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The Buttitta family and Heart to Heart joined efforts to produce an extraordinary dinner on Christmas day in the Ministry Center. Heart to Heart members attended this event. Dinner included two donated turkeys, a ham, and all the fixings. A festive gingerbread house festooned the dinner table thanks to Marie Galoney. We sang Christmas carols before dinner and played charades after. Cookies and candy Christmas boxes were given to everyone. The Buttitta family donated gifts for all attendees. 

What a blessing to have these relationships in our community! A special thanks to the Buttitta family for all their efforts, as well as our volunteer cookie baking by Jean Laczkowski and Janet Kournetas.

We are planning to expand this event next year by enlisting more elves to bake cookies, make dinner, and deliver meals to our other members who are homebound. 

~ Pat Sullivan, Director of Heart to Heart

*More images can be found in the Christmas at St. Gertrude's  photo gallery

Mary Clare Barker, our talented Music Minister, wrote a special note for her volunteers:

"I want to extend a heartfelt and sincere thank you to all of the cantors and musicians who contributed mightily to the beauty of our Christmas liturgies.

We are so blessed at St. Gertrude to have so many talented musicians who give so freely of their time and share their prodigious talents with our community. I am deeply appreciative of all that they do."

We are so grateful to the many children and families who participated in our Christmas Eve pageant at the 5:00 pm Mass! 

The angels, shepherds, sheep, kings, donkey, Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus were so charming - we appreciate their time coming to rehearsals and for making Christmas so special.

Thank you!

~ Eloy Escamilla, Pastoral Associate

Thanks so much to those parishioners and neighbors that purchased trees, wreaths, and garland this holiday season. 

A total of $1,253.40 was raised after costs and will go to support St. Gertrude's ministries.

Special thanks to Robert Clark and Quinn McCarthy, who generously volunteered as our delivery drivers.

~ Eduardo Soto, Business Manager

At the Thanksgiving Day Mass, the Parish Service Awards were presented to parishioners who have been outstanding in their generosity of service to the community. Here are the recipients of this year’s St. Gertrude Parish Service Awards: 

• Parish Life: Diane Barnhart, Sr. Joellen McCarthy, B.V.M., Barb Daly
• Education: Jennifer & Roman Reyes, Emily Monnelly & Matt Brett 
• Human Concerns: Deborah Kern, Nancy Kuhn, Jean Laczkowski  
• Prayer and Worship: Paula Dempsey, Amir Ghazaleh 
• Lifetime Service: Laurie Hasbrook 

Congratulations to all the recipients and all those who continue to be so generous with their time and talent and energy here at St. Gertrude parish!

Recently some parents reported that someone had complained to them because their young child was walking around in the back of church. They were told, “Fr. Rich wouldn’t like it.” 

In fact, I DO like it!

I have oftentimes told parents who are worried about their kids making noise in church that, unless their child has a penetrating scream, mostly their noises blend into the ambient sound of church. I also always encourage parents to try to sit closer to the front because youngsters like to watch what is going on.

As for walking about in the back of church, I’m fine with that as well. These are, after all, children.

Generally speaking, it is counter-productive to make our future parishioners feel they are not welcome in church!  

I do realize I have a bias -- I have nine siblings. Although my memory is fuzzy, I kind of doubt we were perfect angels every Sunday at Mass!

In November 2022, we celebrated the Feast of St. Gertrude with an International Dinner and the Anointing of the Sick at all Masses. 

Thank you to all who celebrated with us by sharing food at the dinner and the many others who attended our Masses. We are grateful you are a part of our faith community!

Special thanks to Rita Elue, who organized the 

International Dinner!

At the 10:30 am Mass on our parish Feast Day last weekend, the Spirit of St. Gertrude Award was presented to Dick & Nancy Merrill for their continual service to the parish. This is also the parish Dick has grown up in, and in which they raised their family. 

Congratulations to a well-deserving couple on this award!

Congratulations Hallie & Carol Ann!

On October 2, Cardinal Cupich presented the Christifideles award for St. Gertrude Parish to Hallie Burhoe and Carol Ann Munro at a special service at Holy Name Cathedral.

The Archdiocese of Chicago has established the Christifideles award, which is given to a layperson (or couple) in each parish who demonstrates faithfulness and dedication in ministry. 

Carol Ann and Hallie have consistently responded to whatever needs arise in the parish, from signing on for the special activities for managing health and safety during the covid pandemic, to taking a leading role in the Peace & Justice Committee, to liturgical ministries. In so many ways they have lived out their faith for the good of all the members of the parish. 

Thank you to both Carol Ann and Hallie and may God continue to bless all of their efforts!

Christmas at St. Gertrude was wonderful! We appreciate all who attended our services, whether they attended Mass online or put on a mask and came to Mass in person. These holy days were a reminder that churches are created and nurtured by active, engaged, and generous parishioners. We appreciate you sharing your time with us and are thankful to have you as part of our St. Gertrude family! 

