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SFdS is Officially a Teaching Parish

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Starting this Fall, we will be blessed to welcome up to three seminarians into our community through the seminary’s Tolton Teaching Parish Program. This program allows seminarians to spend time each week at SFdS—learning practical and pastoral skills, serving alongside our group leaders, and getting to know our parish family personally as they discern the ministerial priesthood.

This is a momentous milestone and a true testament to our parish’s legacy. The Archdiocese and Mundelein Seminary recognize St. Francis de Sales as a leader, and now our community gets to play an active role in forming and shaping the future priests of our Church!

In return, our parish will be enriched by their witness, prayers, and service in our ministries, youth programs, and Religious Education.

While we do not yet know who will be assigned to us, please join Fr. Christian in praying for our incoming seminarians and for an increase in vocations to the priesthood. We can't wait to walk alongside them on this journey!

Church Background Series: The Design Committee

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In 1985, Father Richard Valker was pastor as it was becoming very clear that we needed a larger church. We had been saying Mass in our second church space which was in the school building, where the school offices, and kindergarten classrooms are now. Father asked a group of about 10 to research the need for a church and the possibility that our parish could support a building campaign. We did a lot of research on the possibilities that our corner of Lake County would have continued population growth. As we look back, we see that the growth of the area was even more than we anticipated. So we contacted the Archdiocese to let them know we would be designing and building a new church building.

Church Background Series: Our Altar

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We dedicated our church in 1991 when Cardinal Joseph Bernardin said Mass in the new building. It was a great event. The Cardinal went to the 4 walls of the church and used Sacred Chrism to anoint four crosses hanging on the walls. Then he went to the altar. It had never been used before and was completely bare, no cloths or candles. He took the cruet of Sacred Chrism, pushed up the sleeves of his chasuble, then poured a pool of Chrism on the altar the size of a dinner plate. He placed his hands in the oil and rubbed the entire top of our altar with the Chrism. Thus, our new altar was blessed and made ready to hold the Body and Blood of Christ at our Masses.