundantly, and may you have a wonderful 2023, full of happiness, peace, love, and good health!
Sincerely,
Jane Clery Patricia Linares
Chairperson, Gift of Love Chairperson, Mother of the Americas Ministry
St. Francis de Sales welcomes you to sing at the 9:00 mass on Christmas Day. Join your fellow classmates/alums from Lake Zurich, Stevenson, Wauconda, Mundelein, St. Viator, Carmel, & Barrington High Schools as they raise their voices in song in this choir. No need to have been involved
in a choir in the past! All are welcome! Music will be available. For further information, please contact Pat Stewart (Director of Music) at 847-726-4720 orChris Misik at 847-732-3106
Once again we will be collecting NEW Hoodies for several shelters. Our contact is asking for Mens Only New Hoodies in sizes medium to 3X. Ladies will wear these as well. In addition we will also collect new packages of underwear or socks. Underwear and socks are the number one requested item among the homeless. You may place your donations in the blue bins that will be set up in either the gathering space of church or the ministry center, now through December 4th.
Your generous gifts will be given to one of the following shelters; House of Mary and Joseph Homeless Shelter for men and women on Harrison Street in Chicago. Sister House, Oak Park, rehabilitation housing & Highwood Soup Kitchen.
Please contact Pam Urban 847-373-9705 with any questions or concerns.
God Bless you for your beautiful gift of love to those in need.
The Catholic Charities LOSS PROGRAM was started by Fr Charles Rubey in 1979 with 3 couples who had lost children to suicide. At that time, they would meet regularly in their homes. Today this program has spread throughout the Archdiocese and beyond bringing hope and meaning to those affected by suicide.
Open monthly group meetings will be held at the Parish and Ministry Center on the 3rd WEDS of EACH MONTH; 7-9pm.
Anyone who has lost a loved one to suicide is invited to attend. **Please register if you are new to this program by calling (312) 655-7283
www.catholiccharities.net/loss
Suicide loss is complicated and traumatic. Together we walk through this specific type of grief and offer each other support. A licensed clinician and a trained facilitator will run each meeting. No matter how recent or how long ago you experienced loss by suicide -all are welcome! Any questions, please call Tish Guinter (847) 293-4332
We need adults, 21 years or older, who want to befriend and nurture the Catholic faith of an individual with intellectual and developmental disabilities, while deepening their own faith. We currently need Catechists, for two young boys for this year’s group of friends aged 9-16. We also have several younger children on our waiting list, just waiting for you, to be served. A willing heart and a desire to share your faith with another are the only qualifications needed.
We welcome anyone interested to contact Kelly L. Smith at 847-287-8640, kellylyn60@yahoo.com or Jackie Bathery at 847-438-9136, jnj1229@aol.com
Yes, we know you have missed us! It has been three long years since we held our Nut Sale. Fortunately, we are back again just in time for your holiday needs. The St. Francis de Sales SPRED group will be holding their one and only fundraiser, with all profits going directly to the SPRED program here at St. Francis and to help spread SPRED to our neighboring parishes. We will be selling fantastic nuts and chocolates from The Georgia Nut Company. Our nuts and chocolates make the best hostess gifts! Please help us out by purchasing some of our quality nuts and chocolates. You’ll find us in the gathering space after all masses November 12th & 13th 2022.
Click on a term below to read more about it!
