There is a lot that I do not agree with relative to Archbishop Cupich…an instance would be his comments on that cold January day in DesPlaines at the Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine when he raised his hands and commented “Do Not Shoot”. He disrespected all law enforcement, including the many families of murdered Chicago and Cook County police officers…that said let us go to an issue that I applaud him for…

Renew My Church…

When he came to the Archdiocese he reorganized the curia (pastoral center) and installed a chief financial officer, who happens to be a woman with a track record of financial acumen. This was a good start to place the archdiocese in the right direction. He did not do what  Joseph Cardinal Bernadin and Monsignor George Sarauskas did some years back and closed without discussion @80 parishes; including our beloved Saint George parish in the Bridgeport community. Archbishop Cupich and Bishop Wypych are approaching this in a very logical way together with their staffs; and most importantly with the parishes, shrines and missions. To be brief, the plan Archbishop Cupich has presented is for the ministry sites to gather in small groups. They should review their sacramentals; ministry programs and  outreach in terms of evangelization, including their budgets and  physical structures. During these discussions the strengths and weakness will be identified and addressed; there might be a consolidation effort or a parish expanding to establish a mission.

Now this brings me to my concern; Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish, a national shrine to Our Lady of Siluva; an established shrine to Blessed Archbishop Jurgis Matulaitis, MIC.

Working together is very important and this was recognized early by the Archbishop; his curia and our regional Bishop Andrew Wypych. Nativity BVM is the only Lithuanian Catholic parish in the Chicago archdiocese and the Chicagoland area. There are two other parishes which have a Lithuanian language Mass; but their ministry, programs and evegelization extends to other ethnic groups; remembering always to include a Mass in the American language. An English Mass is also celebrated at Nativity BVM in Chicago’s Marquette Park community. As demographics have changed; the Lithuanian community had requested of the archdiocese to rent a small facility in the former Vincentian Fathers seminary; which is now known at the Lemont Lithuanian Center.This facility would not be owned by the archdiocese; a priest would be invited that would celebrate Mass and administer the sacraments. With reluctance this was granted.  The first option was always to attend the local parish.  In Lemont, there are three parishes: Saint Patrick; Saint Alphonsus; and Saints Cyril and Methodius.

Recently, the archdiocese seeing the uniqueness of the only Lithuanian Catholic parish in Chicago; and a mission with it’s intent to evangelize the suburban Lithuanian community; offered the pastor of Nativity BVM and the Chaplain of Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis, MIC Mission an opportunity to group together. This grouping would provide them an opportunity  to  examine their compliance with the Archdiocese’s Renew My Church program. Something we  must always remember is that with a parish like Nativity BVM there are strict financial safeguards. These safeguards would include the process for depositing of monies received for Masses, funerals, weddings and any bequests made to the parish. There is also need for an active parish life during the week with many of the organizations such as the Legion of Mary, Holy Name Society, and the parish council meeting on a regular basis. This year we are graced with an additional source of revenue with the leasing of our school and gymnasium to Amandla College Prep, a state funded charter school bringing together 347 students and 30 teachers. This will allow us to  balance our budget and totally payout the remaining indebtedness.

In these recent years, we have to applaud our pastor, Rev Jaunius Kelpsas for bringing an increase in first communicants and the confirmed. A dramatic increase in couples entering into sacramental marriage; with the assistance in pre cana by Dr Linas and Rima Sidrys. This has led to  an increase in registered parishioners and Mass attendance.

This coming Sunday, September 11th over 1,200 will attending the Solemn Mass and closing of nine days of prayer to Our Lady of Siluva. Joining our parish priests will be the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception. We are hoping that our sisters and brothers at the Lemont Catholic mission will join us for this happy and blessed occasion.

Now, let us get to the crux of the matter, the Archbishop and our regional vicar have offered us at Nativity BVM and Bl. Matulaitis, MIC Mission an opportunity to group together for the Renew My Church program. We should be grateful to both of them and grab this opportunity to evangelized and bring the Catholic Faith to more of our sisters and brothers in Chicago and the greater Cook County area.

https://www.chicagocatholic.com/chicagoland/-/article/2020/07/22/archdiocese-accelerating-renew-my-church-discernment-process

At Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Shrine Parish…https://youtu.be/zQJa3ERw8xI

Archived photo…

First Widely Known Apparition of the Mother of God in Europe

Lithuania becomes the youngest daughter of the Church

In 1251, Lithuania was the last European nation to accept Christianity, becoming the youngest daughter of the Church.

