Picnic Sunday!

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

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 get ready for our community picnic this Sunday, there is so much for which we should be thankful in our little slice of heaven here in our "Periphery Churches" of the Joliet Diocese. Four exceedingly grace-filled moments highlight God’s presence in our Churches this last weekend that have benefited so many good souls in our area.

At 5:00 am last Friday morning, St. Patrick’s parishioner Joe Bravo and I drove a 20-foot U-Haul truck to Chicago, where the two of us picked up FIVE PALLETS OF WATER for the needy of our area. Backing our U-Haul into a loading area, a forklift loaded the pallets of water into our vehicle; Joe told me that the weight of the pallets made the drive back home much more difficult than the drive to Chicago (thank goodness Joe was driving instead of me!). 

Upon our return at 8:30 AM, we were met by FIve Students from Momence High School, who helped us unload the pallets of water, along with volunteers from both food pantries from St. Anne and Momence. It was then that we distributed hundreds of cases of water to the needy in our area, as well as stocking up water for our picnic this upcoming Sunday.

We ended up sending fifteen cases of water and ten cases of chips with the students back to the high school. I heard that the “Cheeto-palooza” went down very well with a bunch of 13 to 18-year-olds last Friday afternoon.

Then on Sunday, Nick Skokna stopped by to deliver an entire van full of fresh meals and produce from the Costco Store in Oak Brook for our needy! Most of the food was gone in a half an hour - the rest found a home at the St. Anne Food Pantry.

One of my contacts (Grace Walquist) read our posts and directed me towards a Charitable Organization called "Sharing Connections" in Downers Grove, an organization that collects furniture and such for those in need. For more information about this wonderful opportunity, please CLICK HERE .

On Saturday, we were blessed to celebrate the “Circle of Life” at our parishes as well. At 2:00 p.m., I was given the opportunity to celebrate the ELEVENTH BAPTISM IN THIRTY DAYS over at St. Anne’s Church for the family of Yaritza Itzel, preceded at 1:00 p.m. with a special blessing and the bestowal of a papal certificate upon Frank & Virginia Pilotte, who celebrated their 75th Wedding Anniversary on August 4th. In my thirty years as a priest, this is only the second time that I have blessed a couple crossing the 75-year threshold, the first time taking place ten years earlier with the blessing of John & Lucille Staroska in Romeoville (I actually found a photo of that event so I included it with the rotating pictures). If I can make it to my 40th anniversary as a priest, I am hoping to celebrate with yet another 75th anniversary!

Someone was nice enough to record the blessing for the 75th Anniversary of Frank & Virginia, so I have included the video with these notes.

Then on Sunday, Tom & Crystal Klonowski from St. Anne's Church hosted a complimentary breakfast for the community after the 9:00 a.m. Mass, with the hope of raising funds for the Church’s $60,000 parking lot project. Crystal works with the Casey grocery store company and was able to get donated foods for the event. Because of the good work of them and so many others, we raised over $1,300 towards the parking lot in a Parish that only collects $1,200 a week in their collection on average! For the good souls at St. Anne, this was a monumental effort that they are going to repeat on September 20. We think we might have good news on the parking lot front over at St. Anne in October, so please stay tuned.

If you would like to contribute to the parking lot project, feel free to CLICK HERE and make a donation through online giving or contact the office at (815) 427-8265 for more information.

This weekend, we also were blessed that John & Sally Fitzgerald from Cape Coral, FL made a special visit to St. Patrick’s Church at the 10:30 am Mass last Sunday. Way back in January, I was sailing on a cruise through Antarctica and John & Sally joined me on that sailing. During that cruise, I was preparing our 2026 Lenten Reflections for the upcoming months, which I subsequently recorded, produced and uploaded online. John & Sally were so grateful for the talks that they donated $2000 to St. Anne’s Church earlier this year! 

This last weekend, after their visit with us, John & Sally were kind enough to donate an additional $500 to St. Patrick’s Church. I am always amazed by the response to the worldwide evangelization we have offered to so many good souls, as we experienced from Whittlesey Australi last year and Cape Coral, FL and Antarctica this year. God has blessed so many good souls who have visited our Border Town Parishes and supported the cause at our periphery Churches! (The video below illustrates the highlights from my trip to Antarctica in January 2026.)

All of this leads up to our Fifth Annual Border Town Community Picnic this Sunday, starting with an outdoor 10:30 a.m. Bilingual Mass, weather permitting. We have a 100-foot tent under which we will have two Music acts at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Kyle Volek will be cooking hamburgers and hot dogs, the Andrade family will have a food truck with Hispanic fare and craft ice cream. We will have games for the kids and adults alike. In the basement of the church, we start our Rummage Sale. We also have two major fundraisers - our 50-50 Progressive Raffle, whose first prize is up to at least $2000 and a Television Raffle with an iPad as a second prize and noise-canceling headphones as a third prize.

