Dear friends,
Christmas greetings from Mission of Our Lady of the Angels!

Thanks to the generosity of so many of you, we have continued to expand our weekly Tuesday food pantry and completed our new Adoration chapel!  Our pantry is now serving over 1000 families and distributing 60,000 lbs. of food every month. 2019 was the first year our neighbors could depend on us as a consistent source of meat, produce, AND dairy EVERY WEEK.
One of our neighbors shared that she is “food secure for the first time in 30 years.” She went on to share, “I finally don’t need to worry about how I’ll get food to make it until the end of the month.” This woman’s story is not unique. As we’ve been able to distribute a greater variety and quantity of fresh food, we’ve heard from countless pantry patrons that they are food secure for the first time in decades.
Our Eucharistic Adoration chapel in the school is complete and open! We had Adoration for the first time in the space in November and are excited about the imminent expansion of the chapel’s use.
EXCITING UPDATE- we just got the building permit for the school this week!  We’ve been waiting over 1 ½ years for permit approval! We can’t wait for the project to kick into high gear in 2020. Keep up to date on the school renovation project at www.missionola.com/school.html . Our most pressing concern is the replacement of 2 boilers on our premises. The school boiler project was completed in October. However, the original boiler that heats the church/rectory ALSO needs to be completely replaced. Many have been extraordinarily generous to help us keep “bandaging” this boiler to make it this long, but we have officially reached the point of no return. Right now, essentially the only temperature control is “ON and OFF” and we’ve already had a complete breakdown this heating season. The replacement cost is estimated to be over $150,000. On top of this, one of the boilers in the convent unexpectedly cracked at the end of the 2018-2019 heating season and very likely needs to be replaced in the coming year as well. We invite you to help us be heat secure so we can make sure our neighbors are food secure! Please consider making a donation!
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I am also happy to share with you that the Franciscans of the Eucharist welcomed three new postulants, Libby, Macey, and Emily, into our community in August. We are so grateful that the Lord continues to bless our community with vocations. Please continue to pray for vocations to our community.

The growth of our community has proved an opportunity for us to contemplate our long term financial stability. We would like to invite you to consider including the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels or the Franciscans of the Eucharist of Chicago in your estate or will, or as the beneficiaries of your tax-free IRA roll over. Please see THIS PAGE to explore these possibilities. 

As always, this letter can only capture a fraction of the amazing work that God is doing at the Mission. We have Franciscans serving as religion teachers in local, poor Catholic schools, doing evangelization and young adult ministry in conjunction with the Archdiocese, and partnering with parishes to help them in their evangelization and catechesis efforts. The Lord has led people to return to the Church, to the sacraments, and to increase their regular involvement in the Church through our work.

Stay up to date with Mission events at www.missionola.com! Know of our gratitude for your support, prayers, and generosity, without which our work would not be possible. Be assured of remembrance in our daily prayers and Masses.

Please let me know if you have any special intentions you would like us to pray for (e-mail olamission@gmail.com with any prayer intentions).

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May God bless you,