There was a time when Lithuania came very close to leaving the Catholic faith. Something happened in 1608 in the little village of Siluva which turned back, once and for all, the tide of the Reformation heresy which was sweeping over Europe and threatening to engulf this little country.

Two hundred fifty years before Lourdes and Fatima the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in the village of Siluva, Lithuania. 

The story begins in 1457

The story of Our Lady of Siluva actually began in 1457, when Peter Giedgaudas, a diplomat for Vytautas the Great, built the first church in the area and gave the land to the Catholic Church. On one of his many travels he went to Rome and there obtained a magnificent painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the child Jesus. He brought the painting back to Lithuania and put it in the sanctuary of the new church in Siluva.

For several generations the faithful worshiped God and honored the Blessed Mother in their little shrine church. 

Calvinists controversy

When the Protestant Reformation swept over Europe, not even this little village escaped its impact. In 1532, the local governor became a zealous Calvinist as did many nobility and intellectuals . . . they in turn forced their will upon the people. The Catholics of Siluva were helpless to resist the repression of their Faith by the powerful gentry. Property owned by the Church was to be confiscated and the land turned over to the Calvinists.

Parish priest hides the treasured painting

When Fr. John Holubka, the parish priest of the Siluva Church, heard what was to happen, he built an ironclad box. He carefully wrapped the treasured painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Child, liturgical vestments, and documents which proved that Vytautas the Great had given the land to the Catholic Church and placed them in the box. Then he sealed the box and buried it deep in the ground near a large rock. His action was truly inspired because a short time later the authorities seized the church. It seemed as if the Catholic faith had come to an end in the once fervent village of Siluva.

God miraculously intervenes

Eighty years passed and the Catholic flock, with no shepherd to guide and nourish it, gradually died out. Only a few of the very oldest villagers dimly remembered that there had been a Catholic Church in their village. Children were reared in the Calvinist creed. Suddenly, through an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, God miraculously intervened. This apparition has been proven an actual event, authenticated by a Papal Decree issued by Pope Pius VI on August 17, 1775. The most remarkable feature is the fact that the miracle took place in a completely un-Catholic atmosphere.

Children see a beautiful woman on a rock

One summer day, in 1608, a number of children were tending their sheep in a field on the outskirts of the village of Siluva. They were playing near a large rock, close to a wooded section of the field, shouting merrily to one another in carefree fun. Suddenly one after another stood transfixed, staring in the direction of the rock. In the silence, there could be heard the sound of loud sobbing. Then the children beheld a beautiful young woman standing on the rock holding a baby in her arms and weeping bitterly. Her overwhelming grief was only too evident. She did not speak, but looked at them sadly as she stood there, weeping as though her heart was breaking. So profuse were her tears that they ran down her cheeks and some of them splashed on the rock. The woman was dressed in flowing blue and white robes, unlike any costume with which the children were familiar. Her long, light-brown hair fell softly over her shoulders. A strange light surrounded both the woman and child.

Boy runs to Calvinist pastor

So startled were the children, they could not speak, but merely stood and stared. Amazement soon turned to fright when the woman with her baby disappeared as mysteriously as she had appeared. Then all began to talk excitedly about what they had seen. One of the boys ran to the village to tell the Calvinist pastor. He was told to stop making up such a fantastic tale and to go back to the fields.

Children tell their parents

When the children returned home in the evening, they told their parents and neighbors about the weeping woman. The news spread quickly through the little village, and the next morning most of the townspeople had gathered around the rock. Some were scoffing loudly, but others were impressed by the children’s tearful insistence that they were telling the truth. This was proven because, whether the children were questioned separately or together, each told the same identical story, even to the smallest detail. 

The Blessed Virgin reappears

The Calvinist pastor, aware of the crowd that had gathered, became alarmed at the gullibility of his people in believing this “Roman superstition,” as he labeled the story. He warned them that this was the work of Satan, who wanted to lead them away. As the Calvinist pastor paused to catch his breath, a heart-rending sound of sobbing was heard. All eyes turned to the rock, and there, standing in their midst, was the weeping lady with the baby in her arms, just as the children had described her.

