The Future of St. Rose Church (now closed), Kankakee, will be addressed by Bishop R. Daniel Conlon:
Saturday, March 24, 2018 2:00 pm
Knights of Columbus Hall
187 S. Indiana Ave., Kankakee
Please come to show your concern, and to voice your opposition to the church being sold. We already have one run down, eye-sore in town of what was once a beautiful, Cath0lic church, St. Mary’s. That is the legacy of the late Bishop Imesch, who would rather sell it – – I was told for the price of $90,000 — rather than entrust it to a traditionalist group of priests. I know this for a fact because I wrote to him with this proposal, and in his response. he flatly said he would not do that. At least he had the decency to respond, unlike Bishop Conlon.
In September of last year, I wrote to Bishop Conlon, asking that St. Rose be used as a parish for the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass. Below is a copy of my letter, a letter to which he never bothered to respond:
Diocese of Joliet
Blanchette Catholic Center
16555 Weber Road
Crest Hill, IL 60403
September 25, 2017
Dear Bishop Conlon:
I am writing in regard to St. Rose of Lima church in Kankakee. As you know, some of us have been praying and working to see the church restored to full use once more. St. Rose was my parish since…. [personal background deleted] I am no longer on the parish roll, but I have hopes of participating in parish life there once more.
When Summorum Pontificum was promulgated by Pope Benedict in ’07, some of us in the parish earnestly started to look outside the diocese for the nearest traditional Latin Mass. That was before the FSSP was invited into the diocese by Bishop Sartain, who, by the way, was gracious enough to permit us the TLM at St. Rose whenever possible. Those who left St. Rose to be spiritually fed elsewhere [where the sacraments were offered in the traditional form] were primarily young, large, homeschooling families. With us, we took our monetary contributions, much talent, and the many able and willing helping hands of husbands and our numerous children and youth. Gone was a flower arranger, choir people, servers, catechists, a translator, food preparers, etc.
St. Rose need not close. Our last TLM under Fr. Thoppil was a Sunday Mass which nearly filled the entire church. It was truly amazing! I understand your polite refusal to invite the Institute of Christ the King into the diocese, since as you said, you already had the FSSP here, and preferred to work with them. I do know, however, that the Institute would still be ready and willing to assist you to keep St. Rose, not only viable, but to make it thrive and prosper.
I had been told that the Fraternity of St. Peter was willing to come to St. Rose, [to begin, on a monthly basis] but of course, they would need your permission and blessing, something that obviously has not happened.
Another thing of which we are aware, is that you wanted to entrust St. Anne parish to the canons of St. John Cantius. If you would rather have them instead of the Fraternity or the Institute, could you please consider entrusting St. Rose to them? The former parishioners of St. Rose who left were from Kankakee, St. Anne, Herscher and Bourbonnais. Several of the young people are now married and starting families of their own. Can you imagine the asset we could all be to the Joliet diocese? I believe that many would willingly come back if only we could be spiritually fed with the traditional Latin Mass which, as stated in the Motu Propio, “was never abrogated”, although we were led to believe it was.
Thank you for your attention, Bishop Conlon. Know that you are in my sincerest prayers.
In the most Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Readers might recall a past posting on this blog regarding Bishop Conlon’s attitude towards the Traditional Latin Mass: http://kankakeelatinmass.altaredesign.com/2011/05/17/steubenville-bishop-will-head-diocese-of-joliet-ill-catholic-news-agency-cna/
Please come and attend this important meeting!
If Conlon sells St. Rose, more than likely it will not remain standing to eventually become a run-down legacy of his tenure. Rumors are that it will be razed for a parking lot. If so, never put another penny into the Joliet diocesan coffers. Instead support the traditionalists communities and their missions. It’s only just.
