Sr. Jess was blessed to go to Italy with the Archdiocese Office of Vocations to pray for vocations to the Archdiocese! The group got to meet Pope Leo & visit many awesome places in Italy! 

We had to replace the hallway floor of the outreach center over the last few weeks. We are grateful for our many benefactors who made the project possible! Thank you as well to the ~50 people from St. Clement’s Parish who joined us to help clean up the huge mess after the floor was done.

We hosted the Mass remembering and praying for the victims on  67th anniversary of the OLA school fire last Sunday (11/30). We were blessed that the Chicago Fire Department Honor Guard joined us to remember that tragic day.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen

The Franciscans organized and ran a confirmation retreat for about 200 kids in Cary, IL on 10/25/25! The students had various forms of opportunities to pray, including a Eucharistic procession, Adoration, and confession. It was an amazing day! See more about the retreats the Franciscans do HERE.

We were blessed to help with the Pope Leo XIV Mass at Sox Park on Saturday, June 14!
We were also blessed to be featured in some associated press.
Sr. Stephanie in the Tribune
Sr. Maggie in the Tribune (caption the picture/ go near the picture)
Community on ABC 7

Franciscan graduates

Sr. Macey and Sr. Emily graduated with their MTS (Master’s in Theological Studies) from University of St. Mary of the Lake this spring! Congrats to Sr. Macey and Sr. Emily.
All Franciscans attend University of St. Mary of the Lake to get a degree as part of their formation.

The Franciscans are THRILLED about our new Pope, Pope Leo XIV! A Chicagoan, a missionary, a religious, a heart for the poor, a love for the Eucharist- ALL the things we love! Please pray for our new Pope! We will be praying!

Thank you to Home Depot for bringing tons of dirt, mulch, and other supplies to get all our properties cleaned up and ready for the spring! We are so grateful for the continued support of the Home Depot!

Joining with the Universal Church in praying for the repose of the soul of our Holy Father Pope Francis and thanking God for the blessings poured out on the Church (and our community!) during his pontificate. We are especially grateful for Pope Francis for appointing Bishop Bob to the episcopacy and for his focus on the poor among us. May he rest in peace.

We had an incredible Holy Week here at Mission OLA !! 

• We had a women’s retreat with about 200 women in attendance over Palm Sunday weekend.

• We had an Easter pantry complete with hams and Easter baskets!

• We received some incredible end of Lent donations- including pallet jacks and tons of diapers!

• We visited a bunch of parishes throughout the Archdiocese for some awesome liturgies and Holy Week events

Here are some pictures to highlight the week!

Thanks to the students and faculty of Michigan State University medical school who joined us for almost an entire week to help with medical screenings and the pantry. The group also helped at our after-school and seniors’ program.

2025 has started out with some twists and turns!

1. Our normal food supply has been significantly lower than normal.

2. The Greater Chicago Food Depository is no longer funding our first Saturday pantry. We will now be purchasing the food ourselves.

3. The diaper program funding is essentially all gone. We are now also purchasing all of our own diapers (estimated 45,000 diapers a month). 

   Help by:
   1. -Purchasing diapers off the Amazon wish list
      
      -Donating for food purchases
      
      -Running a food drive. Contact Sr. Stephanie at olamission@gmail.com to organize a food drive.
      
      THANK YOU to those who have donated so far!! Mission OLA led to Amazon running out of size 5 diapers!

We were very blessed to host 2 seniors from Saint Ignatius College Prep - Chicago and 2 seminarians from the Diocese of Green Bay for most of January!
They helped with our food pantry, seniors program, our work in schools, and, of course, moving food/ items and cleaning.
They were a huge help to us here at Mission OLA!