SCB society IL - Have you guys considered doing a full page ad like they did in Malta ? ( see link at bottom of post).
Anyone else interested? I would donate to that and know of many that would. I think now is the time. I'm thinking the Chicago Tribune. "They" can't ignore that like they could a prayer vigil or a petition. It would have to be addressed to all IL Bishops and the Cardinal- because they all have the same plan.
It definitely would let them know that we take this very seriously. Many small parishes are still not opened because of the hoops that must be jumped through.
Many churches around me in the Joliet Diocese, although they may have masses and some other sacraments ( although so altered I go to another Rite now so my children don't see priests in face shields and get scolded for playing) ... are not able to enter for visits to the Blessed Sacrament because they can't ensure cleaning after each person sits down or kneels! This is absolutely absurd. This is an abuse.
People are starting to feel satiated because technically thier church is "open." However, let us be clear, they are not " restored" and the sacraments are changing- so much so that I will not let my young impressionable children attend my home parish anymore.
Like I said, we go elsewhere where the mass is how it always was. I do not want them to see how the church is now. The changes have mutilated it. The changes are not good. They are not beautiful. They are not true. This has to stop!
The primary mission of the church is the salvation of souls and the Great Commission to "make disciples of all nations. " "Safety" should not be the primary mission of the church. Right now it is. This is a great error and needs to be addressed.
If people are really afraid of getting ill, then they should stay home and ask for a Eucharistic minister to bring the Eucharist to them. The entire church should not be mutilated.
Only Bishop Fulton Sheen could say it best.
" Who is going to save our church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops, and your religious act like religious."
It is the time to act. Who will take on this challenge?
Liz
( copy and paste this link, it's not going directly) https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/maltese-catholic-group-denounces-pandemic-worship-restrictions
Thank you for sharing and thank you to all who worked so hard on this. God bless you all!!
I had a lot going on over the weekend and did not get a chance to pick up a copy. However, I know for sure that it went in the paper because we've been getting hate mail about it! You always know you must be doing something right when you get hisses from the pit of hell! :)
I don't know if there will be any other rallies in Springfield in the near future...this one took quite a lot to pull off, and I doubt those involved will be anxious to repeat the dosage right away... We'll see.
Can someone please post a picture of the ad? I would love to see it. Also, any plans on a future Rally in Springfield. I am hosting a Rosary Rally in Naperville on the same day so have to miss. God bless you!!
Hi Guys,
Whew! The past two months have been proof positive that we must be doing something right because it has been a non-stop storm of whirlwinds. @drpcarlson99 you are so right and I am very sorry. Thank you so much for contributing to make this a reality.
Like most apostolates, we are all volunteers with full time jobs, so we are a bit overworked and understaffed. :) So I have to thank Liz and Joe for being on top of this and responding. They are right...here's the stack of letters that we sent on Tuesday (feast of St. Michael the Archangel!!!):
We did not raise enough money for them to go via Certified Mail ($6.95 each!!!) but we also heard from some people that because not all the Chanceries are open and fully staffed right now, Certified Mail very well might have been returned since there would have been no one to sign for it.
And yes, the ad will be in this Sunday's Chicago Sun Times! I hope I can manage to snag one...somebody post a photo of it here, OK?
But the other thing we've been very busy with is helping to organize a huge Eucharistic Procession in Springfield to pray for our Church and for our Nation. We contacted Bishop Paprocki and he was very interested in leading the procession but it ended up not working out with his schedule.
Here are the details, please spread the word! We need as many people as possible to bring our faith out into the open after hiding behind closed doors for so many months!
Saturday, October 10 11AM-2PM
Meet at Sacred Heart Church, 722 S. 12th St. in Springfield at 11AM.
Procession will step off at 11:30.
Parking available in the lot behind the church or on the street.
