Save the date! On April 30, we will hold a Holy Hour for the Canonization of Dorothy Day at St. Thomas of Canterbury Church, where our parish soup kitchen and food pantry serve our neighbors in need.

Dorothy Day was a 20th century Catholic convert and one of the founders of the Catholic Worker Movement. Day's radical vision of societal renewal - based on the Gospels and the Church's social doctrine - has influenced generations of Catholics, including those who started our parish soup kitchen at St. Thomas of Canterbury.

The Holy Hour begins at 5:30 PM. It will be presided by Bishop Mark Bartosic, with sung Vespers by the Canons of St. John Cantius. After the Holy Hour, we will have a discussion on the Catholic Worker, the movement founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin designed to facilitate direct practice of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy by sharing the lives of the poor.

In advance of the Holy Hour, the cultural center at St. Gregory the Great is hosting a series of discussions on excerpts of Dorothy Day’s autobiography, The Long Loneliness. Join us to read and discuss her work, and what we can learn from her in living out the faith!

Saturday, April 9 and Saturday, April 23 at St. Gregory the Great
8:30 AM – Morning prayer in the Our Lady of Consolation chapel at St. Gregory
9-10:30 AM – Breakfast and discussion in the parish center
Registrations encouraged, but not required. RSVP to Mark Franzen or call the Parish Center at 773-561-3546.

Every Tuesday and Friday at St. Thomas of Canterbury, the Soup Kitchen provides a hot meal to those in need.  

During Lent, we are resuming all-day Eucharistic adoration every Tuesday at St. Thomas of Canterbury, to pray for the work of the soup kitchen and the parish. This prayer takes place while soup kitchen volunteers are making preparations, and while those in need are being served.

As Catholics, we cannot separate service to the poor or the corporal works of mercy from the Eucharist. The Second Vatican Council says clearly: “The other sacraments, as well as with every ministry of the Church and every work of the apostolate, are tied together with the Eucharist and are directed toward it.” 

In the Eucharist, Jesus is fully present, body and blood, soul and divinity, under the appearances of bread and wine. The Eucharist makes present again Jesus’s sacrificial death and resurrection for us, and this gift of God himself transforms us and every aspect of our lives. That includes our relations with each other – our relations with our neighbors.  

Eucharistic adoration during the soup kitchen has been a part of St. Thomas for decades. It began with prayers for volunteers, who were serving at a time when crime and violence in the neighborhood were high. Adoration continues to this day, because prayer is essential for serving Christ in the poor. In words attributed to St. Teresa of Calcutta, “Unless we believe and see Jesus in the appearance of bread on the altar, we will not be able to see him in the distressing disguise of the poor.”

Every Lent, we are called to pray, fast and give alms, with the goal of drawing ever closer to God. This Lent, we hope you will join us before Jesus in the Eucharist, fully God and fully man, present in the Sacrament – to pray for those serving Him present in the poor and suffering.

If you would like to commit to an hour of adoration, contact Maggie Flynn at the parish office via email or phone (773-561-5343).

March 2 is Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of the season of Lent. It is an obligatory day of fasting and abstinence for Catholics from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. Abstinence from meat is obligatory for Catholics ages 14 and older.

During Lent, all Fridays are obligatory days of abstinence from meat.

In Lent, we will hold bilingual stations of the Cross every Friday at St. Ita church.