A Catholic bishop in Chicago’s suburbs is embarking on his annual fundraising campaign in local churches days after announcing he’s shuttering or merging a number of them — and as parishioners in Oakbrook Terrace fight to overturn his decision to eliminate their congregation.
The Diocese of Joliet — the arm of the church for DuPage, Kendall and Will counties led by Bishop Ron Hicks — directed priests over the weekend to publicize the Catholic Ministries Annual Appeal, a yearly fundraising effort that is aiming to raise $9 million for a variety of charitable endeavors.
As part of the push, Hicks recorded a video message for congregants in which he asks them to be generous and says, “You are the heart and soul that keeps our faith communities loving, growing and vibrant.”
Two weeks ago, Hicks announced that he plans to close St. Mary Church in Park Forest, St. Patrick Church near Manhattan, St. Luke Church in Carol Stream, St. John the Apostle Church in Villa Park and St. Lawrence O’Toole Chapel in Kankakee County.
Other congregations in Braidwood, Monee, Oakbrook Terrace and Wheaton will be downgraded to secondary “worship sites” amid consolidations, meaning newly reconfigured parishes will essentially have two campuses, with one likely more active and the other probably eventually closing.
Fewer priests and declining attendance and finances have broadly been cited by church leaders in justifying what’s being called “targeted restructuring.”
Among the congregations solicited at weekend masses were ones slated for closing or consolidation, including Oakbrook Terrace’s Ascension of Our Lord Catholic Church that on July 1 Hicks plans to merge into a parish in Lombard.
The Ascension pastor, the Rev. Jose Kadukunnel, played a recorded audio message to more than 100 people in attendance at 4 p.m. Saturday mass in which Hicks asked people “to respond generously” and not only give money, but consider “increasing your donation . . . like my parents did.”
Attorney Brody Hale, who’s been advising Ascension parishioners on their recent appeal to the Joliet diocese to keep open their congregation, said of Hicks’ fundraising outreach to the impacted churches: “It’s not only ironic, it’s sick.”
Hale said roughly 200 Ascension parishioners signed onto the appeal, which asks Hicks to reconsider folding the church into the neighboring flock.
Among those who signed onto the appeal is parishioner Gene Erickson, a DuPage County resident who says of the proposed merger, “I’m a lifelong Catholic, and this really hurts . . . I don’t know what else to do is keep fighting as long as we can.”
Neither Hicks nor his aides will comment.
Kadukunnel said he’s been told not to talk about this subject, but in a recent church bulletin he wrote that he understands “many of you are feeling sadness, frustration, and even loss. Change is never easy, especially when it affects a place that holds so many cherished memories. As your pastor, I share in your sorrow.”
“Yet through it all, we hold onto the truth that our faith is not confined to a building. What makes us a parish is not just the walls around us, but the people within them — and our shared love for Christ and one another.”
Parishioners from St. Patrick in Will County also filed an appeal trying to keep their doors open, Hale says.
This wave of closings and consolidations follows others from Hicks last year in the far southwest suburbs — where congregants of Joliet’s St. Joseph Church, with Hale’s help, convinced the Vatican to overturn Hicks’ planned merger of the parish.
The Vatican cast doubt on Hicks’ reasoning — including a claim about the “near disappearance of the Slovenian community” St. Joseph has long served.
Spanning more than 4,200 square miles, the diocese includes roughly 500,000 Catholics, more than 100 congregations, and dozens of parochial elementary and high schools.
The money raised in the annual diocese-wide fundraiser that just kicked off “supports the ministries, agencies, programs and schools that serve the spiritual, physical and educational needs of the people of the Diocese of Joliet,” according to the diocesan web site, which notes that 27% of last year’s $9.1 million take went toward “serving parishes, parishioners and protecting God’s children.”
“Protecting God’s children” appears to refer to the clergy sex abuse crisis that has raged for decades and involved numerous priests molesting children while leaders often covered it up.
Hicks wouldn’t elaborate, or say if and how sex abuse expenses play into his decision making on church closures and consolidations.
Ascension’s weekly church bulletin touts the annual fundraiser by saying, “Our parish goal for the 2025 CMAA is $39,700 and 70% of any amount we raise over our goal will be returned to us and used fruitfully within our own parish. Thank you!”