Noticias

The Archdiocese of Chicago today announced an update on the West Little Village Renew My Church grouping.

Over the past several months, the grouping’s Feedback and Discernment Team, made up of representatives from each of the 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 decision has been made for the West Little Village Grouping:

The West Little Village Renew My Church grouping includes the following parishes and schools:

• Epiphany Parish
• St. Agnes of Bohemia Parish
• Good Shepherd Parish

The new structure will be:

Effective July 1, 2021, Epiphany and Good Shepherd will unite as a new parish, continuing to use both churches for Mass. 

• As one parish, the two communities will have one pastor and one pastoral team. 
• Epiphany will be designated the parish church where the united parish’s sacramental records will be kept.   
• Fr. Orlando Flores Orea, currently pastor of St. Paul in Chicago Heights, will be pastor of the newly united parish.
• The united parish will be known as Good Shepherd and Epiphany Parish while the parish engages in a process to propose a permanent name for the new parish. The local community will discern possibilities for the new permanent name, within guidelines provided by the archdiocese, and submit three to five options to Cardinal Cupich.  
• The united parish’s Mass schedule at each location after July 1 will be a priority topic for the pastor and parish leadership in the coming months. 
• There are no changes to Epiphany School.   
• St. Agnes of Bohemia will remain a separate parish. Fr. Don Nevins will continue to serve as pastor of St. Agnes of Bohemia Parish.
• There are no changes to St. Agnes of Bohemia School. 

Next Steps

Over the next few months, the archdiocese and the pastors of the current parishes will support the communities in their transition to the new parish and school structures. The archdiocese’s 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 on the next phase of renewal to become stronger, more sustainable and capable of reaching more people in their work of making disciples of Jesus Christ, building communities and inspiring witness.

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.