We are also grateful for the hard work of so many parishioners who made Advent and Christmas at St. Gert’s so beautiful and festive. 

So many parishioners participated in our Giving Tree program, organized to make Christmas special for families in need! The gift cards went to Care for Real and the Refugee Ministry to support their work.

Thank you for your tremendous response to our call for help. Your donations were very much appreciated. 

St. Gertrude's very own  “Heavenly Horns” performed for parishioners on Sunday, December 19 after the 10:30 am Mass. Selections included Hark! the Herald Angels Sing, Good King Wenceslas, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and We Three Kings.

We appreciate all who attended and especially the talented team that performed - Jim Szmurlo, Tona Palomino, Peter Buttitta, Fran Guenette, and Nicholas Bussey. 

Mary Clare Barker, our talented Music Minister, wrote a special note for her volunteers:

"I want to extend a heartfelt and sincere thank you to all of the cantors and musicians who contributed mightily to the beauty of our Christmas liturgies.

We are so blessed at St. Gertrude to have so many talented musicians who give so freely of their time and share their prodigious talents with our community. I am deeply appreciative of all that they do."

We are so grateful to the many people that donated to St. Gertrude Parish’s Giving Tree. More thaIn total, $7,577 in gift cards was donated, with Care for Real receiving $3,000 and our parish's Refugee Ministry receiving $4,577 to support their work. This will make it possible for many families to have adequate food and clothing in these winter months and possibly beyond.

We truly appreciate your generosity!

At our parish Thanksgiving Day Mass, this year’s Parish Service Awards were presented to the recipients. These are parish members, selected by you and the parish staff, to be recognized for their outstanding service in different areas of Ministry and Service. Congratulations to all of this year’s award recipients! And thank you for your continuing generosity of your time and talent to St. Gertrude Parish!

Here are this year’s recipients and the areas in which they were honored:

• Human Concerns: Laurie & Ed Jacob, Tom Deske
• Education: Peter & Ellen Buttitta; Ginevra Clark, Dorothea Tobin
• Parish Life: Kathy Krokar, Laura Pigozzi, David Sullivan
• Prayer & Worship: Bernie O’Connor
• Lifetime Service: Jackie & Jon Blake, Marie Galoney

At the celebration of our Parish Feast Day in November, the Annual Spirit of St. Gertrude was awarded to Therese Schreiner. 

As the inscription read, it was given, “In grateful recognition of many years of service to the parish and the school in liturgical music, the play production, counseling, service to the senior & ailing communities through Heart to Heart and your constant, positive addition to every aspect of parish life.”  

Therese taught at NCA for 22 years, then at Loyola Academy for 25 years, then back to NCA for two years. Along with time spent at other Archdiocesan schools, she was in Catholic education a total of 51 years!  And that is just one of her many, many activities and services here at St. Gertrude.   

Thank you, Therese, for your extraordinary example of service and the amazing spirit alive in everything you do!  

Each year, the Archdiocese recognizes one parishioner in each parish with the Christifideles Award for their outstanding service and ministry to the church at the parish level. I am very happy to announce that this year’s recipient is our Pastoral Associate, Kevin Chears. Kevin has been the Master of All Things That Needed To Be Done for many years, looking out for the Art and Environment in the church, being sure all the moving pieces are all lined up for any of the services in church, coordinating and training the liturgical ministers, keeping in contact with and scheduling our Sunday supply priests, and, in recent years, coordinating the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.) 

Last year, as we were preparing for the start of a new academic year, when the Coordinator of Religious Education surprised us by resigning just days before the new year was to start, Kevin generously agreed to step in and get the Religious Education program up and running -- and did that during the pandemic!  Kevin and her husband, Victor, are long-time parishioners who bring great vitality and positive energy to everything they do. Congratulations to Kevin, this year’s recipient of the Christifideles Award! 

Our Repair, Renew, Refresh campaign is over! Our goal was to raise $100,000 to address some specific needs in our parish buildings and to establish an assistance fund for parishioners with children attending NCA. I am very happy to report that we have received over $165,000! 

These funds will enable us to continue the mission of St. Gertrude by maintaining our buildings and supporting Catholic education.  The much-needed repairs include: Exterior repairs to the church and rectory roofs, and internal repairs from water damage, installation of two handrails between the main floor of church to the sanctuary, and two handrails from the lower sanctuary level to the altar level to increase accessibility, re-carpeting the church, rebuilding the deteriorated entrance stairs to the parish hall/gym/classroom building and the stairs at the south (accessible) entrance to the church.

Additionally, we will establish a Fund for Catholic Education for parish families with children attending NCA in need of financial help to enroll, as well as to have funds available for families in crisis due to health, employment, or other unexpected situations.

Thank you to all those who contributed to the campaign!! Your gift makes this possible!

~ Father Rich 

Pictured: Handrails being installed with funds from the campaign