Summer 2022 was a season filled with lots of activity for our Franciscan community! Check out some of our special summer projects and highlights below:
June 2022 saw the long-awaited return of our beloved Seniors Program. Since 2009, Bishop Bob and the Franciscans have been gathering with our neighborhood senior citizens once a week for exercise class, Bible Study, and a delicious lunch. We made the difficult decision to pause the Seniors Program throughout the worst of the COVID-19 Pandemic as so many of our seniors had serious health issues and were worried about all coming together again. Thankfully, we were finally able to restart this past summer, AND since we have finally completed the former school renovation project, we were able to welcome our seniors back into a beautiful new dining room space built just for them! It has been such a joy to gather with our seniors again. The group has been slowly growing each week as more and more seniors become comfortable with returning, and we look forward to welcoming back more in the year to come.
So much of our work this past summer was made possible thanks to the incredible work ethics and spirits of our live-in summer volunteers. This year, we welcomed two students in the Summer Service Learning Program at Notre Dame, one seminarian for the Archdiocese of Chicago, one young woman who had met us a few years back on a spring break mission trip, and one young man who came to join us all the way from France! There were a few others who came for shorter periods of time to assist us with our work and join in our life of prayer as well. All of the summer volunteers were given the opportunity to pray a private Holy Hour in the middle of the work day. In the feedback we received from them at the end of the summer, many shared that the daily Holy Hour was their favorite part of the summer and that they hope to continue the practice as they go back home.