Sr. Alicia was recently interviewed about her experience seeing and loving Jesus in the Eucharist and seeing and loving Him in the poor by Katie Prejean McGrady on the Ave Explores podcast from Ave Maria Press. Check out the clip below! You can find the full episode here or wherever you like to listen to…
Blog
From Sorrow to Joy: Franciscan Holy Week Traditions
The ups and downs of Holy week can be a roller coaster experience. From “Hosanna, hosanna” to “Crucify Him, crucify Him,” the liturgies are so rich with joy and hope, grief and anxieties. But in the end, joy and hope are victorious! While each year Holy Week looks slightly different for our community, there is…
Reaching Out to Young Adults
In recent months, our community has started working in partnership with Bishop Bob’s vicariate team to start a brand new young adult group for our vicariate (region of the Archdiocese that Bishop Bob is entrusted with overseeing). Those of you familiar with Chicago may know that there are several very well known and long-standing young…
The Retreat Center is Open!
Those of you who followed along with our most recent construction project of transforming the old, abandoned school building on the OLA campus into a new Outreach and Retreat Center, will know that the building is FINALLY fully finished and ready to be used in this new way for the mission of the Church! We…
A Look Inside Our Grocery Delivery Partnership
When the pandemic hit in 2020, so many of our neighbors, especially our elderly neighbors, found themselves especially vulnerable and at-risk. In an effort to help keep them home, safe, and well-fed, we started partnering with Chicago CPD and a few other organizations to start delivering groceries from our weekly food pantry right to their…
Service Immersion Trips – the Better Spring Break Alternative
Reflection by Sr. Jess Lambert This spring, it was a great delight to host four different college groups for service immersion trips – Ferris State University, Notre Dame University, Iowa State University, and Northern State University in South Dakota. We refer to them as “the college groups” or simply “the kids” – NOT because we’re…
Retreat Work – Spotlight on Our First Big Confirmation Retreat
“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.’ “ John 6:35 One of the aspects of our charism is evangelization: to spread the Good News of salvation – that Jesus came, suffered, died, and rose for us in…
FE Reflection: Spiritual Exercises in the Classroom
Reflection by Sr. Alicia Torres “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matt 19:14) A little known fact about the life of St. Ignatius of Loyola is that he spent the final years of his life among children–teaching them about the…