St. Gertrude Catholic Parish

Dear St. Gertrude,

Reverend Jesse Jackson joins us today at the 10am mass, thanks to the persistent effort of Mark Loveless. Mark and his son, Nathan, participate at the gym mass as well as at Operation PUSH. It was Mark’s connection there that led to the inspiration to invite Rev. Jackson to join us. Welcome, Jesse! No chance I suppose that you’d be running in November to get us out of the mess we seem to find ourselves in? Next Saturday the BIG BODACIOUS BLOCK PARTY explodes across our comfy corner at Glenwood and Thome. Parking may get a little tight for the 5pm mass so we’re working to get approval to use Hayt School’s lot. A great team of enthusiasts are working to make this party jump, we hope you can join us, too “ 5 to 9pm (see notice below).

Follow-up meetings to our parish synod will be taking place this summer. If you participated in one of the breakout sessions then you should receive an invitation to attend a meeting to continue your conversation. The large fall gathering to set our 5-year agenda is scheduled for Saturday, October 16th.

Many thanks to Rich Goode (aka the finance guy) for his succinct presentation at mass last weekend about our Balancing the Budget proposition. We are so grateful for the gifts that have already begun to arrive, and we hope that you will find the method of monthly debits to your credit card or bank account to be useful.

On Sunday, July 11th, our two senate candidates, Jack Ryan and Barak Obama, will participate in a forum at Navy Pier sponsored by United Power for Action and Justice. The purpose of this forum is to evoke from both candidates a willingness to work on specific social issues such as affordable housing, access to healthcare and immigrant rights. Today after mass we invite you to sign on to UPAJ’s Action Agenda, to be used at the forum to demonstrate the depth of our people power.

For the next 2 weeks teenagers from across the Midwest will sleep in our gym as part of an urban plunge experience called Young Neighbors In Action. This is our 4th or 5th year hosting these young neighbors and their program really rocks. Welcome.

Amidst the noise and haste of life’s pace, please pray for Tom Heidkamp and his family. Tom, our Olympic champion usher, passed away last Wednesday morning with dignity in the company of his loved ones at home. May the angels lead you into paradise, Tom, where the collection basket is always full and everyone on the block gets to join the party. We’ll miss you.

Peace,

PB

Filed under: Dear Saint Gertrude