Welcome!

Our welcoming Christian community of St. Irenaeus Parish inspired by the words of our patron - "Humankind fully alive is God truly glorified" - journeys together to bring the love of Christ to all in our parish family through worship, faith formation, social justice, and loving service while reaching out to the broader community.

Our Lenten Journey with Jesus through Prayer Series

Protecting God's Children (VIRTUS)

St. Irenaeus will host a session of Protecting God’s Children (VIRTUS) Training on Sunday, March 22, 2020, from Noon until 3:00pm; sign in begins at 11:30am.

Attendees must pre-register online at www.virtus.org before the session. The course will be held at the Religious Education Center in Room 8.

This session is for all parish employees and ministry volunteers: Catechists, Children’s Liturgy leaders, Food Pantry Volunteers, Choir members, Ushers, Eucharistic Ministers, Lectors, Sacristans, parent/grandparent volunteers, etc.

The Archdiocese of Chicago embraces the right to safety and is dedicated to promoting the protection of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We are all called to be protectors of children. Within our archdiocesan communities, Safe Environment (VIRTUS) training is required for all clergy, religious, employees and volunteers. The Protecting God’s Children (PGC) Adult Awareness Session, is a mandatory 3- hour adult awareness training for those over 18 years of age.

For questions about the course or assistance in registering for the training, contact the session facilitator, Karen Hoogland, at the Parish Office at 708-748-6891 or via email at irenaeus78@gmail.com.

Why We Love St Irenaeus

Many of our parishioners shared why they love St Irenaeus. Click play to learn why!

Video is from the presentation, Climate Change: The Issues, the Consequences, the Challenges, sponsored by the Park Forest People of Faith, held at St. Irenaeus Church on Sunday, June 23, 2019. Keynote speaker: WGN-TV/Channel 9 Meteorologist, Tom Skilling

PANTRY NEWS

We always have more requests for help from our pantry guests than we have donors. We’ve a great idea to make the sponsorship work for all. Would you like to help provide a meal for one of the families who come to our pantry? Our average family size is four, and we have many families with 7 or more children.

Many people struggle every week to find the resources to prepare nutritious balanced meals for the family table. Often there’s nothing extra after holiday season ends to prepare the kinds of daily meals so many of us take for granted. A Scrip card from Target, Walmart, Jewel or Meijer could help make their days brighter by allowing them to choose the food items for their families..

If you want to help, please consider purchasing a Scrip card through the weekly program here at St. Irenaeus and drop your card(s) into the box that will be provided before and after every Mass. Our families will gladly use the cards to buy the ingredients for favorite traditional dishes, desserts or perhaps diapers for the baby or bathroom tissue or other essentials. The need is huge.

Thanks for all your prayers and donations of food and money for the pantry program. We couldn’t do this without each of your contributions!!