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VOICES OF THE MISSION

We hope that this page gives a more “living picture” to what the Mission does- both materially and spiritually! If you’d like to be a “VOICE OF THE MISSION” or if you have a comment/ question, please e-mail HERE.
Click HERE for links to archive pages to older Voices of the Mission entries.

August 14, 2022 - Memorial Garden

Bishop Bob blessed and dedicated the memorial garden built by Home Depot to honor fallen police officer, Ella French. We continue to pray for the repose of her soul and her family. We also continue to pray for all our law enforcement personnel who work very hard here on the west side.

July 24, 2022 - Summer Comings and Goings

Vital Volunteers

 

 

Thank you to our resident summer volunteers who were a HUGE help this summer!

Spreading the Word

 

 

Thank you also to Notre Dame Parish in Clarendon Hills! Franciscans spoke at all the Masses this weekend & we are looking forward to forming a long-term partnership with the parish.
July 16, 2022 - Block Party

Thank you to all who helped with our block party on 7/17! We had over 500 people join us for fun, fellowship, prayer, a food distribution, and the Jesse White Tumblers!

Thanks to Midwest Food Bank for your incredible donation of food that we distributed at the block party.

July 9, 2022 - Little Red Wagons!

We distributed over 200 *NEW WAGONS* full of food at our food pantry this AM! Everyone got to keep their new wagon!

We also gave away 2 blocks worth of clothes and furniture!

THANK YOU TO ALL who helped with this awesome day! God bless!
 
June 19, 2022 - Sr. Alecia Joins National Euchristic Revival Committee

Bishop Bob and Sr. Alicia are helping to plan the National Eucharistic Revival! Sr. Alicia is featured in this video and in L'Osservatore Romano
June-September 2022 - Nights of Mercy

Join us for Nights of Mercy this summer! Each evening will have Adoration with music, confessions, fellowship, and opportunities for street evangelization. Hope to see you!

**If you want to volunteer (e.g. help the Franciscans with street evangelization, serve food, run confession lines etc.), please sign up on the volunteer calendar HERE. Feel free just to come and pray without signing up.

Date

Parish

Location

Address

Time

Friday, Aug. 26

St. Jerome Croatian Church

St. Jerome

2823 S. Princeton Ave., Chicago

 6 PM – 8:30 PM

Friday, Sept. 23

Bl. Carlo Acutis

St. Hedwig

2226 N. Hoyne Ave., Chicago

 6 PM – 8:30 PM

July 15- Night of Mercy

 

 

Thank you to all who helped and came to pray at the Night of Mercy at St. Alphonsus! Many who were invited in the neighborhood during the event came into pray.

June 10 Night of Mercy highlights!
We had hundreds of people join us for our Night of Mercy in Brighton Park at Immaculate Conception/ Five Holy Martyrs. Thank you to all who helped us with this beautiful evening!

May 8,2022 - Praying for Vocations

 

 

Please join us for a Mass and Holy Hour for vocations led by Bishop Bob at Holy Name Cathedral (NOT the Mission)
Friday, May 13 at 5 PM

We will be praying for all vocations - but especially for Sr. Macey and Sr. Emily as they take first vows THE NEXT DAY, as well as all of the deacons of the Archdiocese who will be ordained that weekend.

April 17, 2022 - Easter for Everyone

Happy Easter! We distributed over 450 hams + meals for Easter! Thank you to Notre Dame in Clarendon Hills for the ham donation.
We are still feeding over 550 families per week. Thank you for your continued support.

March 6, 2022 - Sr. Alicia Featured

Sr. Alicia was featured on the Fellowship of Catholic University Student’s blog HERE.

February 28, 2022 - Get Inspired

We’re excited to let you know that Bishop Bob’s full episode of Restored is available on FORMED for free! Watch the trailer for the episode HERE.
Here is how to access the full episode:

Already have a FORMED account?
-Watch the episode HERE.

Create a new FORMED account:

  1. Go to formed.org/signup   
  2. Select your zip code 60651 or Mission of Our Lady of the Angels name (using zip code is easiest)   
  3. Register with your name and email address   
  4. Check that email account for a link to begin using FORMED  
  5. The direct link to watch Bishop Bob’s episode of Restored is HERE 
February 20, 2022 - Feeding Our Friends

 

The Tuesday food pantry continues to be a gigantic event during these cold winter weeks. We’ve been serving over 300 people in person almost every week and doing between 200 and 400 deliveries each week. Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

   
February 6, 2022 - Giving Away What We Get From You

As we continue clearing out the school building, we had a likely record amount of goods distributed at the mobile pantry on 2/5/22. It was over 2 blocks worth of stuff! We also gave away grocery carts full of food.