We also are going to raffle off some of the gift baskets we received but, to be honest, with over 20 gift baskets donated, a $500 Walmart gift card and a Blackstone grill, we realized we had too much to raffle off this Sunday so we’re going to spread out some of the gifts throughout the year. I also purchased out-of-pocket a $500 Member's Mark grill that I assembled this summer and have decided to donate that to our friends at the golf outing at St. Patrick’s so that they have a nice raffle prize next June.

I have included the 14-minute homily I previously recorded from the Online Picnic Mass with these Notes, which highlight all the wonderful things that have been accomplished the last several years at St. Patrick’s - not through Capital Campaigns but through Christian Charity, "Love thy neighbor," "Do unto others," and your kindness and love towards the cause! One biscuits and gravy breakfast at a time, we are building up our communities to show you how much we love you in God‘s name!

St. Patrick’s parishioner Janice Gelino watched the video last week and wrote me the following response to it…

I just looked at your homily for the picnic. When you see the changes gradually over 7 years, it seems fantastic. But when you see them in 14 minutes, it seems impossible.  Thanks to all who made this happen.

Finally… we keep asking all of you to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Like any vocation, serving as a bishop, priest, deacon or religious is a daunting one – as much good as you do, there are so many “trolls” in today’s age that want to tear you down, as many of the “Chosen People” did to the prophets in the Old Testament and many so-called leaders of the Church did to Jesus in the New Testament (to name just two examples).

Towards that end, I received the following e-mail from Gary Hermann (son of St. Patrick’s parishioner Joanne Hermann), who wrote me the following…

Hope you’re enjoying a bit of rest this Labor Day and all is well with you and Gabby. And thank you for all of your continued efforts leading the Border Town Parishes. (By the way, Gabby will be joining us at the picnic on Sunday). Many blessings here and reaching out to ask you, and the faithful parishioners of St. Patrick and St. Anne, to pray for my daughter Hannah Hermann (Joanne’s granddaughter) and vocations.

Hannah has contemplated and prayed about a vocation as a religious sister and received an invitation to join the order of the Daughters of St. Paul to explore her vocation as a religious sister. Hannah begins an initial, two-year journey as a Postulant in St. Louis, MO beginning this coming weekend, 12 September 2026. My wife Holly and I, and our youngest daughter Stella feel very blessed.

I ask for prayers to strengthen Hannah as she begins discerning with the Daughters of St. Paul to this vocation! Thank you for all you do Father!

Sharing a short prayer for vocations as a simple reference below.

“God our Father, we thank you for calling men and women to serve in your Son's Kingdom as priests, deacons, religious sisters and consecrated persons. Send your Holy Spirit to help others to explore and respond generously and courageously to your call. Amen.”

We also noticed that major damage over the years took its toll on our church building. When I asked roofer Rafael Hernandez to inspect the gutters of the church last Spring (where we found even more gunk!), he noticed that there was major damage on the back wall of our church. It took a while to find a licensed Masonry Specialist to handle a project like this. After a bit of a search, Licensed Masonry Expert Eric Dudeck was kind enough to pay a visit to us. He told us that this problem most likely existed for years, as water crept under the gutters into the back of the outer bricks of the church, causing major structural damage. We caught the problem in time (we think!) but That project will run us just under $7,500 to repair (Eric donated $2,500 of his services to the parish - THANK YOU ERIC!!!).

If there is any way our good souls from the Border Town Communities can help finance any of these projects, we would appreciate it. Thanks to Debby, our Finance Committee and certainly the diocese, we think we have a handle on the issues we are addressing

As my birthday gift to you, I spent $1,800 out of pocket to purchase what is called the “Formed” Adult Education Program for your consideration. As summarized by AI, FORMED is an online digital platform created by the Augustine Institute that provides Catholic movies, video courses, audio talks, study programs, and e-books. Often called a "Catholic Netflix," it is designed to help individuals learn about and practice their Catholic faith. THIS SERVICE PROVIDES ONLINE CATECHESIS IN BOTH ENGLISH & SPANISH!

Key Features of FORMED

• Content Library: Features thousands of hours of content on Scripture, the sacraments, the lives of the saints, and church history.
• Trusted Partners: Includes resources produced by the Augustine Institute alongside materials from Ignatius Press, the St. Paul Center, Word on Fire, and Lighthouse Catholic Media.
• Access Options: Available via individual subscriptions or through local parish accounts that often provide free access to parishioners.
• Compatibility: Streamed through web browsers, mobile phones, tablets, and TV devices like Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire Stick.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THEIR WEBSITE

CLICK HERE TO SIGN-UP FOR FREE

(WE ALREADY HAVE PAID FOR THE SUBSCRIPTION)

As referenced at the beginning of these notes, our local Council of Catholic Women are looking for grocery bags so that they can continue their ministry of knitting mats for the poor and needy in our area. I included pictures of the Centro Vilaseca and Sr. Araceli Perez, who runs a daycare center for low-income families of Joliet. Over the years, we have donated hundreds of knitted plastic blankets for the needy in both our area (donated to the Food Pantries) and in Joliet. We also have donated thousands of cases of food, clothing and such to the needy of Kankakee and Will Counties. In this particular case, if you can help us by bringing your plastic grocery bags to the parish offices, we would much appreciate it.

