St. Bernadette, Queen of Martyrs To Combine Under Renew My Church

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — The Archdiocese of Chicago unveiled plans to consolidate parishes included in the Evergreen Renew My Church grouping. The most significant change involves uniting St. Bernadette Parish with Queen of Martyrs Parish and School.

Most Holy Redeemer Parish and School, the third church in the grouping, will continue in its current structure.

Over the past several months, the Evergreen grouping’s Feedback and Discernment Team, made up of representatives from each parish, met to review and discuss the future parish school and church structures, the archdiocese said in a news release.

“Based on their meetings and discussions with the larger parish communities, they submitted feedback to the Archdiocesan Standards and Recommendations Commission, which includes representatives from across the archdiocese.”

Under the new structure, the following decisions have been made:

• Queen of Martyrs and St. Bernadette will unite as one parish with one pastor and one pastoral team, effective July 1, 2022.
• Additionally, the RMC Commission recommended that within the next two years, the parish’s regular schedule of Masses fully transition to Queen of Martyrs Church and conclude regular Masses at St. Bernadette Church. The specific timeline will be determined by parish leadership in consultation with archdiocesan leadership.
• The parish community will discern possibilities for its new permanent name, within guidelines provided by the archdiocese. In the interim, the united parish will be Queen of Martyrs and St. Bernadette Parish.
• Rev. Benedykt Pazdan will be the pastor of the unified parish.
• Queen of Martyrs School will be the parish school.

Over the next several months, the archdiocese and current parish pastors, together with Renew My Church, will work with local leaders to ensure united faith communities and staff are supported during the transition.

“All parishes will embark on the next phase of renewal to become stronger, more sustainable and capable of reaching more people in their work of making disciples of Jesus Christ, building communities and inspiring witness,” the archdiocese said.

St. Bernadette’s parish school closed at the end of the 2014 school year.