January 23, 2022 - Vocation Holy Hour
Thank you to the 125+ people who joined us to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life yesterday! See below for the history of the monstrance.

We are hosting a Holy Hour to pray for vocations on Saturday, January 22 at 11 AM at OLA Church! This event is part of the Holy Hours for Vocations organized by Mundelein Seminary. 

The monstrance that will be used for the Holy Hour was a gift to Cardinal Mundelein from Pope Pius XI for the 1926 International Eucharistic Congress in Chicago- attended by over 800,000 people.

The Holy Hour will include a meditation and music. The Church needs holy vocations + we need your prayers!
Please sign up HERE to attend so we can keep you up to date about the event.

Bishop Bob at Immaculate Conception parish in Fall 2021

January 8, 2022 - Sr. Alicia is a Keynote Speaker

Sr. Alicia gave one of the keynote addresses at the March for Life Illinois in Daily Plaza on 1/8/22!

January 1, 2022 - Sr. Stephanie was featured on the Big10 network!

December 25, 2021 - Shoutout from the Greater Chicago Food Depository

Mission OLA's pantry was highlighted on the Greater Chicago Food Depository blog. Check it out HERE.
December 5, 2021 - Born to be Mild

Bishop Bob blessed 1500+ motorcycles and MANY people at the Chicago Toys for Tots parade!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Toys for Tots provides toys for 45,000 at risk and ill youth in the Chicagoland area!

November 28, 2021 - Mission OLA Press Recognition

One of our awesome volunteers, Donna, was featured in the Marian Helpers Magazine as seen HERE.
Sr. Stephanie was featured in the Rockford Register Star speaking about supporting religious life- the Poor Clares and the Franciscans of the Eucharist/ Mission OLA HERE.

October 24, 2021 - Nights of Mercy Highlights

Thank you so much to all who helped with the Nights Mercy between 10/18 and 10/21! We visited 4 parishes to facilitate evenings of Eucharistic Adoration, confession, fellowship, and street evangelization.

October 3, 2021 - Bishop Bob and the Franciscans of the Eucharist are hosting Nights of Mercy

Bishop Bob and the Franciscans of the Eucharist are hosting Nights of Mercy- evenings of Adoration, confession, and music- on October 18-21. Each evening is 6 pm to 9 pm at the following locations:

Monday, October 18- Nativity of Our Lord
Tuesday, October 19- St. Hyacinth
Wednesday, October 20- Immaculate Conception (44th St) 
Thursday, October 21- St. Paul (Pilsen) 

All are welcome to come! See you then!
September 12, 2021 - Help for Body and Soul

 

We are excited to welcome Loyola Medical School back to the mobile pantry to do checkups and provide tips on preventative health care. They haven’t been back since the beginning of COVID.

 
September 5, 2021 - Student Volunteer Video

Jacob, one of our summer students, created a great video discussing the history of the food pantry! Check it out!
July 11, 2021 - Support / Participate in the BACK TO SCHOOL Party

Back to school party is on Saturday, August 14. Volunteer time is 10 am to 2 pm.

Donate on WISH LIST
E-mail Sr. Stephanie at olamission@gmail.com to run a drive with your parish/ group

Sign up to volunteer:
New volunteer
Returning volunteer

Thanks and see you then!

May 2, 2021 - May Crowning

 

 

 

Happy May- month of Mary! We had our May crowning in our chapel this AM.

Jacob, one of our summer students, created a great video discussing the history of the food pantry! Check it out!
April 25 2021 - Congrats to Sr. Laura / Bishop Bob's First Ordination

Sr. Laura is in temporary vows, which is a 3-5 year period after the completion of initial formation before final vows. Vows are renewed annually during temporary vows.
Learn more about the vows the Franciscans of the Eucharist take HERE.

Bishop Bob also did his first ordination! Congrats Fr. Michael Dorn, OFM Cap. whom Bishop Bob ordained!

March 28, 2021 - Feeding the Hungry

Thank you to ALL who have been donating food so generously this Lent! We are especially excited to celebrate with our Easter pantry this Tuesday. We will be giving out chocolate bunnies, hams, potatoes, strawberries, and many other items!

Thank you especially to St. Benedict Parish/ School (Irving Park), St. Alphonsus Parish/ School (Chicago), and Notre Dame High School (Niles).

