Four Joliet churches that are closing plan final celebrations

Four Joliet churches that will close at the end of June are hosting farewell celebrations as they get ready to close their doors.

One of those churches is St. Paul the Apostle Church in Joliet, which will become one of two worship sites for Queen of Apostles Parish when the church is “canonically established on July 1,” according to the Diocese of Joliet.

St. Patrick Church in Joliet will be the second worship site. Both worship sites will retain their “consecrated names,” according to the Diocese of Joliet. St. Jude Church and Sacred Heart Church will close, and St. Joseph Church in Rockdale will become a mission of Queen of Apostles and also retain its consecrated name, according to the diocese.

St. Paul the Apostle

Tanya Rand, celebration chair at St. Paul’s, said Sunday will be a day for breaking bread – first the Eucharist during 10 a.m. Mass, and then at the potluck that follows. Attendees then can browse through 74 years of artifacts and memorabilia, which are showcased in several classrooms at the school, Rand said.

The celebration is open to anyone “who ever had a connection with St. Paul’s,” Rand said.

“We’ll be taking pictures and having fun,” Rand said. “Our pastor wrote a special prayer for us. We’re going to give everybody a copy.”

Rand said the current pastor – the Rev. Mark Cote – has done “an incredible job” during his time at St. Paul.

“He came in the middle of [the] pandemic to a parish that was struggling before the pandemic,” Rand said, “and he brought community back, and he brought evangelization.”

Sunday’s exhibit includes photographs, brochures and periodicals from years past, Rand said. Displays will include banners, signs, relics from saints, vestments and memorabilia from former priests, and items from the first convent.

There will be artifacts from St. Paul’s first pastor, the late Rev. Gordon Michels, who served in the Navy before “clearing an onion field to create a parish,” Rand said. One artifact was “made out of a bullet from World War II,” she said.

Founding family Ron and Ginna Jones provided Ginna’s baptismal gown, along with a first communion dress, photographs and a children’s prayer book, Rand said. Also on display is a wooden cradle with baby Jesus that was used in every Christmas production going back to at least the 1970s, Rand said.

Kim Krumviede, St. Paul’s business manager, said Sunday is a time to say goodbye before saying hello.

“There’s a lot of people [who came] before us,” Krumviede said. “We’re just trying to honor them.”

Church of St. Anthony

St. Anthony will host its final celebration June 30 at the church, 100 N. Scott St. in Joliet. The celebration will include a Mass at 9 a.m., and breakfast will follow in the hall.

Church secretary Linda Dyke shared her memories of the church, recalling how when she was a little girl she often stopped at St. Anthony’s with her aunts.

“They’d bring me to the Rialto to the movies,” Dyke said. “But we’d have to come here first to light candles. The minute I walked in here [as an adult], that came back to me.”

St. Anthony, along with St. Joseph in Joliet, St. Bernard and St. Mary Magdalene, will become one new parish with two worship sites: St. Mary Magdalene (main parish church) and St. Joseph in Joliet (secondary worship site), according to the Diocese of Joliet.

St. Anthony’s pastor, the Very Rev. John Balluff, who will serve as pastor at St. Isidore Parish in Bloomingdale as of July 1, found new homes for the St. Anthony’s artifacts, Dyke said.

“Father John is very knowledgeable about what church could use what and how it will fit into the décor,” she said. “He has an eye for that.”

The Stations of the Cross will go to Church of the Holy Ghost in Wood Dale, the confessional to St. Mary Catholic Church in West Chicago, the holy water font to Saint Ambrose and “the wooden carved statues that hang though the church” to Bishop McNamara Catholic School in Kankakee, Dyke said.

The baptismal font went to the chapel at Lewis University in Romeoville, and the Mother Cabrini statue went to a Kankakee immigration center so “those coming in can pray by her,” Dyke said.

The large Nativity display created by Peter Nguyen from Vietnam, a seminarian at St. Anthony’s, will go with Nguyen wherever he is reassigned, Dyke said.

The people who attend Sunday Mass have accepted the restructuring, Dyke said.

“But there’s still sadness,” she said. “Because some people have been here since they were baptized and been faithful to the church all these years. But we’ve tried to make the transition easy for them.”

Dyke said smaller events – such as “Doughnut Sunday” – were part of the transition. Sunday’s event is the culmination.

“We’re not putting a specific time when it ends,” Dyke said. “We’ll let them decide when they want to go.”

Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Sacred Heart Catholic Church will host an open-to-the-community celebration from noon to 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the church, 337 S. Ottawa St., Joliet.

The event will feature free food and food vendors, games and activities for children and adults, free books for children, glucose and blood pressure checks, free haircuts, vouchers for food pantries, a petting zoo, visiting choirs, a band, a DJ and information on community resources, said Kendrea Coleman, celebration coordinator and a longtime member.

Coleman was 12 when she joined Sacred Heart in 1986.

“We just want to celebrate our community one last time,” she said, “and leave behind some resources and some legacy. We’ve served that community for 138 years. And we just want to celebrate that community and be encouraged as we move forward in our new journey.”

Artifacts and memorabilia won’t be part of Saturday’s event, as these will be displayed at an internal celebration June 29.

“We’re not sure what happens to them after that,” Coleman said.

Coleman said she hopes the Sacred Heart artifacts will go to Queen of Apostles, but Saturday’s event is more about ministry than reminiscing.

“This is bittersweet for us,” she said. “It’s just an opportunity for us to bond and connect with our community before we close our doors and leave them behind. We’re providing some form of legacy that we can leave for our community when we’re no longer available. So we encourage the community to come out and enjoy what Sacred Heart has to offer one last time.”

St. Bernard Catholic Church

St. Bernard Catholic Church will hold a final Mass and reception at 10 a.m. Saturday at 1301 Sterling Ave. in Joliet.

Millie Schuster of Joliet said alumni of the former grade school are encouraged to attend. Schuster graduated from St. Bernard in 1955 and is a member of St. Jude Catholic Church. She said although she’s sad both churches are closing, “God knows best” where the restructuring is concerned.

“We just have to accept it and trust in God,” Schuster said.

The Rev. Chris Groh, pastor of St. Bernard and St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Joliet, said “every effort” is being made to keep the community together at St. Mary Magdalene. The statues of St. Bernard and Our Lady of Fatima, as well as some banners, will be rehomed at St. Mary Magdalene.

Still, the parishioners have mixed emotions, Groh said.

“They have sadness. It’s definitely a loss,” Groh said. “It’s a spot that was very central to people’s lives. And now it’s going to be closed.”