The people stood in amazement. The pastor, too, could do nothing but stare. The woman’s face was clouded in deep sorrow and her cheeks were bathed in bitter tears. Finally the pastor regained his composure and asked, “Why are you weeping?” In a voice filled with sorrowful emotion, she replied, “There was a time when my beloved Son was worshipped by my people on this very spot. But now they have given this sacred soil over to the plowman and the tiller and to the animals for grazing.” Without another word, she vanished.

People return to the Church

The belief that the Mother of God had appeared in person to chide them for their neglect of the Catholic Faith quickly grew among the people. Most of them heeded her message and began to return to the One True Church founded by her Divine Son, Jesus Christ. So complete was this return that a decade later, on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, more than 11,000 people received Holy Communion during a mass offered at the scene of the apparitions.

A miracle occurs

Such was the miracle that the Mother of God wrought in the village of Siluva where there had been no church, no priest, no Mass, for almost eighty years. The Bishop appointed Fr. John Kazakevicius to investigate the phenomenon and question all witnesses to the events.

Blind man regains his sight

In many apparitions of the Blessed Mother there is usually a picture or statue associated with the event. Our Lady of Siluva is not an exception. A blind man, more than 100 years old, lived in a nearby village. The stories of the apparitions reached him and he recalled a night, some eighty years before, when he helped Father Holubka bury an ironclad chest filled with church treasures beside a large rock. The villagers led him to the field of the apparitions to see if he could help locate the place where the treasures were buried. No sooner had he reached the spot, then his sight was miraculously restored. Falling to his knees with joy and gratitude, he pointed to the exact spot where the chest had been buried.

Villagers find the buried treasure

The ironclad chest was dug out of the ground and when it was opened, there – perfectly preserved – was the large painting of the Madonna and Child, several gold chalices, vestments, church deeds, and other documents. The painting was enshrined permanently in the Basilica of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is venerated to this day as the Miraculous Image of Siluva.

Miracles continue

Over the years, many miracles have been recorded and the shrine has experienced numerous changes and larger churches had to be built to accommodate the pilgrims. Devotion to Our Lady of Siluva was growing until World War II brought about the destruction of freedom in Lithuania.

Since then, this world has seen many changes. We find ourselves surrounded by moral decay and many have lost their way. Today, Our Lady of Siluva is our most powerful intercessor before Almighty God. 

She once brought Lithuania back to the Church, so let us pray that . . .

“ moved by your tears, may we as our forefathers did, revive the spirit of adoration of your Son in our hearts, strengthen the tottering structure of the shrine that is the family, bring back your wandering children and forgive the sins of our nation.

“ Our Lady of Siluva, intercede for your wandering children . . . bring them home to Jesus.”

The Churches of Siluva

Sunday, January 27th at 11 am

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Shrine Parish

2700 West Lithuanian Plaza Court in Chicago’s Marquette Park Community

A special security surveillance system has helped keep Marquette Park safe for decades, and now residents want to know why it’s being shuttered after their local aldermen failed to renew the ordinance that regulates the program.

NOTICE SMILING 17th Ward Alderman David Moore…both he and 18th Ward Alderman Derrick Curtis did not support renewing this ordinance after 26 years of service. It seems allowing the residents of Chicago’s Marquette Park community to experience more gang and drug crime is a joke…Shame Aldermen!

Source: Marquette Park Residents Concerned As End Of Decades-Old Security Program Approaches

Neighborhood security takes a “hit” after 26 years of continuous service…crime rampant in Chicago but not to our aldermen. As of December 31st  all neighborhood security patrols will be DISCONTINUED. All 13 outside MONITORED cameras will be removed by the city of Chicago. Both aldermen saw fit to NOT RENEW our Special Service Area 14. The average cost for this year round service was $100 a year. With an increase in crime in the city; we were able to keep our neighborhood safe and insulated with this extra line of security. At peak times the Chicago Dispatch Center (911) will report no cars are available…yet we were able to get a security office/off duty police officer to our homes in minutes…this will be no more… Yes, out of sight, out of mind is how the saying goes when you are only concerned with the area you live in…one of the 13 cameras covers Nativity BVM parish…Midland Savings and Saint Adrian. This camera some years ago thwarted a bank robbery at Midland Savings (police constantly review camera data). This will be no more after 26 years…wish us luck…