March 7, 2021 - Remember the Mission on Your Lenten Journey

How to help the Mission this Lent!
February 28, 2021 - Home Depot Doers Get More Done!

THANK YOU, Home Depot, for your amazing gift of materials, volunteers, and money to help support the school renovation project. We are so grateful for your generosity.
November 22 - Pantry in the News

 

Great article from Our Sunday Visitor on the Mission’s pantries HERE.
American Airlines also highlighted their awesome donation to our pantries in this article HERE.

 

October 11 - Bishop-Elect Bob in the News

 

 

 

Bishop-Elect Bob was featured in the Notre Dame Magazine. Check it out HERE!
June 14 - Graduation Congratulations

 

 

Congrats to Sr. Jess on her graduation from DePaul! Sr. Jess graduated with a Master of Arts in Teaching in order to be licensed to teach religion in Catholic Schools. Sr. Jess will be teaching religion at a Catholic School (hopefully) starting in the fall (pending COVID closures etc.).

June 7 - Space to Play

We are now the proud owners of this lot, which is the last piece of land we needed for our green space, play space, and parking lot plan. We will be transforming this lot into a place for kids to play later this summer or fall.

May 31 - Sr. Emily Visits With Her Home Parish Priest

Sr. Emily was interviewed by her home parish pastor, Fr. Tom, about her entrance into the novitiate! Check out the video. (direct YouTube page HERE)
March 8 - Seniors Program Going Strong

Our senior citizen’s program continues to grow! We have about 40-50 seniors attend our program each week for exercise class, Bible study, and lunch. The group has helped stabilize social and material networks for these seniors, many of whom are raising grandchildren and greatgrandchildren without a stable source of income.
Here is a picture from our Mardi Gras party for our seniors!
March 1 - Mission OLA Receives Recognition

Lots of recognition and press this week!

The Archdiocesan Council of Priests recognized the Mission for its work at its awards banquet last week. Here are the Franciscans receiving the award.

Br. Matt and Sr. Jess were interviewed as part of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s celebration of consecrated life. Interviews HERE.

Sr. Stephanie was featured by Fleet Feet as part of Mission of Our Lady of the Angels being Fleet Feet’s charity of the month. Article HERE. Album of pictures HERE.

February 23 - LENT 2020

 

 

 

Please see our Lent 2020 page HERE.

February 1 - Big Help with Big Food Delivery

Thank you to Morton Christian Apostolic Church and our other awesome volunteers who helped unload 34 pallets of food for the Tuesday pantry on 2/1/20!

January 20, 2020 - Please Consider Volunteering this Summer

Are you a college students or a recent college grad? We’d love for you to consider volunteering at the Mission this summer! Here is some basic info:
-Live in community with other volunteers in Chicago
-Help the Franciscans of the Eucharist of Chicago with their outreach to the poor- mainly through summer camps for 5-12 year olds 
-Dates flexible. Date guideline- June 1 to Aug 1 
-Room and board provided
-Contact Sr. Stephanie for more info/ to apply: olamission@gmail.com
December 1, 2019 - Record Food Pantry Turnout

We had record number 294 people at the Tuesday food pantry on 11/26! We think we gave out over 800 turkeys this Thanksgiving. Thank you for all of your amazing support!
Tuesday food pantry was featured in Chicago Catholic HERE.

November 17, 2019 - Mission Featured in St. Anthony Messenger
Thank you St. Anthony Messenger for featuring the Mission in your magazine! Article HERE (PDF).
November 10, 2019 - Sr. Kate and the story of Mission of Our Lady of the Angels featured on Irish TV!
November 3, 2019 - Fr. Bob / Sr. Jess Media

Thank you SO much to Outside da Box films for the amazing documentary on Fr. Bob and the Mission OLA story. We are so grateful for all of the time and effort put into this beautiful film!
Watch the full movie here: https://storiesofencounter.com/#purchase
You can all purchase small group/ educational materials that go along with the movie.

Sr. Jess’ vocation story was featured by the vocation office!
October 26, 2019 - Kelly Hall YMCA Recognized

As many know, the Mission partners with the YMCA and the Greater Chicago Food Depository to run Kelly Hall, our outreach center for youth. Trevon, one of the graduates of our program was honored at the Metro Chicago YMCA awards dinner this week in this awesome video!
August 25, 2019 Garden/ Landscape Improvements

Our garden continues to produce tons of vegetables for our pantry! We are also grateful for Joel at USA Landscaping for helping us to redo the street island landscaping on Iowa St.

