Faithful can subscribe to the notes by contacting the parish office and providing their e-mail address. Thanks for your support of our border town parishes!!! | |
Please remember - Fr. Pete does not send out text messages, e-mails or social media posts to solicit
funds for himself or any organizations outside of the parishes he serves. Fr. Pete's emergency phone
number is (815) 685-1359 and his e-mail addresses
are either pjankowski@yahoo.com or pjankowski@stfrancis.edu.
Please do not trust any correspondences that
utilize any other phone number or e-mail address.
THE TERM FOR THIS SCAM IS "PHISHING,"
IN BOTH ENGLISH AND SPANISH
| | Please support our parishes by clicking the ONLINE GIVING picture - these are your local homes where God is present! Let's share this grace with those of the next generation! | | PLEASE REMEMBER... In order to keep our parishes open and serving the needy, we need to average $3,000 a week at St. Patrick's and $2,000 a week at St. Anne's. Thank you for your consideration in this matter. | | |
News & Notes with Fr. Pete Jankowski
Have a Blessed Father's Day!
| | | | Feel free to contact Fr. Pete at email pjankowski@yahoo.com. If you have an emergency, please contact Fr. Pete at (815) 685-1359 | | As we celebrate Father’s Day this upcoming Sunday, I used to challenge myself as what we could do for the sake of the dads in our community who sacrifice a great deal for their families. On Mother’s Day, we honor them each year with a gift of a rose, symbolizing this “kiss from God.” For our dads, we settled on gifting them with a different type of “kiss,” namely one from the Hershey Chocolate Company. I found a website online that manufactures special candy wrappers that we utilized with a quote attributed to our fathers. | | |
I was reflecting this week not just on the “dads” who raise children and families in our world but also our “Spiritual Fathers” who often get neglected. This week alone, two former pastors under whom I served passed away – Fr. Jim Dougherty (St. Paul’s Church – Joliet) and Fr. Gerry Tivy (St. Joan of Arc in Lisle). Back in 2005 when I covered at St. Patrick’s in Momence for three months, I served with Fr. Tivy and Fr. Ken Zigmund (who also died this year) during my last assignment as an associate pastor.
The bishop’s office also communicated with us that Fr. Anthony Nyama, a fifty-year old priest and pastor at St. Carlo Acutis Church in Crest Hill, passed away at the age of fifty. Fr. Anthony served his community at St. Carlo’s Church for the last five years and was to be transferred to St. Mary Nativity Church on July 1.
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When we celebrated the funeral of Luis Barrera on June 3, I came to find out that Fr. Uriel Martinez held built a wonderful relationship with the Berrera family last January that was symbolized by a "basketball" that had been sitting in the sacristy of St. Patrick’s Church during the last five months. I had mentioned at Luis‘s funeral that Fr. Uriel and the family would take that basketball and spend time in the gym together so I gave the basketball to the family as a gift from our parish, a reminder and symbol of all the "invisible fingerprints" that so many good people leave behind in our churches, unnoticed by us but certainly remembered by God!
The second of the three funerals from this oral auto accident took place while I was gone on June 12. Fr. Matt Pratscher celebrated that funeral for Alani "Laniz" Camargo in my absence at St. Anne's Church. I also think Fr. Matt for anointing Sarah Mingo who was in hospice care at Momence Meadows during my absence.
Fr. Uriel Martinez also was nice enough to go over the Good Shepherd Manor to anoint a resident named "Don" while I was gone as well. Another of the Manor's residents named Andy Johnston passed away this week and his funeral will take place on Monday at 10:30 AM.
In my reflection on those serving in the priesthood and religious life, so many priests and religious brothers and sisters go unnoticed or unremembered after years of dedicated service to the cause of the faith. On our parish website, we have included the names and pictures of those pastors who have served our parish communities. I would ask you to please offer a prayer for them this weekend to remind ourselves of the kind of unheralded service, these spiritual fathers have offered to our parish families as well.
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A BAPTISM REEL FROM THE 30 YEARS OF MINISTRY - FR. PETE JANKOWSKI
Last week, I put together a collage of baptisms celebrated as a priest the last few years, Towards that project, I am looking for anyone who asked me to celebrate a baptism for a loved one by sending the pictures to pjankowski@yahoo.com. Thanks to all who allowed this "useless servant" (Lk 17: 10) to offer this special grace in the name of God and the community!
