Keep in mind our annual BLESSING OF PETS is today (Saturday, October 4 th ) at 12 noon, under the Church canopy. Be sure your pets are leashed or contained!

During this RESPECT LIFE month of October, let us pay heed to the words of the late Cardinal Bernardin, that all human life is sacred and must be respected from conception to natural death. This “seamless garment” principal means that a commitment to human dignity must be applied consistently across all issues, including abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, poverty, war, racism and environmental concerns. A consistent ethic of life calls for a holistic approach to justice that challenges our “picking and choosing” who deserves our respect. May Holy Mary, the mother of God, pray for us, and guide us.

Our Parish’s 60 th Anniversary Fest last month was a very joyous event. Our choir did an amazing job leading beautiful music during our Mass in Church. Along with myself and Fr. Paul (and with Deacon Joe assisting), Fr. Jerry Jacob (who delivered the homily), Fr. Rich Yanos, Fr. Bob Heidenreich, Fr. Tomy Abraham, and Fr. Kurt Boras concelebrated. Deacon Greg Beeber helped distribute Communion. Sister Carrie Miller joined us for Mass and the outdoor Fest afterward, as did our Parish sons, seminarians Kevin Ellis and Cody Beeber. After Mass, we moved outside, to the parking lot, for dinner music by Joe DeLuca while everyone ate a delicious meal under the tent. Volleyball was played on the lawn by our young people. The History Table that WOSE painstakingly put together was viewed by many. Thirty-one incredible raffle baskets were on display for people to buy tickets for. After dinner, our children’s choir, The Minor Miracles, entertained us in the Parish Center with a delightful 30-minute show, led by Allison Blomeke. Then our Snack Theater Reunion performers, led by Maureen Durack, took the stage for a terrific thirty-minute musical of their own! The evening concluded outside with live music from the band “Oh, Yes”. Many Parishioners and many of our Parish Groups worked very hard to make this milestone event a huge success. They did this under the leadership of JoAnn Tennenbaum , who coordinated everything with great skill and precision. Thank you, JoAnn, and EVERYONE who helped plan this event for months, and who worked so hard last week to provide a most blessed celebration of our St. Edna 60 th Anniversary.

Season 5 of THE CHOSEN has begun and is off to a great start. The series is shown on Wednesday evenings and is repeated on Thursday mornings.

Another round of ALPHA has begun. This eleven-week program includes dinner, a short video presentation and inspiring small-group discussion.

My grateful thanks to everyone who has given donations toward the Teen Center Renovation . The room is being used now, and the new look is amazing. God bless all our donors who continue to believe in the Youth of our Parish!

Parents, thanks for keeping your kids safe! St. Edna is a very welcoming place (as we all know), and thank God, we’re a very safe place, too, and we want to make sure St. Edna remains a safe place. Thus, it’s very important for parents to keep a sharp eye on their small, young children so they don’t wander through any part of our buildings alone , where they could possibly be harmed or even snatched away. Sadly, the world we live in has predators seeking vulnerable children for evil purposes. We can never presume that our kids are 100% safe, just because they are in our Church building or on our Church property. Please monitor your kids when they need to use the restrooms, and please, never allow them the opportunity to wander alone near our exit doors.

More SCAM EMAILS  and  SCAM TEXTS  are going around again. Never believe them . Some are supposedly from me, or from our Deacons, or from Fr. Paul, asking you to contact us, or to purchase gift cards for us to distribute to other people. Don’t be fooled. We would NEVER ask you to do this kind of thing, no matter “how busy” these messages say we might be. Just DELETE these scam requests and save yourself some major headaches  and financial losses .  

Always be EXTREMELY CAREFUL when exiting our Parking Lot and making the left turn onto Arlington Heights Road to travel south. We have always hired (and we still do) Arlington Heights police officers for traffic control at our Saturday evening 5pm Mass and at two of our Sunday morning Masses, but less and less officers are signing up for this detail, so please be very cautious, and, as always, be extra kind and patient to your fellow drivers exiting our parking lot. Thank you!

Our Adoration Chapel is a wonderful place to find some personal peace. Pray before the EUCHARISTIC LORD Monday through Friday from 7am to 7pm. Enter the Chapel through Door 4.

The parents of any interested boys or girls who would like to be ALTAR SERVERS should contact the Parish Office at 847 398-3362. Veronica (Ronny) Erxleben provides the training for our Altar Servers.

Our Rosary Group is praying a continuous SPIRITUAL BOUQUET   “for peace in the world” , so please continue praying Rosaries and  Hail Mary’s  and letting Tomi Gaudio know at  tomig@comcast.net  so she can keep count. As of this writing, over 492,783 Hail Mary’s have been prayed.

Our St. Edna 60 th Anniversary Cookbooks are loaded with many wonderful recipes. You can always purchase them at the Parish Office.

You can also purchase our beautiful, 60 th Anniversary Keepsake Ornaments at the Parish Office.

Our Parish Grounds look so beautiful, thanks to the efforts of our Gardening for God volunteers.

Bottles of Holy Water are available for you to take home. Parishioner and Usher Lew Walloch donated the bottles to the Parish. They are in a basket in the Narthex. Please take one bottle per family.

May our God of peace be with us. Please keep praying for peace and calm in our world and in our nation. Don’t give in to despair. Stay close to Jesus and to the Blessed Mother. Do what you can to peaceably build the Kingdom of God in our midst. May the Lord protect us and bless us.

Fr. Darrio