Eastern Churches in Chicago

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Artemiy

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Hello,

one of my friends has recently moved to Chicago and is looking for a Ruthenian or Byzantine rite church to attend.

I have looked at a few Ukrainian churches online, but many of them don’t have english liturgy, and those that do, are far from downtown.

If you live in Chicago and know of a Ruthenian/Byzantine rite church with liturgy in English (hopefully downtown), please help 🙂

Thanks in advance
 
Hi Artemiy!

The closest Ruthenian parish to the City of Chicago is Annunciation of the Mother of God Byzantine Catholic Parish, located in Homer Glen, IL (about 40-45 minutes southwest of the City)…

byzantinecatholic.com/

The pastor is Fr. Thomas Loya, a nationally-known speaker on the Theology of the Body and regular contributor to Catholic Radio in the midwest… WONDERFUL speaker! His sermons alone are worth the drive!

The parish predominently uses English for all liturgical services (although this ol’ Rusyn is constantly twisting Fr. Tom’s arm to toss in some Slavonic now and then! 😃 … and he actually obliges now and then!). The parish is very true to tradition, with very few pews (fewer than you’ll see in the (old) website photos) and many “standers.” If your friend does prefer to occupy a pew, I’d recommend getting there early - they do fill up. By the way, virtually all of the iconography you’ll see in the website photos was hand-written by Fr. Tom as well - often times on his back high atop a scaffold, not unlike Michelangelo.

The parish is a merger of two former parishes and a mission church. As such, the parish family is now a healthy mix of “thoroughbred” Byzantines and converts - lots of kids, too!

…probably a bit farther from the City than your friend had hoped, but WELL worth the extra effort!
 
wondering if just the date didn’t update. It’s worked perfectly in my area searches.

GC
 
Both St. Mary Byzantine Ruthenian on Seeley in Chicago and St. Mary Byzantine Ruthenian on Hacker in Joliet, as referenced on the list posted by GladCatholic, no longer exist (old list, as wynd pointed out)… they are the two parishes I referred to in my previous post that merged to form the new parish in Homer Glen. Same goes for the Oak Lawn mission referenced on the list… it’s now part of the Homer Glen parish as well.
 
In addition to the Ruthenian and Ukrainian churches, the Melkite church also uses the Byzantine rite. Perhaps there are Melkite parishes in Chicagoland?
 
St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral offers the liturgy in English at 11:30 on Sundays: stnicholascathedralukrcath.org/worship.htm

Similarly, St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Catholic Church offers an English DL at 11:15 am (though it is partially recited :(): stjosephucc.org/

St. John the Baptist Melkite Greek Catholic Church celebrates liturgy with about 70 % English and 30 % Arabic. Beautiful liturgy and welcoming congregation, but it’s a bit of a haul from downtown Chicago (2.5 hours via CTA): melkite.org/P-Nort.html

Hope this helps.

God bless,

Chris
 
I should add that St. Nicholas Cathedral is currently closed for renovations, so liturgy is being celebrated in the attached school.
 
wynd said:
“Last Modified on 01 January 2000”

Things may have changed since then.
Click to expand...
Much has changed - the former Unofficial Directory is no longer a reliable source of info and a new directory is in process, being hosted by ByzCath. But, as my dear friend and brother Al attests, nothing has changed in regard to the situation in Chicago.

-]I’ll check the Ukrainian parishes - it seems to me that there is one which serves in English/-]. There’s a Romanian mission, but I don’t believe it serves in English - Michael/Hesychios might know.

Whoops, always read the whole thread before replying 😊 - I see Chris already provided that info 👍

Many years,

Neil
 
Sadly as far as I know Michael Hesychios ] is unable to post 😦

The last info I had from him was that his account was under review 😦 :eek: :crying:
 
Irish_Melkite said:
There’s a Romanian mission, but I don’t believe it serves in English - Michael/Hesychios might know.
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Neil,

While I admired the vibrancy of the little parish (standing room only!), the liturgy at SS Peter and Paul Romanian Catholic mission is served entirely in Romanian. The one English sentence to which I was privy: “You know this is Romanian church, right?” 😃

God bless,

Chris
 
Father Tom in Homer Glen seems to be a great pastor, and his church is flourishing. I know some folks who have gone there and currently go there and they’ve got an active youth group as well. Compared to many parishes across all Christian practicies where there are several generation gaps, if you have children, find a place where there is a place for them in the parish! Homer Glen seems to have that. It is an active parish, rather than a parish (for the lack of better terms) is on life-support. And Fr. Tom’s mission is to re-vive the Ruthenian parishes that are on life-support into active parishes like his. Just read his posts over at byzcath.com. Do a search of his posts and i’m sure you can see his archieved posts.
 
Thepeug said:
While I admired the vibrancy of the little parish (standing room only!), the liturgy at SS Peter and Paul Romanian Catholic mission is served entirely in Romanian. The one English sentence to which I was privy: “You know this is Romanian church, right?” 😃
Click to expand...
:rotfl:
Of note, Saints Peter and Paul was formerly Christ the Redeemer Bielorusian Greek-Catholic Church, the sole Byzantine Bielorusian parish ever erected in the US. Memory eternal.
 
mgy100 said:
Father Tom in Homer Glen seems to be a great pastor, and his church is flourishing. I know some folks who have gone there and currently go there and they’ve got an active youth group as well. Compared to many parishes across all Christian practicies where there are several generation gaps, if you have children, find a place where there is a place for them in the parish! Homer Glen seems to have that. It is an active parish, rather than a parish (for the lack of better terms) is on life-support. And Fr. Tom’s mission is to re-vive the Ruthenian parishes that are on life-support into active parishes like his. Just read his posts over at byzcath.com. Do a search of his posts and i’m sure you can see his archieved posts.
Click to expand...
I have to agree. Father Tom is an inspiration. I’ve never spoken with anyone who knows him and does not speak of him in terms of admiration 👍

Many years,

Neil
 
Thepeug said:
…Similarly, St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Catholic Church offers an English DL at 11:15 am (though it is partially recited :(): stjosephucc.org/…
Click to expand...
A note about St. Joseph: It is not downtown, which the OP mentioned he or she was looking for. It is on the far northwest side at 5000 N Cumberland, but it is very close to the Blue Line stop at Cumberland, so it is easily accessible from downtown.
 
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