Remember My Church

Items

• St Thomas Altar
  This was an image taken of St. Thomas of Canterbury's altar found in the front, left side of the church. With a statue of the Virgin Mary praying in the center, this altar is meant to show the unity of varying cultures. The structure of the altar is meant to portray asian influence, in order to juxtapose the Neo-Classical "American" influence of the Church itself.
• St Thomas Exterior
• First Simbang Gabi at St. Gregory
  Since the 1980s, the Filipino community has been very active in the parish. The Philippines is home to the largest Catholic population outside the Americas and with the parish's rich history of welcoming immigrant and first generation American families it is home to a large Filipino American community. Beginning in 1987, the congregations of Filipinos began hosting the Simbang Gabi, which is a series of masses done in preparation for Christmas by Filipino Catholics.
• St. Gregory's Theater Group
  These images are of the St. Gregory's High School Theater Group in 1914. Each photograph presents different costumes used in the plays within that year. These photographs were part of the St. Gregory High School yearbook. Doing theater at St. Gregory was part of the extracurricular programs that they offered. The Priests and Sisters contributed to these extra curricular activities. Their goal is to make sure students learned “spiritually, academically, and culturally." On one of the pages, they titled it "School Entertainment—June 1914" and at the bottom wrote "Gregory Club Players." One the second page it states, "Pathway from School to Sisters' House" and "Players—June 1914."
• St. Gregory Bingo Games Assignments Sheet
  This is an assignment sheet for Bingo Games at St. Gregory the Great Church. For each Bingo night, different individuals were assigned to run the games. This spanned from December 17, 1939 until December 15, 1940. The Parish believed that having time for play is an essential for the “Parish family.” Each week the Parish provided a schedule with different activities on the bulletin board or in the parish paper. Some of these activities included festivals, boy/girl scouts, bowling, BINGO, etc.
• Break Ground for St. Gregory High School Addition
  This is a newspaper page explaining the renovations being done to the St. Gregory High School. They planned on expanding the school by adding four stories to the building. Rev. Arthur F. Terlecke, who was the pastor of St. Gregory at the time, was excited to announce two new units being added to the High School. He explained that the renovations will cost around $600,000 (~ $6,966,513 as of 2024). In the photograph, Rev. Arthur F. Terlecke is standing in the middle with his committee.
• St. Gregory's Coed High School
  This is a newspaper page explaining the Coed High School system at St. Gregory in 1940. Their new High School was renovated to cover almost the whole block — this included the church itself, the High School, Deaf School, Gymnasium, Parish Center, etc. The image presented is of the St. Gregory High School. To celebrate this new era for the St. Gregory High School, they created an abstract event. On the photograph on the left, it is of Rev. Arthur F. Terlecke holding biretta, along with the prayers of Cardinal Stritch. On the photograph on the right side, is of the abstract event.
• Fire Guts Old North Side Church
  This is a newspaper page explaining the fire that went down at the St. Gregory the Great church in 1951. The image presented on the page is of the St. Gregory chapel covered in smoke. The fire had affected both the church and the school. The fire started on the second floor and moved quickly within the building. It got to the point where the roof even collapsed. The newspaper also stated that repairs would cost approximately $100,000 (~ $1,201,276 as of 2024).
• An Artist's Voice: Oral History with Sarah Crow
  Sarah Crow was interviewed due to her connection to and position as the artist- in- residence at St. Gregory the Great parish in Chicago, IL. Crow is a Catholic artist and contributes to the parish in many ways such as conducting tours and holding art workshops. In this interview, she was asked primarily about her role at the church and how she contributes to the community. She was able to provide an abundance of information about the history of art and architecture of St. Gregory the Great. Additionally, she describes the continued tradition of art at the parish, St. Gregory being labeled the “arts and cultural center” of the three parishes affiliated with Mary, Mother of God. This interview was conducted over phone and was about twenty minutes in length, transcribing to about five pages.
