Pastor’s Letter: August 24, 2025

Pastor’s Letter: August 24, 2025

22 Aug 2025 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family, 

Blessings to you all this day! I hope everyone is well and joy-filled this weekend! As the school year is off and going, I have been thinking quite a bit about education…especially here at our parish where we work to foster an encounter with Jesus for our students. I have also been thinking about becoming a professor! Well…not a professor in the way you might be thinking. =)

This coming Thursday/Friday, I’ll be up at Mundelein Seminary for a workshop on the “Tolton Teaching Parish Program.” This program oversees our seminarians’ interactions with the parishes where they are visiting/serving during the school year. As shared by Mundelein Seminary, the program “aims to foster the seminarians’ growth in their call to be shepherds and teachers of the people of God.” Continuing, the program “provides a space and a time for seminarians to develop human qualities, pastoral sensitivities and practical skills for ministry…”

By the way, the program is named after Father Augustus (or sometimes Augustine) Tolton, who was the first Black Catholic priest in the United States. If you are not familiar with his story, I would recommend reading more about him. The Archdiocese of Chicago (where he served the last years of his life) offers this website:  tolton.archchicago.org/about/biography For a short summary, the Diocese of Springfield (where he served at the beginning of his priesthood) offers this brief overview: “The story of Quincy’s Venerable Father Augustine Tolton inspires, motivates, and is a reminder God has a plan for all of us – no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in. From a slave in Missouri to the nation’s first black priest who started his ministry in Quincy, Father Tolton lived a life of deep faith, humility, and perseverance. He carried daily crosses of racism, prejudice, and hatred with love, and he was dedicated to leading others to God. Father Tolton is a man who lived a life of truly heroic virtue and is well on the path toward his sainthood being formally recognized by the Catholic Church. In the meantime, we can continue to ask for his intercession, honor this servant of God, and remember that no matter how ordinary we think we are – we can all overcome the odds to do extraordinary things, to live a heroic Christian life and become a saint.”

Acknowledging the inspiration from Venerable Father Tolton, the Teaching Parish Program asks us to provide our seminarians with ministry experiences and opportunities to learn, both from our priests and from our people. As the pastor for the seminarians who visit our parish, the seminary views me as an adjunct faculty member (which is where the professor part comes in =) ). In addition to my interaction with the seminarians, the program also calls for a group of parish members to be available to meet with the seminarians to share about parish life, give feedback on ministry experiences and of course to pray for the seminarians. We are blessed to have a nice group of parish staff, leaders, and parishioners who are able to meet with our seminarians during their time with us.

In a number of my assignments through the years, I have been blessed to host several seminarians, and I view our role in supporting our seminarians as one of the most important things that we do! Helping our seminarians to see the joy of the priesthood and the gift of our life with our people in the parish is truly a great honor. It is a great testament to our parish that our Diocese and the Seminary see it as a good place for our seminarians to grow! This academic year, Jonathan Puckett will once again be with us on mostly alternating weekends. As we did last year, we will plan to have Jonathan present and helping out with Masses, visiting our Sunday Faith Formation classes, as well as joining in for other weekend events/activities. One specific thing I have asked Jonathan to assist with is helping provide “make up” classes for people in our OCIA who miss certain nights/topics. I’ve also asked Jonathan to be involved with marriage preparation, beginning to walk with one of our couples preparing for marriage.

Please look forward to greeting Jonathan when he returns here the weekend of Sept 6/7…and in the meantime, let us pray for Jonathan and all of our seminarians, that they will continue growing as good Christian men, being open to following God’s will, and striving to follow faithfully where God is calling them. Know of my prayers and blessing for you all this week.

In Christ, 

Father Luke