St. Stephen Deacon & Martyr Catholic Church 17500 84th Avenue, Tinley Park, Illinois 60487 708-342-2400 St. Stephen Deacon and Martyr Catholic Church 17500 South 84th Avenue, Tinley Park, IL 60487 www.ststephentinley.com Parish Office Phone: 708-342-2400 | Parish Office Fax: 708-342-1545 Office Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 8:30am—12:30pm and 1–8:00pm | Friday 8:30am—12:30pm and 1-4pm Saturday Noon—5pm | Sunday 9:30am—1:00pm Religious Education Phone: 708-342-1544 RE Office Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 8:30am—12:30pm and 1pm-4:30pm | Friday 8:30am—12:30pm Evenings and weekends by appointment. Please call to schedule. Cardinal Joseph Bernardin Parish School (CJB) 9250 West 167th Street, Orland Hills, IL 60487 Phone: 708-403-6525 | Fax: 708-403-8621 | web: cjbschool.org | email: [email protected] Pastor Anointing of the Sick—Please contact the parish office if you or a loved one Rev. Thomas A. Bernas need this sacrament. Associate Pastor Rev. Mirek Kulesa Baptisms must be prescheduled and are celebrated every Sunday at 3pm in Pastor Emeritus English and 1pm in Polish. Baptisms can also be celebrated with the Parish Rev. James Finno Family at one of our weekend Masses. Please contact Fr. Tom in the parish Deacons office for the necessary preparations. A baptism preparation class is required to Robert Conlin have your child baptized at St. Stephen’s. New parishioners are required to William Engler register. Chuck McFarland William Schultz Communion for the sick, elderly, handicapped, or homebound parishioners Pete Van Merkestyn can be arranged by calling Barbara Black at 708-466-9962. Administrative Asst. to Pastor Funerals can be arranged through the parish office. Laura Uher Marriages - St. Stephen’s Parish welcomes the celebration of the weddings of Adult Formation both registered parishioners and the children of registered parishioners. For Barbara Black more information, please contact the parish office. Communications Maintenance Directors New parishioners are invited to register: nd th Kevin Bohlig • After the 10am Mass on the 2 and 4 Sundays of every month. Dean Thompson • At the parish office. Director of Music and Liturgy David Boyle For those in need: • Counseling services are available through the Holbrook Counseling Center Morning Receptionist of Catholic Charities. To get help, call 312-655-7725 or visit the website at Noreen Galvin catholiccharities.net • For Grief and Crisis Counseling, please contact Deacon Pete Van Director of Religious Education Merkestyn. Appointments will be taken on Wednesdays at 10am, 11am, and Sandi Morgan 12pm. Please call the parish office or email Deacon Pete at [email protected] to arrange for an appointment. Religious Ed. Admin. Assistant • For parishioners struggling and in need of assistance, please contact Dee Zvejnieks Religious Education Secretary the St. Vincent de Paul Ministry through the parish office. • For those seeking help through a twelve-step program, St. Stephen’s offers CJB Interim Principal English and Polish support groups. Please contact the parish office for more James Antos information. CJB Admissions Director • For information about Domestic Violence awareness, services, and Cynthia Labriola Devlin prevention, please contact Deacon Bill Schultz at the parish office. FATHER TOM’S TIDBITS Dear Friends, Today’s Gospel contains the first of two parables that Jesus tells about prayer. The second will be read at Mass next Sunday. This first parable is a lesson in persistence in prayer. Next Sunday's parable will address attitude in prayer. While the parable seems to present prayer as nagging God for what we want, such a reading misses the point. God is not like the judge in the parable, worn down by requests and coerced to respond. The key is found in the description of the judge as corrupt and unjust. Since God can be neither, we must understand Jesus to be saying that if even an unjust judge responds to the persistence of the widow, how much more so will God listen to our prayers. God truly wants to hear our needs and respond generously. It is the final lament of Jesus that gets to the point of the parable. The lesson is about the persistence of the one who prays. God wants us to be like the persistent widow, staying in relationship with God, confident that God hears and answers prayers. Then Jesus laments, “Will such faith be found when the Son of Man comes?” In this lament, Jesus notes how easy it can be for us to lose heart. This weekend, we join with the Church around the globe to celebrate World Mission Sunday. This weekend we are called to recommit ourselves to the mission of God in recognition that our faith in Jesus Christ and our relationship with the People of God are missionary by nature. Our faith is a treasure to be given, shared and proclaimed. This