St. Mary Catholic Church

DeKalb, Illinois

     

All parish volunteers need to complete Protecting God’s Children, undergo a background check, and read a few important documents. Please contact Mona O'Bryan at the parish office 815-758-5432 x 107 if you are unsure if you have completed all the requirements or to answer any questions you may have. Thanks for your prompt cooperation with this important US Bishop's initiative.

Attention Volunteers!  An update to the Youth Guidelines (in sections E and F) requires all volunteers to sign a revised copy. You can do so by printing this document and returning a signed copy to the parish office as soon as possible. Please note that the Safe Environment protocol has been instituted for the safety of those most vulnerable. We appreciate your compliance as we work to protect our community.

“ Brothers and sisters, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the holy ones greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Cor 13:11-13). The Church is holy. We profess this in the Nicene Creed each Sunday. The scandal of our failings may cloud this reality and our sinfulness as members may blur what is an indestructible mark of the Church thanks to her Lord and head, who sanctifies her; the reality remains. “The Church … is held, as a matter of faith, to be unfailingly holy. This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as ‘alone holy’, loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her” (Catechism #823). As we struggle along this encourages us to mend our ways and enter deeper into the mystery of faith. After the offering of the gifts at the altar the priest invites the faithful to join in prayer and offering and the people respond: “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church.” It is a reminder of the unfailing holiness of Christ’s bride. St. Paul VI explained it this way: “The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace. If they live her life, her members are sanctified; if they move away from her life, they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This is why she suffers and does penance for those offenses, of which she has the power to free her children through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.” This is also why we continue to pray for all people, especially our Holy Father, and for the sanctification of all her ministers and all people. “‘While in the most Blessed Virgin the Church has already reached the perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle, the faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase in holiness. And so they turn their eyes to Mary’: in her, the Church is already the ‘all-holy’ (Catechism #829). In Christ, son of Mary,

There are no special announcements this week.