• Screenshot of St. Ita's weekly mass schedule
  This is a screenshot of St. Ita's weekly mass schedule. It can be found on the Mary Mother of God website. It lists the times for both the English and Spanish mass services.
• Easter Sunday of the Lord's Ressurection/Domingo de Ramos de la Pasión del Señor
  This is a link to the recording of the 2024 Easter Sunday of the Lord's Ressurection/Domingo de Ramos de la Pasión del Señor Spanish service. This video can be found on the Mary Mother of God Facebook page. It was initially published as a live stream and is now available as a video.
• Oral History with Leroy Blommaert
  This interview is with Leroy Blommaert, a long time parishioner of St. Ita's Church. Leroy speaks about his time with St. Ita's since he joined the parish in 1965 and how it has changed over time. He also speaks about the church architecture and how he values it. Leroy has spent time as an usher as well as a money counter at the church. He talks about his time he has spent with the parish and the relationships he has formed because of it. His favorite part of the church was the design of the church because it stands out against it's surroundings due to its nature in the French Gothic Style.
• Student Penmanship practice
  These are notes from a St. Gregory's student who was there in the 1920s. Schools back then placed a lot of emphasis on handwriting and penmanship.
• Saint Ita Auction List in 1991
  This auction list (1991), shows lists of different items or events that parishioners were able to bid on at one of their auction and supper nights.
• Handwritten St. Thomas Note
• Saint Ita 90 + 1 Auction/Supper Event
  A popular fundraising event that took place at Saint Ita's Parish was their auction and supper events, this one taking place on October 19, 1991 in the Jubilee Hall. At this 90 + 1 event, the evening started with a silent auction, then led to a buffet sponsored by Lady Ann Catering, and ended with a live auction.
• st thomas soup kitchen
  In this picture, volunteers are pictured at St Thomas of Canterbury's soup kitchen and food pantry, located at 4827 N Kenmore Ave, Chicago, Il. Warm meals are served to guests every Tuesday and Friday evening. St Thomas of Canterbury's soup kitchen is always looking for volunteers and can contact Jennifer through the Mary, Mother of God website.
• st thomas soup kitchen
  In this picture, volunteers are pictured at St Thomas of Canterbury's soup kitchen and food pantry, located at 4827 N Kenmore Ave, Chicago, Il. Warm meals are served to guests every Tuesday and Friday evening. St Thomas of Canterbury's soup kitchen is always looking for volunteers and can contact Jennifer through the Mary, Mother of God website.
• St. Thomas Uptown News clipping
  This is a newspaper clipping from the 1980s, discussing some of the financial strains that St Thomas was put in during their time in the church. During this period the soup kitchen was vital for the poorer members of Uptown. Financial struggles led to cutting back on projects like a winter shelter for vagrants, previously hosted in 1981. Rev. William Johnson, passionate about the project, felt the city was shirking responsibility, leaving it to churches. He saw it as a broader social issue beyond just Uptown, Edgewater, and Rogers Park. Johnson advocated for collaboration with other churches or neighborhood organizations, rather than tackling it alone.
• Palm Sunday Newsletter
• St. Thomas Vietnamese Newsletter
• St. Thomas Marriage Certificate
• Picture of Father Crowe
  Father Crowe was the founding reverend of St. Ita's church. He gathered 53 parishioner families and held the inaugeral mass in the guild hall before the church even had its own frame building. In the ensuing frame building Father Crowe established the convent that would run the school he established in the basement of the frame church. Eventually the parish would grow so much that Father Crowe would plead the archdiocese to commission a church to be designed and build. This church was build in the French Gothic style and it is still standing over 100 years later. Crowe unfortunately died after being struck as a pedestrian in a hit and run.
• Shrine to Our Lady de Cobra
  An image of the Shrine to Our Lady de Cobra, origionally located on the Mary Mother of God website. This shrine, created in the 1970s, is located in the back of the church.
• Image of the outside of St. Ita
  This is a black-and-white image of St. Ita taken from the back of the building. The exact date of the image is unknown, but it is presumed to have been taken sometime in the 1950s.