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This summer, three specific activities we have planned for the summer are beginning to take shape. Bobbi Volek and Maddie Meyer asked me some time ago about hosting a “Vacation Bible School” for the kids in the summer. We have not had one of these for a while in the area and we are really blessed that our young families in the area are getting as invested as they are. VBS will take place the week prior to the Novena from July 20-24; more information about VBS is forthcoming (although I did find the video of what Bobbi and Maddie want to do with the kids that I have provided for you).
Another round of Birthday Baseball with Fr. Pete takes place on August 13 this year with the Joliet Slammers! The Knights of Columbus provide the transportation, the tickets are $10 each for the bus and the ticket and the altar servers get to go free. What a deal!
Our Parish Picnic will take place in September. More on the picnic is yet to come. We also will talk about the 50/50 Raffle for the picnic in the weeks ahead.
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Meanwhile, over at St. Anne’s, a couple wonderful souls saw what we had being doing at Pat’s and inquired about getting a St. Anne's Parking Lot Project similar to St. Pat's. As a response, we asked Scott Crawford to visit St. Anne’s and provide us two bids for the parking lot – it will cost us around $24,000 to upgrade the lot in front of the church and the small section of the parking lot adjacent to the senior care center; the price rises to $59,000 if we address the entire lot at St. Anne’s by the Senior Center.
Towards that end, we inserted an envelope in our St. Anne Novena mailing which will be sent out next week. Jackie Bruhn will talk about the parking lot during the May 31 Mass at the parish as well. The “pipe dream” is that we can get these donations to pave the lots by the St. Anne Feast Day on July 26!
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As we have had to navigate a few major storms this Spring, a couple parishioners suggested that we check the roofs of our buildings to see if the storms had caused any damage to what we have. I thank Mr. Rafael Hernandez for coming down to St. Patrick’s and St. Anne’s to clean out our gutters, install “leaf guards” on our gutters and to trim a few trees that were hanging over our buildings.
In the course of these inspections, we came to find out that at St. Anne’s, a corner of our building has endured a bit of damage from what I have been told resulted from “leaky drains” that got under the outside bricks of the church over the last decade or so and is in desperate need of repair. So far, the estimates coming in for the damage are just under $10,000; this work needs to be done to preserve our church. If anyone can help us offset the cost of the repairs, please contact the parish office.
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Earlier this month, we encountered pretty bad damage in our kitchen at St. Patrick’s Rectory. I guess a “P-Drain” in one of the upstairs bathrooms had corroded after years of use, causing sewage to drip into our kitchen ceiling. John Cousin and the nice folks at Cousins Plumbing repaired and replaced the P-Drain at minimal cost. Then, Robert Piquet and his son from Vista Painting came to repair the ceiling. Just FYI, Vista Painting repaired TWO of the inside church stucco walls for the price of only materials, painted accent walls in both rectories, painted the St. Anne House Chapel and so much more! Robert was so kind as to offer his services that I felt it right to include his contact information for anyone is the area would might want to utilize his painting services.
To contact Vista Painting, e-mail rob.vistapainting@gmail.com or call them at phone (815) 272-3455.
| | Finally, I am recording the last of the SEVENTEEN ONLINE MASSES I celebrated for the Online Parishioners around the world. As you know, we have received cards and messages from around the world concerning these Masses (including a visit from our friends in Whittlesea, Australia!) and we want to do what we can do for those who cannot join us for the July 17-26 celebrations. I just spoke to Fr. Sebastian Genoni from Buenos Aires, Argentina; he will be celebrating a “parallel” Novena in Spanish for our community, culminating with our Final Mass in Spanish at St. Anne’s on July 26. | | Sandy Malpasuto asked me to put the St. Patrick’s Golf Outing Information Online; in the event you would like to join us or be a sponsor. CLICK THIS LINK for more information... | | |
We are in the midst of FINAL EXAM WEEK for the 117 University students taking my Online Business Ethics course from Hanoi, Vietnam (I spent two weeks with them after Easter for in-class workshops). During this last week, our Discussion Question included the students writing a "Personal Mission Statement," which the textbook explains is a kind of POSITIVE LIFE COMPASS a person chooses to live RIGHT NOW (based on the philosophers we have covered) for the sake of people, planet and profits (the Triple Bottom Line) as well as for one's family, business and community (Consistent Ethic of Life). I collected the students' responses which I am about to give to them - I share a few of the Personal Mission Statements from Vietnam and my comments about them in this post...
