Media Alert – Cardinal Blase Cupich to Celebrate Special Mass for the 40th Anniversary of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Deaf Ministry at St. Francis Borgia Parish and the Parish’s 75th Anniversary at a 4 p.m. Mass on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023
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Mass will be in English with readings and universal prayers in American Sign Language (ASL), Italian and Polish, the four languages of the parish.
Founded in the summer of 1949, St. Francis Borgia Parish is kicking-off its 75th anniversary at this Mass and will conclude the celebration in October 2024, during the feast month of its namesake. At the time, veterans of World War II were moving from the congested central areas of Chicago to the city’s edges to raise their families and build their futures. The archdiocese responded to the growing area by establishing the parishes of St. Monica (now St. Monica and St. Rosalie Parish), St. Eugene (now Queen of Peace Parish) and St. Francis Borgia.
The Catholic Office of the Deaf, founded in 1884 at Holy Family Parish as a ministry of the Archdiocese of Chicago, relocated to St. Francis Borgia Parish in December 1983. The ministry provides pastoral care of deaf and hard-of-hearing persons in metropolitan Chicago as well as their families, and includes spiritual guidance, religious education, youth activities, formation and training in ministerial leadership, and advocacy for social justice issues of deaf and hard-of-hearing people. More than 100 people gather for weekly Sunday Masses in ASL. Most of the people leading the Mass — deacon, readers, ushers, choir and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion — are deaf. Additional information about the ministry can be found at: https://www.archchicago.org/offices-and-ministries/persons-with-disabilities
Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of December is people with disabilities and he invites everyone to pray that people with disabilities may be at the center of attention in our societies (source: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-11/pope-francis-december-prayer-intention-people-disabilities.html).
WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023, at 4 p.m.
WHERE: St. Francis Borgia Parish, 8033 W. Addison St., Chicago
CONTACT:
Susan Thomas
Archdiocese of Chicago
312.805.9102 (cell)
[email protected]