As the good souls of St. Anne’s have told me they the “core group” that ran our local Fish Fry dinners and our annual Rummage Sale no longer can run these events, we are in the process of working with our “next generation” of parishioners to help us out. We were a little too late to start a Rummage Sale at Anne’s this year but over at St. Pat’s, Leigh Ann Sokoloff is getting ready for St. Pat’s Rummage Sale in September. More information is forthcoming on the sale.

I have been a little negligent in working on this project – the parking lot project is going so well (we completed a church parking lot bid at $100,000 in 2019 for less than $57,000 and completed stage one of a 2019 bid of $330,000 for $25,000 – for which our good souls paid; the second part of the project would be a $65,000 asphalt purchase – feel free to donate anything or everything to help us out with this!) and St. Anne’s parking lot is coming along nicely as well (we raised over $10,000 towards our $60,000 goal). Now we have to work on the Raffle. If you can help us with this, we would appreciate it.

You may have noticed this year that I have not been running a “full court press” on our 50/50 Border Town Picnic Raffle on September 13, which is up to $1,500 for the First Prize, $500 for the Second Prize and $250 for our Third Prize. To be honest, things have been going so well at both parishes that we have been focusing on parking lots and other repairs (we recently had to repair the rectory roof which had been damaged with years of water leakage and about $10,000 to repair a church wall for the same reason). So many good souls have been very generous of their resources to help us out at both parishes – we are so grateful for all the help we are getting!

Now that the picnic is about three weeks away, perhaps we should try to focus on what we are doing. The picnic begins with a 10:30 a.m. bilingual Mass at St. Patrick’s Grotto (weather permitting), followed by Polka and Easy Listening Music by the Ray Koncar trio and Old Time Rock ‘n Roll by the Fender Benders. Leigh Ann Sokoloff if working on the Rummage Sale (there will be no Rummage Sale at St. Anne’s this year). We also will have our games for the kids, caterer and parishioner Kyle Volek on the grill (along with the Taqueria el Country Food Truck), and so much more! The more tickets we sell for the 50/50 Raffle, the higher the prize; tickets are located in the entranceways of our churches and at the parish offices.

Among the raffle prizes in store are a 50” Samsung Class M70H AI Companion Smart TV (I purchase this each year to broadcast our previous Picnic Online Masses) and an Apple 11-inch A16 chip, 11-inch Model iPad, courtesy of Law Rae Farms. We will be selling tickets for these Raffle Prizes in upcoming weeks.

Second, Campus Projects and the Capital Improvement Accounts

This week at St. Patrick’s, our air conditioning system went out… again! One of my predecesors went on the cheap with the last system – when it is working, few can hear the lectors or priest at mass because the system is so loud and many of the units are leaking or have stopped working altogether. We spent $40,000 last winter on replacing the church boiler that broke down; generous donors came forward to install generators on our property (hopefully this will get done by the end of the summer) and creating two parking lots that I personally thought would never get addressed.

Over at St. Anne’s water damage has corroded one wall in the church from what I was told had been at least ten years in the making. The repairs to the outer wall will run just under $10,000. We used to have a parking lot across the hall which, due to neglect and lack of funds, caused the lot to become corroded. We might have a way to address a portion of the lot at little to no cost but we probably will need $60,000 to re-do one portion of the lot to make it nice.

Regardless, the Capital Improvement accounts at both parishes have taken a hit and we will need to replenish them if we wish to continue functioning as parishes. If you can help us with any or all of these projects, please contact the office.

Proximo Travel asked me to lead a one-week Pilgrimage to Mexico and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. On behalf of those I serve, I was honored to take on this role for our parishioners.

If you are interested in joining us on this One-Week Pilgrimage to Mexico, please CLICK BELOW!

https://www.proximotravel.com/trip-store/?action=trip_registration&tripid=17667

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.

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.

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.

Click Here

to Access

the St. Anne Novena Page!!!

MASS FOR THE 24th SUNDAY

IN ORDINARY TIME (SEP. 13, 2026)

OUR PICNIC MASS LITURGY

Focusing on the theme of forgiveness and love, this homily focuses on all the GOOD that results from welcoming the outsider, forgiving the sinner, accepting those that others do not and, essentially, LIVING LIKE CHRIST. The results of this kind of love and forgiveness is the manner in which we were able to renovate a campus that was left in disrepair and eliminate a $330,000 debt that had not been addressed for years.