My personal mission statement is to live with integrity, compassion, and a strong sense of responsibility; to continuously learn and develop myself in order to create positive values for my family, community, and society. I choose to treat others with respect and sincerity because I believe that true success is not measured solely by what I achieve, but also by the positive impact I leave on the lives of others.
The most valuable takeaway from this course is that business ethics is about being a good person; it is about character, integrity and the recurring principle of “Do Unto Others.”
Business is about profit and loss. Business Ethics is about being a good person and making a difference in their family, community and the world (Triple Bottom Line). The goal in our lives is to be consistent across the board - many of the philosophers we have covered have presented this mentality, albeit through different paths. I really appreciate that many of the students have understood this and that one student summarized this well in the sentence highlighted above.
Another student in the course offered this summary of Business Ethics that I really liked… The course explained that a personal mission statement serves as a personal compass that guides decisions and helps individuals remain focused on their values and long-term goals. It showed me that success is not only about career achievements but also about living according to principles such as integrity, honesty, accountability, and respect.
Another student wrote the following… The most valuable lesson I learned from this course is that ethics is not separate from business success but is an essential part of long-term leadership and organizational sustainability.
A third wrote… The absolute best piece of information I received in this course is the realization that business ethics and commercial success are not enemies, but are actually deeply connected.
Another wrote… Modern employers are no longer just looking for technical robots who can type or crunch numbers; they are desperately hunting for people they can actually trust with their business secrets and reputation. That ethical mindset is exactly what this course has given me.
I am amazed how so many of the students focused on Business Ethics not focusing primarily about profits but, rather, what kind of person they wished to be in this world. In the course, we provided many different philosophers and their approach to our roles in the world. Trying to figure out how each of us “fits into” this world is a lifelong struggle – figure that out and then a great deal of life makes a whole lot more sense.
So many of the students mentioned the competitive job market as the major challenge for them entering the business world. Many of them also have stated that the different philosophical views presented in this course have been beneficial to all of them - from different perspectives them are able to determine which path best suits them and how them interact with people, planet and profit (The Triple Bottom Line!). We learned that laws provide the minimal standards by which we function in a society but ethics require more of us, consistently to hold the same values in all facets of life (family, society, job) so that people can see who them truly are – and we hope that what them are (and will be) is GOOD – for society (Confucius), for the self (Aristotle) and for the good of the world (Moder).
It was my honor and privilege to serve them this semester. As always, good business starts with a POSITIVE attitude and building good, personal relationships. This requires us to treat each other with respect, to learn from others and not to be afraid in making mistakes - failure can be a good part of learning in life.
Hopefully them can return to this "Personal Mission Statement" throughout their life to remember their purpose, their "compass" and to teach others through example the way to become successful. I hope I was able to do this for them.
TO READ THE STUDENTS' "PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENTS," CLICK HERE!!!
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FR. PETE'S COMPLETE BUSINESS ETHICS COURSE!!!
The dean of the University of St. Francis’ School of Business & Heath Administration asked me to teach 117 Vietnamese Students a Course on “Business Ethics” from a Franciscan Point of View. When I told the leaders of the university that I am no expert in this subject (as was the case in Hispanic Ministry), they responded that my experience is in “practical” business, applying the skills that we learn in this course to a couple of parishes that we needed to fortify in order to keep them alive.
For your consideration is the first video in the course that I am offering our friends in the Vietnamese Community. Later this Spring, I will be traveling to Hanoi Vietnam for two weeks to instruct these students in-person; I just received my Visa to enter Vietnam yesterday. I was told that the papal nuncio in Vietnam is a Polish Archbishop who learned his English in Chicago and a Marian of the Immaculate Conception (Fr. Bill Heyward) whom I knew in the Joliet Diocese now serves as a pastor in Hanoi. Please pray that I can serve as an effective teacher to the students across the pond and the University of St. Francis for putting their faith in me!