August 11, 2019 Garden Distribution at Pantry & an Award Nomination!

Our new garden has been very successful! We have been distributing produce from our garden at the Tuesday and the 1st Saturday pantries. We are so grateful to all who made these gardens possible.
The Mission is part of the City of Chicago’s nomination for the Engaged Cities award, which highlights cities where the local government have been effectively working with citizens to provide grassroots solutions to difficult urban problems. Info HERE.

July 14, 2019 Joanna (Camino Project) Starts Her Journey for Mission OLA

We are so excited to be working with The Camino Project! The Camino Project is sending a young woman named Joanna to walk the Camino to raise funds and support for Mission of Our Lady of the Angels! Joanna will be walking 500 miles in a month and a half to raise money and awareness for the Mission. Please keep her in your prayers. She left today (7/14/19). Donate to her effort HERE. Joanna is the woman in this picture who is not Sr. Stephanie.
July 6, 2019 Matress Giveaway at Food Pantry

We distributed over 80 mattresses as part of the mobile food pantry on 7/6! We are so grateful to ALL who made this possible.

June 2019 The Teen Group from Mary Seat of Wisdom Helps Out

 

 

We had an amazing week with the teen group from Mary Seat of Wisdom! We worked in the gardens, on the construction project, and at the pantry.

 
May 2019 Thank You to All the Student Groups

Thank you to the MANY college and high school groups that have visited us throughout the spring break/ end of school service season here. We are very grateful.
A group of college varsity athletes came from all over the country to visit us for a Mission trip last week (via FOCUS- Fellowship of Catholic University Students). They ran sports camps for kids at Kelly Hall as well as at the schools where Sr. Alicia and Sr. Stephanie teach. Of course, we also used their athletic skills for the construction project as well! Thanks for all of your help!
May 2019 Fr. Bob's Mission OLA Movie

Fr. Bob and the story of Mission of Our Lady of the Angels will be very soon featured in a documentary. Here is the preview! Get excited about the full length version.

Episode 3: Fr. Bob Lombardo & Mission of Our Lady of the Angels
April 2019 Thank You: Tuesday Pantry Volunteers / Please Join Us

We have been blessed to have MANY groups help us at our new and huge Tuesday pantry! We’d love to have your high school or corporate (or other adult) group join us for the pantry. It’s from 7:45 AM to 12 PM. If your group would like to come to Mass, they are welcome to come to Mass in the convent at 7 AM on Tuesdays.

Please contact Sr. Stephanie at olamission@gmail.com to schedule your group.

Here is a picture of St. Augustine High School (San Diego, CA) students who joined us on 4/23.

April 2019 Thank You: Seeds of Service / Immaculate Conception Cathedral

Thank you to Seeds of Service from St. Isaac Jogues, Hinsdale, for your incredible truck load of food and baby products! We are very grateful.

Thank you also to the young adults from Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Springfield for coming all the way here to help us on 4/13.

March 2019 Flower and Garden show cooking demonstration
Summer 2018 - Three Projects

The Mission will be involved with 3 separate development projects this summer:
-the school
-900/902 N. Avers will be a new parking lot And
- 3802 W. Chicago Ave will be a new green space/ parking lot/ basketball court

The 3802 W. Chicago Ave is generously being paid for via FEMA/ the City of Chicago. The space will soon be covered with permeable pavement for parking/ basketball as well as garden space. Here are some pictures of the 3802 W. Chicago Ave. project right now. 
New Year’s 2018 - Unique ways to help the Mission!

Do you have a skill set or talent that you think is underutilized? Well, do we have news for you! We can probably use it here. If you’re looking for a new year’s resolution think about helping the Mission!
Here is a great example. Bruce (see picture) is an excellent carpenter. He has been helping the Mission with minor repairs + even built Mary a new place in the convent now that the sisters live there. Of particular interest, this statue of Mary is the only item we have that survived the school fire.
We have many needs coming up with the school. Please don’t be shy and tell us about how you might be able to help by e-mailing HERE.

Voices of the Mission Archive 2016-2017 here
 
April 16. 2017 - TEAM OLA 2016 Experiences - Click here for videos
 
September 9, 2016 - Mission Experiences - Click here for more information and videos
 
August 6, 2016 - Mobile Pantry - Click here for more information and videos
   
  Mission of Our Lady of the Angels  
Call Us / FAQs 3808 W. Iowa St., Chicago, IL 60651 Send e-mail (olamission@gmail.com)