News Releases

The Archdiocese of Chicago today announced an update on the Far Northeast Renew My Church grouping. Additionally, a final decision has been made on St. Bruno and St. Richard schools. (The unification of St. Bruno Parish and St. Richard Parishes was announced in May 2021, with a notice that additional discernment was to be undertaken for the schools).   

Over the past several months, the Far Northeast grouping’s Feedback and Discernment Teams, made up of representatives from each of its parishes and schools, met to review and discern the future parish, school and church structures for their respective areas. Based on their meetings and discussions with the larger parish communities, they submitted feedback reports to the Archdiocesan Standards and Recommendations Commission, which includes representatives from across the archdiocese. The commission reviewed the feedback reports and other materials and information, including demographic data, financial summaries, and parish and grouping trends.  

During the past several weeks, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, the archdiocese’s auxiliary bishops and Presbyteral Council discussed the commission’s recommendations. Based on those discussions and prayerful consideration, the following decisions have been made:

Far Northeast Grouping

The Far Northeast Renew My Church grouping includes the following parishes and schools in Wadsworth:

• Our Lady of Humility Parish and School
• St. Patrick Parish and School

The new structure will be:

St. Patrick and Our Lady of Humility will unite as one parish with two worship sites, one pastor and one pastoral team, effective July 1, 2022.  

• Both churches will continue to host a regular schedule of Masses. The specific schedule will be determined by the pastor in consultation with parish leadership.  
• St. Patrick will formally be designated the parish church where the united parish’s sacramental records will be kept.  
• The local community will discern possibilities for the new permanent parish name, per archdiocesan guidelines.   
• Information on the new pastor will be shared as soon as it is available.
• St. Patrick School will continue to operate and serve as the parish-governed school. 
• Our Lady of Humility School will continue and will operate as a school governed by the archdiocese. 

• Academic, enrollment, and other administrative reporting will be to the archdiocese rather than the united parish. 
• The school will be expected to operate without financial support from the united parish. 

 

St. Bruno-St. Richard Grouping

The new structure will be:

St. Bruno School and St. Richard School will unite for the 2022/23 school year and will be called St. Bruno – St. Richard School. 

• The unified school will use both school buildings, with preschool through third grade students attending classes at the St. Bruno campus and students in grades 4 – 8 at the St. Richard campus. 
• The dual-campus model provides the opportunity for the school to specialize curricula at each building to reflect the respective age bands, improving academic quality for all students. With two buildings, the school has room to expand and grow enrollment, further strengthening the unified school.  
• The principal of the unified school will be announced in December 2021. Details on  teacher placement, bell times, uniforms and tuition will be released in January. 

 

Next Steps

Over the next few months, the archdiocese and the current parish pastors will support these communities in their transition to the new parish and school structures. The Renew My Church Accompaniment Team will work with local leaders to ensure the uniting faith communities and staff are supported through this time of change. All parishes will embark upon the next phase of renewal, focusing on strong evangelization.

About Renew My Church

Renew My Church is the Archdiocese of Chicago’s response to Christ’s call and our invitation for renewal. The Renew My Church process will transform the archdiocese over the next several years by working with groupings of parishes to determine how they will achieve the goal of having vibrant, life-giving faith communities accessible to all Catholics. To learn more about Renew My Church, visit renewmychurch.org.