This homily allows us to take a "Tour of St. Patrick's Campus" and all the wonderful upgrades we have been able to make in these last seven years.

MASS IN SPANISH

• We are now signing up students for our Religious Education Classes. Please Remember that students need to receive their confirmation before they are allowed to celebrate a Quinceañera Mass in Church.
• We are asking you to help us sell our 50/50 Progressive Raffle Tickets which will be sold on behalf of St. Patrick's Church. Currently, the grand prize stands just under $2,000. The winning tickets will be drawn at the Parish Picnic. Tickets are available in the sacristies of our churches and at the parish offices. Tickets will be sold after all Masses at St. Patrick's through the month of September.
• The Fifth Annual Border Town Community Picnic takes place at St. Patrick Church on Sunday, September 13. The following will take place at the Picnic…

• A 10:30 BILINGUAL Mass (no 12:00 p.m. Spanish Mass that Day), outside at the grotto, weather permitting.
• A horse-drawn procession (cabalgada) with the Blessed Sacrament after Mass; adoration until 1:00 p.m.
• Kyle Volek at the Grill with Mexican Food Trucks and Street Food for Sale.
• Rummage Sale with Leigh Ann Sokoloff (the St. Anne Rummage Sale will take place next year).
• Three Big Raffle Prizes (50” TV, $400 iPad and Noise-Cancelling Headphones). $5 a Ticket or five for $20
• The 50/50 Raffle Currently stands at $1,500. The more tix we sell, the higher the prize! $10 a ticket or six for $50
• We will have at least TEN basket raffles for $1 tix. Joanne Hermann & Susie Pansa just donated a completed, framed jigsaw puzzle of the Blessed Mother.
• Susan Maki & Marissa Facko will run Games for the Kids 
• Music by the Polka Mass-ters (11:30 – 1:30) and the Fender Benders (1:30 – 3:30 p.m.).
• CCW Teaching how to embroider rugs for the needy
• Knights of Columbus with a Sign-Up Table
• Religious Ed Table with Treats and Sign-Up for RE

If you would like to help or if you have any ideas for the Picnic, please call the Parish Office at (815) 472-2864.

• We are looking for Vendors and Service Projects for our Auctions at Our Community Picnic on September 21. If you can help, please contact the parish office.
• We are taking registrations for the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (English & Spanish)  and our Children in Religious Education. Please Remember that students need to receive their confirmation before they are allowed to celebrate a Quinceañera Mass in Church.
• St. Anne's Complementary Breakfast takes place on September 6 & 20. All we ask is for a suggested donation towards the church’s parking lot. 
• Congratulations to Frank & Virginia Pilotte, who celebrated this 75th Wedding Anniversary with us in Bourbonnais!

For Catholic Daily Reflections (based on the scripture readings of the day),

CLICK HERE!!!

CLICK HERE to Access the Readings for This Sunday's Mass

1973 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

1981 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

1986 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

1993 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

2004 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

2006 St. Patrick's Academy 100th Anniversary Book

2010 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

2016 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

2023 St. Patrick's Church Photo Directory

1960s St. Anne’s Church Photo Directory

1970s St. Anne’s Church Photo Directory

1989 St. Anne’s Church Photo Directory

1998-2004 St. Anne’s Photo Directory

2023 St. Anne's Church Photo Directory

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR OWN APOSTOLIC BLESSING!!!

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

SEPT. 13, 2026

CLICK HERE!

To View St. Anne's Bulletin for

SEPT. 13, 2026

CLICK HERE!

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR SICK: Rick Blanchette, William Brown, Mike, Ashley & Jesse Childress, Mike Cronk, Maria DeLeon, Dave Fieramosca, Herve Gomichon, Linda Goodman, Don Hout, Gustavo Lopez, Jesus Ariel Lopez, Bernardo & Linda Miramontes, Evelyn Provost, Art Schmidt, Frank & Louise 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, 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.

CLICK HERE TO READ ALL OF FR. PETE'S HOMILIES

CLICK HERE for the Parish

Registration Forms in English

(CLICK HERE for Spanish)

CLICK HERE for the Religious Education Registration Forms FOR BOTH PARISHES (CLICK HERE for Spanish)

Click Here to Register for the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (CLICK HERE for Spanish)

Click Here for the Time

& Talent Form in English

(CLICK HERE for Spanish)

Click Here for the Link to All the Parish Forms

Help support our parishes buy purchasing copies of Fr. Pete’s Homiletic Books! You can purchase them at the parishes or online at Amazon.com!

Cycle A Homilies - Cycle B Homilies

Cycle C Homilies

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!!!