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Because of THREE SNOWSTORMS which swept through our area this winter, this has wreaked havoc on our finances, since we did not make up the finances in our collections needed to keep up afloat. Thanks to a couple of my "friends from the outside" who donated $3,000 total to help St. Anne's Church.
Please remember… the budgets that our Finance Committees established last June only work if St. Anne’s collects $2,000 a week in her collection and $3,000 a week at St. Patrick’s. We have been blessed that a couple major donors have assisted us in keeping the ships afloat but, if you can, please remember that the “Online Giving” Portal is always open Online and we continue to encourage you to remember St. Anne’s & St. Pat’s in your Will and Estate Planning. With a new bishop coming into the area later this year, a new bishop brings new and different ideas – let’s not let the bishop think about St. Patrick’s or St. Anne’s for a long time!
If any of our farmers might consider donating something “when the time comes” as part of an estate gift, if someone who attends our St. Anne Novena helps us maintain that Novena through a foundation gift, we would be well-served to allow the Lord to work through our communities to offer the same grace as has been offered since the 1850s.
| | Finally, I am recording the last of the SEVENTEEN ONLINE MASSES I celebrated for the Online Parishioners around the world. As you know, we have received cards and messages from around the world concerning these Masses (including a visit from our friends in Whittlesea, Australia!) and we want to do what we can do for those who cannot join us for the July 17-26 celebrations. I just spoke to Fr. Sebastian Genoni from Buenos Aires, Argentina; he will be celebrating a “parallel” Novena in Spanish for our community, culminating with our Final Mass in Spanish at St. Anne’s on July 26. | | |
MASS FOR THE 12TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME AT THE BORDER TOWN PARISHES
(JUNE 21, 2026)
Sometimes we overlook members of our community who make a significant difference in the life of faith and love but often get "lost through the cracks," so to speak. One of these individuals is Susie Butterfield (1951-2026), a graduate of St. Patrick's Academy who, among all the service and communal work she offered the area, also served as the receptionist (aka, "the first line of defense") at Good Shepherd Manor. For nineteen years, Susie offered the type of hospitality and welcome that we models the way we need to live in the world of faith. Today's homily is dedicated to Susie; today's Mass is followed by a promotion about Good Shepherd Manor and the good residents and staff that minister there.
| | HOMILY IN SPANISH AT ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH (JUNE 7, 2026) | |
- The St. Patrick’s Golf Outing on June 20 still has spots available and will be held at the Oak Springs Golf Club. Please check the bulletin for more details
- St. Patrick’s Parking Lot will be finished with the laying of asphalt on Monday-Tuesday and striping later in the week. Hopefully, we will have a NEW LOOKING parking lot next weekend. Thanks to Mayor Chuck Steele, Police Chief Patrick Siemsen, Ted Peterson and those who donated the $60,000+ to make this dream possible! Jackie Bruhn is working on helping us renovate the St. Anne Parking lot as well.
- Jackie Bruhn from St. Anne’s inquired about upgrading our parking lot at St. Anne’s (which, I guess, used to be paved but weeds and such took control of the pavement). We have set a goal of $60,000 to pave one small area of the pavement. Jackie asked that we place envelopes in the St. Anne Novena mailing that will go out shortly and she will discuss the project at the May 30-31 Masses.
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ST. PATRICK'S / ST. ANNE'S
PHOTO DIRECTORIES
| | Thanks to Ruth Sparenberg, Anne Andrade & Joanne Hermann for assembling, scanning and editing the follow Photo Directories from the Church History of St. Patrick's and St. Anne's Churches! | | | THE COMPLETED CEMETERY PROJECTS FOR BOTH ST. ANNE'S AND ST. PATRICK'S CEMETERIES | | | | The Holy Father provides a wonderful opportunity to receive an Apostolic Blessing for Birthdays, Baptisms, First Communions, Confirmations, Weddings, Religious Professions, Ordinations and Anniversaries of these sacraments. | | |
- The production of Papal Blessings has been suspended for the time being due to the installation of the new pope. Now that the Website is Open for Acquiring Blessings, we have sent the following requests to the Vatican to Honor these Special Unions...
If you would like to receive a papal blessing for a milestone anniversary, please contact the parish office.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR OWN APOSTOLIC BLESSING!!!