For more information and to RSVP, visit https://uniteournation.net/event/springfield-illinois/
Dear Patricia: What Liz state is correct. And I thank you, not only for taking the leap in reminding our bishops why the Sacraments are essential, but I also thank you for sending this nudge to move this effort along. I want to mention that while I did organize the #Reopenmychurch petition, I’m not officially an organizer of the SCBS. I’m just a contributor like you. Please also know that the organizers were doing their best to not only publish an ad highlighting the essential nature of the Sacraments, but also send a certified copy to every bishop in the nation. While this is costly, it seemed necessary to remind the bishops why they are shepherds. Many have clearly forgotten this element of their office (Archdiocese of Chicago and the list goes on and on).
I want to thank you again for patiently contributing to this effort and for helping push the effort forward by corresponding. God bless your efforts for proclaiming truth!
Joe,
It has been over a month and a half and fundraising efforts seem to have come to a standstill. So, I have to ask what your plan is to publish an ad? Since it seems that this organization is not able to raise the money to run an ad, I would ask that you refund my donation of $50 as I do not want the money which I donated for an ad to just sit there for many more months or to be used for a purpose other than the one it was intended for. Instead I could use that money to donate to an excellent food bank in Mexico which provides weekly food for very small amounts of money to people who are virtually starving. Thank you.
Patricia
Joe,
Thank you for that information about the bishops. I know it's slow going raising money for the ad, but I'm wondering if you presented this information to sites such as Life Site News or Church Militant or One Peter Five with a link to the fundraising page and the same information you have sent to us, you would reach a much larger audience who very well might make donations to help fund this ad. And, I suspect that Church Militant and/or LifeSiteNews would be quite willing to put this on their site as I've seen similar items on there with associated fund-raising link.
Patricia
Thank you Joe for sharing!
Hi guys! Sorry it has taken so long! I've been stuck playing Whack-a-mole lately...so much to do! Chicago may be tough, but California is much worse, and we've been working hard to try to help out some folks out there.
With Liz's help we have been able to assemble a budget for what this will cost (I had no idea full page ads were this expensive!) and we have also made allowance in our fundraiser for sending the text of this ad to every diocese in the US, as well as what we need to build a signup form on our website for a perpetual prayer network. We need to continue praying for our Church!!!
If you can help us with these expenses, please visit https://www.wonderwe.com/openrchurches to make a donation. Thank you so much for your help and generosity!
i'm still following and will donate when i see the gofundme page. Thanks!
Amazing! Thank you!
Hi Guys,
Sorry I've had so many pots in the fire that it's been hard to stay on top of everything. We have come up with a snappy text for the ad--a "top ten reasons why Churches should not be closed again"--we figured people were more likely to be curious and read it if we took this sort of approach.
So we need to decide in which newspaper(s) to run the ad, how much that will cost, and then I can put together a GoFundMe for the amount and we can move forward with this.
Again, sorry for the delay, but thanks for spearheading this!
That's awesome, but still waiting to hear word from SCB society.
I support this and I pledge $50.
I pledge $100.
Hi Liz,
Sorry I was out of town for a week and while I alerted some of our other active members to your post, I have not been able to follow up on this. We will be having a meeting on Monday and I will bring this up and see if there is any consensus. Have you researched what this would cost so that we have some idea of what amount needs to be raised? Thanks!
Forgive me for not responding sooner. Somehow I missed this great idea. I am willing to take the donations, which I did not give to our local church as a result of being denied the reception of the Sacraments, and donate these funds to publishing an ad. Thank you Liz for being an unrelenting warrior!
Saint Charles Borromeo Society? Does this fit with what you would like to do?
Yes, if there would be a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune for example like the Malta ad, I would also donate to that. I do think it would be helpful to have some notable signatories on it - such as any priests/bishops/cardinals that would be willing to sign it (which I doubt), but also any government or business leaders in the community of the Catholic faith, and especially any high-profile Catholic donors (as unfortunately money talks and I suspect that that is all Cardinal Cupich is really interested in),