St. Aloysius Parish to Celebrate its 135th Anniversary with a Solemn Mass and Benefit Dinner Dance
Chicago, IL (June 18, 2019) - St. Aloysius Catholic Church, located at 2300 W. Le Moyne St. in Chicago, will mark its 135th anniversary with a special Mass and Benefit Dinner Dance.
Auxiliary Bishop Robert Casey will preside at the Mass on Friday, June 21 at 7 p.m. The Benefit Dinner Dance will be held on Saturday, June 22 at 6 p.m.
“Our parish is in good hands particularly because our parishioners are a very prayerful people and are fully involved in every aspect of ministry,” said Fr. Claudio Diaz, Jr., Pastor. “We look forward to this gathering and future anniversaries and we welcome all with open arms in Christ’s name.” Fr. Claudio added.
The Benefit Dinner Dance will be held at the Monsignor Thiele Center, located at 1510 N. Claremont Ave. The theme of this year’s celebration is, “Christ now, Christ forever.”
Tickets for the Benefit Dinner Dance are $135 each and will be available at the door.
About St. Aloysius Parish
St. Aloysius Parish community celebrated its first Mass on June 22, 1884 in a small, frame building that was built in a week to serve the German Catholic population in the area. To accommodate the burgeoning German population, a three-story church building was dedicated on February 5, 1893. After that church proved again to be too small, on June 22, 1963, ground at the northeast corner of LeMoyne St. and Claremont Ave. was broken for the church currently in use.
The ethnic makeup of the parish has changed throughout the decades, from German to a predominantly Polish population in the first part of the 20th century to a largely Puerto Rican population beginning in the late 1960s.
During the 1970s, the Church became closely identified with the Charismatic Renewal Movement. At that time, it was reported in the Chicago Catholic that the parish hosted the largest Hispanic prayer group in the Archdiocese of Chicago, with more than 800 people gathered for prayer on Sunday evenings.
The 36,000 square foot Monsignor Thiele center, named after the founding Pastor, was dedicated and blessed by Auxiliary Bishop Alberto Rojas and Cardinal Francis George on August 12, 2012. The church uses the center for catechetical programs, parish meetings, a young-adult sports program, and serves over 120 people monthly through its food pantry.
St. Aloysius currently celebrates four weekend Masses, two in Spanish, with more than 600 attendees every Sunday. Each year, the parish provides religious education to more than 50 children and celebrates approximately 10 weddings, 30 first communions, 60 baptisms and 10 Quinceañeras.
The parish serves the Humboldt Park, West Town, Wicker Park and Buck Town communities.
For the Spanish version of the release, please click here.