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Parish Hotline... If you know of someone who is sick and in need of the sacraments or if you know someone who wishes a visit at the hospital or care facility, please contact the parish office or Fr. Pete Jankowski at (815) 685-1359.
| | | Fr. Pete offers the Anointing of the Sick at both parishes at the First Friday Masses every month (St. Patrick’s at 9:15 a.m. and St. Anne’s at 5:00 p.m. (English) and 7:00 p.m. (Spanish). | | |
To View St. Patrick's Bulletin for
JUNE 21, 2026
CLICK HERE!
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To View St. Anne's Bulletin for
JUNE 21, 2026
CLICK HERE!
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PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR BELOVED DECEASED: Andy Johnston
PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR SICK: William Brown, Mike, Ashley & Jesse Childress, Mike Cronk, Maria DeLeon, Dave Fieramosca, Herve Gomichon, Linda Goodman, Don Hout, Gustavo Lopez, Jesus Ariel Lopez, Evelyn Provost, Art Schmidt, Frank & Louidr Shainauskas, Ruth Sparenberg, Cynthia Vickery, Joe Wielgus and all those on our sick list.
At St. Anne's... Eva Bell, Paula Bertrand, Lola Billings, Duane Blanchette, Sue Bonvallet, Cheryl Boswell, June Burns, Cindy Capriotti, Ashley & Jesse Childress, Abraham Daily, Aria Dionne, Carol Futcher, Raelynn Garrett, Tommy Klonowski, Val Lagacy, Pam & Bentley Lottinville, Linda Miramontes, Josh Odelson, Ruth Sparenberg and John Wojnowski.
At St. Patrick's... P. Anderson, N. Atkinson, R. Bailey, D. Barth, Beedle Family, D. Brown, M. Cárdenas, P. Caro, B & E. Coffman, S. Conner, M & D Cousin, M. Cruz, A. Delaney, M. Dionne, J. Dobbins, E. Duke, D. Dunlap, G. Field, C. Fritz, A. Fuhrmann, Judy & Ron Gall, Tony & Adrianne Gallinaro, J. Grill, R. Harper, K. Hensa, J. Hibbs, D. Hiller, C. Jones, L. Kane, R. Kazee, A. Kijewski, Joe Kraus, L. Lee, L. Leranth, E. Lopez, B. Love, J. Marcotte, W. Marten, J. McCracken, L. Mercado, R & V Morse, C. Ortman, C. Piec, J. Prather, C. Provost, E. Provost, P. Reising, D. Roberts, M. Saldaña A. Schaff, J. Schopf. D. Schmied, K. Simpson, B. Siwicki, B. Spagnola, M. Tolbert, M. Tolmer, H. Tousignant, M. Velazquez, M. Williams, Gary Witherell, M. Witherspoon, S. Young, J. L. Zagal, A. Zimmerman, M & L Zink and G. Zokal.
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Fr. Pete Jankowski posts his homilies online at the parish website for those who wish to keep up with the gospel message each week.
| | | PARISH REGISTRATION FORMS | | CLICK HERE to watch Fr. Pete’s Twelve Part Series “Stories on the Journey,” Broadcast on Shalom World TV! | | | ITEMS FOR PURCHASE / DONATION TO HELP OUR PARISHES!!! | | Call the Offices at (815) 472-2864 or (815) 427-8265 for more information... | | Since 2019, We Have Raised Over $250,000 in Pew Donations!!! | | |
For only $100, you can dedicate a brick to someone special at St. Patrick's Outdoor Grotto (where the Our Lady of Lourdes Outdoor Masses are celebrated)!!!
(815) 472-2864
| |  | For only $25, you can dedicate a Journeysongs Pew Book from either parish. Please call (815) 472-2864 (St. Patrick's) or (815) 427-8265 (St. Anne's) for more information! | | |
St. Patrick's T-Shirts
$10 Each or
Three for $20
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St. Patrick's or St. Anne's Blessed Water / Oil $2 a Bottle
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Greeting Cards of These Images are Now Available for Purchase in the Parish Office.
$25 for Books of Twenty...
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St. Patrick's or St. Anne's Mugs
$10 Each or Three for $20
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LINKS TO CATHOLIC WEBSITES
CLICK ON PICTURE TO ACCESS SITE
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