also presents an opportunity to support the global network of missionary commitment, known as the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, through prayer, the soul of mission and charitable offerings from Christians throughout the world. The second collection this weekend for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith supports the priests, religious and lay leaders who embody Christ’s mercy and presence among the most vulnerable communities in our world. The appeal provides critical support to communities of faith in the most economically disadvantaged regions of our world. Working with limited means, these local churches bear witness to the Gospel amid poverty and turmoil, addressing all forms of material and spiritual need. This weekend we also welcome to our parish all the First Responders who are joining us for our 10AM Mass. We owe a debt of gratitude to these men and women who serve and protect us and our community. Often we fail to realize the important role they play in serving us in so many ways every day. First Responders give of themselves in so many ways. So, as we gather today with them in prayer, we ask God to protect them and keep them safe from harm, and we offer them our thanks and appreciation for a job well done! If you have been to any store lately, you know that Halloween is near! The store shelves are stocked with the latest costumes, a huge variety of decorations and countless varieties of candies. Next weekend we will be hosting two Halloween events. On Saturday, we will be welcoming young children from two Catholic Charity Early Childhood Centers in the Back-of–the–Yards Community in the City of Chicago. This community is an economically disadvantaged community and there is a high level of crime and violence, which is very much a part of these children’s daily life experience. This event is being coordinated by Guy Spalla, as his Boy Scout Eagle Project. On Sunday we will be hosting our annual “Trunk or Treat” event. At this event, costumed children ages 11 and under, will have the opportunity to “Trick or Treat” from decorated car or van to decorated car or van to collect candy treats. Prior to the “Trunk or Treat,” the children will gather in the Parish Life Center for games and fun, while the families will be given the opportunity to decorate their cars and/or vans. Once everything is ready the children will have the opportunity to go out and “Trick or Treat.” If you would like to participate by decorating your car or van for the “Trunk or Treat,” please call Laura at the parish office or email her at [email protected] Last Saturday, we held our annual “Cancer Awareness Mass.” We joined with those dealing with the effects of cancer in their lives, cancer survivors, family members and friends of those dealing with cancer, and = families who have lost loved ones to cancer. I want to thank all those who were involved in preparing for the Mass. A special thanks also goes out to Kathy Marek and her crew of volunteers for coordinating all the behind the scenes preparations for the Mass and to the members of the Prayer Shawl Ministry, who were present at the Mass, passing out their prayer shawls to those who asked for one. We are in need of additional Eucharistic Ministers for our weekend and Holy Day Masses here at St. Stephen’s. Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion assist in ministering Christ's body and blood to the People of God. Parishioners are needed to administer the Eucharist at all Masses, including Holy Day Masses. The schedule is flexible. Training leading to certification is required and provided. The next training session in our area will take place on Wednesdays November 13th and 20th, from 7PM until 9PM, at Incarnation Church, 5757 West 127th Street, in Crestwood. If you can assist us in this ministry, please contact Fr. Tom for more information. Have A Great Week! From Our Associate Pastor KONDYCJA NASZEJ WIARY Kiedy patrzy się na kondycję fizyczną Polaków, to napawa ona smutkiem. Niedawno ogłoszono w mediach, iż co czwarty Polak zachoruje na nowotwór, sześć milionów naszych rodaków zagrożonych jest chorobami krążenia, a co trzeci mężczyzna ma podwyższony cholesterol. Może nawet sami zastanawiamy się, czy nie jesteśmy swoistą „bombą chorobową”, która wybuchnie za kilka dni czy miesięcy. A stan psychiczny i duchowy jest lepszy? Przecież 97% Polaków uznaje siebie za wierzących. Niestety, statystyki są nieubłagane: 75% naszych rodaków powinno w najbliższym czasie zgłosić się do poradni psychologicznej, a 70% dzieci i młodzieży jest uzależnionych. Są to uzależnienia od papierosów, alkoholu, narkotyków, Internetu lub gier multimedialnych. Kiedy w wielu zakątkach naszej ojczyzny rozmawia się ze zwykłymi ludźmi, okazuje się, że w większości uznają Boże przykazania za swój kodeks moralny.