Religious Ed News

Earlier this month, Eloy Escamilla accepted the position of Pastoral Associate for Religious Education and Youth Ministry here at St. Gertrude. Eloy will be joining the parish staff on August 2.

Eloy comes to us after six years in a similar position at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish on the southeast side of Chicago.  He has received both a Master of Arts in Theology and a Master of Divinity from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. 

Eloy's email will be eescamilla@stgertrudechicago.com.

After two years of preparation, Confirmation is this weekend! We'll see our families either Saturday, May 22 at 5:00 pm or Sunday, May 23 at 10:30 am.  

Each family will have an assigned row in church. This row will be for your immediate family (i.e. those with whom you live.) Other guests, including sponsors, if they are not part of your household, will not be sitting with you but will be seated in a different pew in the church. Please click HERE if you or your teen's sponsor still need to register for Mass.  

Confirmation Live-Stream Info
Our Confirmation Masses will be live-streamed on our parish Facebook page beginning at 4:55 pm on Saturday and 10:25 am on Sunday. 

A direct link to the Facebook live-streams will also be shared on our parish website a few minutes before each Mass, both in a pop-up box and a quick link on the parish home page. (Please note, if you do not see the link to the live-stream, it is helpful to refresh the page.) The video will be posted on our parish's YouTube channel after Mass.

Confirmation Masses
Our other COVID protocols remain in place, despite the CDC guidelines changing. Here are a few reminders for your guests:

• Please enter via the Granville entrance.
• Our COVID-19 protocols require church visitors to be seated by our ushers, remain in their pews, and masks worn over BOTH mouths and noses. Singing is limited to our cantors.
• Videos and photographs may not be taken during the Mass. Please take them after Mass and be mindful of social distancing protocols as you take photos.

RCIA
If you have children in our Religious Ed program and are thinking about your own faith journey or completing your own sacraments, our parish offers Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), a process by which adults learn more about the Catholic Church. This free program begins in September of 2021 and meets weekly until Pentecost 2022.

Many people who begin RCIA are non-Catholics seeking to become Catholic or at least to explore whether Catholicism might be a good faith home. Others who are already Catholic but want a deeper understanding of their faith foundation may find value in taking part in the RCIA.

We'll share more information about our RCIA program in the late summer via the bulletin, Religious Ed newsletters, and our parish website. 

Feedback about This Year's Religious Ed program
I'll reach out in June to ask for feedback about this year's program - what went well and what didn't - as we begin to build a plan for the 2021-2022 school year. If you are interested in signing your children up for next school year, here is the form.

Thank You to Our Catechists!
I want to thank our Religious Ed teachers again, Ginevra Clark (first and second grades), Suzanne Stryczek (fifth and sixth grades), and Steve Monti (seven and eighth grades). They worked so hard to thoughtfully engage, guide, and challenge the kids this year. I'm so grateful for their hard work.

Thank you again for being part of our Religious Ed community!~ Kevin Chears, Pastoral Associate