This Sunday we inaugurate a festive celebration of the 35th anniversary of our parish. During all Masses this day, we will pray for those who for over 35 years have been dedicating their time, talents and material resources for this Catholic community. They bought 10 acres of farmland and built a rectory with offices and finally a church. The church building and other facilities have served people then and now to create a community of believers – the local church. This local church is a part of something extraordinary – the Catholic Church which extends all over the world and whose head is Jesus Christ himself. This work has been continued by many who joined Corpus Christi parish in later years and recently. Today, we benefit from their hard work and are called to add to the beauty of the parish, both spiritual and material.

Our parish was established in June 1989, and Father Charles Gemskie was assigned to be the founding pastor of the new parish. The name of our parish, Corpus Christi, which means “The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ” is very special. It guides us directly to the real presence of Christ with us – the Eucharist – that is “the source and summit of the Christian life”. When our church was founded, it was the only one in our diocese with such a name.  After the church of Corpus Christi in Chicago was closed several years ago, our church is now the only church with such a beautiful name in the entire Chicago area.

In the beginning, our church’s offices were located in the basement of Brust Funeral Home on Gary Avenue, and Masses were celebrated in the gym at Benjamin Middle School and   in the auditorium of Glenbard North High School. In 1991, the offices were moved to the newly constructed rectory, and work began to build the church. The church was constructed very quickly and just over three years later, on November 22, 1994, the new church was dedicated by Bishop Joseph Imesch. In 2004, Fr. Gemskie retired, and Fr. Bob Hoffenkamp was installed as the second pastor of Corpus Christi. In 2007, Fr. Bob initiated a capital campaign to expand the worship space and offices, enlarge the church’s narthex, and replace the elevator.  In this way, our church became much larger and beautiful. In addition, elements were purchased from other churches, all of them nearly a century old: a set of stained-glass windows, stations of the cross, and a traditional altar. The project was completed in 2013, but additional upgrades continued to be made in 2015, including installing pews, kneelers and a centrally located tabernacle.

I became pastor of Corpus Christi in November 2014 after Fr. Bob’s retirement. I continued the pastoral work of my predecessors, and at the same time developed a few new initiatives in answer to new challenges and opportunities. Even though our parish is not a big one, it has a big heart. The proof of that is the fruitful activity of many parish groups and individuals adding to the spiritual and material good of the parish: CCW, Knights of Columbus, St. Vincent de Paul, Cursillo, Legion of Mary, Children of Mary, CRHP, Youth Ministry Mission Trips, Youth Leadership Conferences, Lend a Hand, and many more.

I believe that, with the help of our parishioners, the true and authentic teaching of the Church has been alive in our parish for the last 35 years. With hope and trust, we look to the future. We want to be faithful to Christ and to His Church as she feeds us and our families with the word of God and his Body and Blood. In the Church and through the Church, we experience a continuous flow of God’s graces in our lives, our families, faith community and society. We are profoundly grateful to God for all of this.

Fr. Mark Jurzyk