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The Archdiocese of Chicago today announced an update on the Renew My Church grouping comprised of St. Gregory the Great Parish and Ss. Ita and Thomas of Canterbury Parish.

Over the past several months, the grouping’s Feedback and Discernment Team, made up of members from each of the parishes, met to review and discern the future parish organization and building structure for their communities. Based on their meetings and discussions with the larger parish communities held prior to Covid-19 meeting restrictions, they submitted feedback reports to the Archdiocesan Standards and Recommendations Commission, which includes representatives from across the Archdiocese of Chicago. The commission gathered by video meeting to review the feedback reports and other materials and information, including demographic data, financial summaries, and parish and grouping trends.

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, the archdiocese’s auxiliary bishops and Presbyteral Council gathered by video meeting to discuss the commission’s recommendations. Based on those discussions and prayerful consideration, the following decision has been made.

Decision

St. Gregory the Great Parish will become part of Ss. Ita and Thomas of Canterbury Parish. The leaders and parishioners of the new parish will discern possibilities for the parish’s permanent name within guidelines provided by the archdiocese and will submit their candidates to Cardinal Cupich for his decision on the permanent name. The effective date for the union of these parishes will be determined based on several factors related to the re-opening of our parishes.

St. Ita will continue to hold regularly scheduled mass and be designated the parish church, where the business office and records are kept. St. Thomas of Canterbury Church will continue to hold regularly scheduled mass and operate as a church of the parish, with a particular focus on its outreach ministries. St. Gregory the Great Church will continue to hold regularly scheduled mass and operate as a church of the new parish, with a particular focus on cultural outreach, building on its Evangelization Through the Arts programming.

Parish leadership will review this structure annually to evaluate success and sustainability, with a formal review with the bishop after three years to determine if continuing three campuses best supports the work of making disciples, building communities, and inspiring witness in a financially sustainable manner.

St. Thomas of Canterbury will continue to serve as the parish school. St. Gregory the Great has been a sponsor parish of Northside Catholic Academy. Ss. Ita and Thomas of Canterbury Parish, with St. Gregory the Great now added, will support Northside Catholic Academy.

Next Steps
The parish will embark on the next phase of the renewal process to become a stronger, more sustainable presence for the future, capable of reaching more people in their work of making disciples of Jesus Christ, building communities with one another and inspiring witness in the world around us.

About Renew My Church
Jesus Christ calls us to constantly renew His Church. Renew My Church is the Archdiocese of Chicago’s response to His call and our invitation for renewal. Called by Jesus Christ, we are making disciples, building communities and inspiring witness. 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.