St. Raphael is seeking a full time Parish Secretary, to provide a variety of general administrative duties including: coordinating arrangements for funerals and weddings, sacramental record keeping, and preparing electronic communications. Secretarial experience with excellent typing skills, and knowledge of Microsoft Office is required. Familiarity with a large Catholic parish environment is much desired. This position requires self-direction, excellent people skills, sensitivity to confidentiality, and an ability to work in a team environment. Contact Marian Johnston at mjohnston@st-raphael.com, or mail your resume to the parish, attention: Marian Johnston.
St. Raphael’s annual plant sale is on!
Click here to view available plants and flowers.
St. Raphael School Annual Plant Sale
Pre-sale Orders Only
Orders Due Friday, April 23
Pick up on the Church/School front Lawn along Modaff:
Friday, May 14, 3-7 pm
Saturday, May 15, 8-11 am
Online Ordering link: https://straphaelplantsale.myshopify.com
You Can Order Your Mulch To Be Delivered directly through Home Landscape and they will donate proceeds to our Plant Sale.
Graduation, Confirmation, Last Day of School, Start of Summer…. so many reasons to spruce up your yards and patios with hanging baskets, potted planters, annuals, perennials and more! Purchase as gifts for teachers, coaches, friends/neighbors, grandparents, etc…
Sponsored by: St Raphael School 7th Grade. This is the primary fundraiser for 8th Grade events including caps and gowns, graduation dinner dance, and the fall 8th grade class retreat.
Thank You To Home Landscape Materials for the generosity and support of St Raphael Parishioners, Tom and Lynne Tuch. The profit from the sale of all the plants during the plant sale are donated by Home Landscape Materials, Inc. which is located at 75 Route 53, Bolingbrook, IL 60440 www.homelandscape.net Contact Plant Sale Coordinators Natalie Hill (nmhill1@hotmail.com 630-920-3872) and Anita Benton (anita.benton@outlook.com 773-991-8366) for more information.
St. Raphael spirit wear open to parish families, too.
Hello St. Raphael Families!
Thanks to BoomerTs we have some great Spring Spirit Wear options again! Some are the same in case you missed out in the Fall and we have added some exciting new items! The link below will be active through Sunday, April 25th. Orders can be made and paid for online. There are many color and logo options per item, just click on the item to make your selection!
Orders will take about 10 days and we will let you know when they are in! We will be distributing them at school, they will not be delivered to your house. https://straphaelspring21.itemorder.com/sale Please contact Meghan Maxwell (630.788.6960 megmaxwell29@gmail.com) or Heidi Kight (312.339.9233 heidi.kight@gmail.com) with any questions.
Monthly Taizé Night Prayers
Sr. Briege McKenna books available
St Raphael has been fortunate enough to acquire a limited number of books referenced during our last Parish Mission with Sister Briege McKenna. They are now available for purchase online.Sister Briege’s inspiring message of healing and the power of the Sacraments in her life gave our mission goers hope and their spirits uplifted in her personal account of how our lives can be changed as we seek out and encounter Christ in our faith journeys. These books are a must read in this turbulent time in our world.
Miracles Do Happen by Sr. Briege McKenna
The Power of the Sacraments by Sr. Briege McKenna
I Will Come Myself (Experiencing the Risen Christ) by Father Kevin Scanlon
Prayer ministry
Parishioners with an immediate prayer request should email Barry O’Donnell with the request. It then will go out to the prayer team via email for the team to offer prayers for that need. Please email bodonnell@st-raphael.com.
New ionization sanitation system installed in Church
We are delighted to announce that on Thursday, August 20th, we installed a needlepoint ionization sanitation system in our Church. The system works with the overhead units and the technology works to safely clean the air inside the building. Bipolar ionization is capable of killing viruses that are spread through droplets from coughing and sneezing as well as the germs that live on surfaces where an infected person has made contact.
In this case needlepoint bipolar ionization is a multi-purpose solution for targeting germs within a building. After 30 minutes the overall average decrease in an active virus is 99.89%. These units will have multiple benefits for our Parish Community. Please click here to read additional information on the system.
Funeral Planning
Need info for this new section.
RPM Events & Trips
Through RPM teens will also have the opportunity to experience nationwide conferences like NCYC (National Catholic Youth Conference) and the Steubenville Conference, which have the best speakers, music, workshops, and thousands of other Catholic teens in attendance. These weekends have been very transformational for those who have attended!
Join us for our annual summer mission trip! Each year we go for a week somewhere new to serve those in need. Projects include extensive painting, building wheelchair ramps, fixing decks/porches, yard work, and other house repairs. The times we aren’t working at our resident’s home we are enjoying free time or the fun Jesus centered programing. It’s a life-changing week not only for the resident you serve, but for you as well!
Contact
Chris Traub at (630) 615-7609 or ctraub@st-raphael.com
Spiritual Direction
Spiritual direction is “help given by one Christian to another which enables that person to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with this God, and to live out the consequences of the relationship.” (William A. Barry and William J. Connolly, The Practice of Spiritual Direction)
- Spiritual direction focuses on religious experience. It is concerned with a person’s actual experience of a relationship with God.
- Spiritual direction is about a relationship. The religious experience is not isolated, nor does it consist of extraordinary events. It is what happens in an ongoing relationship between the person and God. Most often this is a relationship that is experienced in prayer.
- Spiritual direction is a relationship that is going somewhere. God is leading the person to deeper faith and more generous service. The spiritual director asks not just “what is happening?” but “what is moving forward?”
- The real spiritual director is God. God touches the human heart directly. The human spiritual director does not “direct” in the sense of giving advice and solving problems. Rather, the director helps a person respond to God’s invitation to a deeper relationship.
Please contact Deacon Kurt, 630-615-7607, regarding more information on obtaining a Spiritual Director.