Weekly Letter from Fr. Darrio

August 9, 2025

Be sure to stop by the BLESSED CARLO ACUTIS Eucharistic Miracles Display that this young man designed and promoted before he died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15. The display will be in our Doherty Center today (Saturday, August 9th), from noon to 7 p.m. and tomorrow (Sunday, August 10th), from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Enter through the Main Church Entrance under the Canopy. Blessed Carlo Acutis will be canonized a saint by Pope Leo next month (on September 7th).

Be part of the LAZY DOG fundraiser for our Outreach Program , this weekend (Saturday, August 9th from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. and all day on Sunday, August 10th). Information is on our website www.stedna.org and in the Bulletin.

This coming Friday is the Solemnity of Mary’s Assumption into Heaven , an obligatory holy day this year, since it doesn’t fall on a Saturday or Monday. An anticipated Mass will be celebrated on Thursday, August 14th at 7 p.m. Masses on Friday, August 15th will be at 6:30 a.m. and 8 a.m.

We’re less than a month away from our Parish’s 60th Anniversary Fest on Saturday, September 6th , starting with Mass in Church at 4 p.m. Bishop Rassas will be presiding, and our previous pastors (Fr. Jerry Jacob, Fr. Rich Yanos, Fr. Bob Heidenreich) will be concelebrating, along with many of our previous associate pastors (Fr. Dan Sullivan, Fr. Tomy Abraham, Fr. Steve Dombrowski, Fr. Kurt Boras, Fr. Benedykt Pazdan). After Mass we’ll head outside for a wonderful meal for purchase (brats, chicken kabobs, pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs) and then a night of free entertainment that begins with a musical performance by our Children’s Choir (The Minor Miracles). After that, our SNACK Theater performers will entertain us with a medley of tunes from their history of fine shows. The evening will conclude with the band “Oh, Yes” providing live music until 10:30 p.m. Please be part of this St. Edna milestone event as we celebrate God’s blessings to us.

CODY BEEBER’s presentation (“What Am I Grateful For?”) on Monday, July 28th was absolutely profound. His faith is so strong. He knows Jesus Christ well. We’re blessed to have this young man from our Parish in the Seminary, studying for the priesthood. Cody and Kevin Ellis (our OTHER Seminarian from St. Edna) should both be ordained priests for the Archdiocese of Chicago in May of 2030. Thanks are extended to the St. Edna Men’s Club for sponsoring Cody’s presentation.

Parents, thanks for keeping your kids safe! St. Edna is a very welcoming place (as we all know), and thank God, we’re a very safe place, too, and we want to make sure St. Edna remains a safe place. Thus, it’s very important for parents to keep a sharp eye on their small, young children so they don’t wander through any part of our buildings alone , where they could possibly be harmed or even snatched away. Sadly, the world we live in has predators seeking vulnerable children for evil purposes. We can never presume that our kids are 100% safe, just because they are in our Church building or on our Church property. Please monitor your kids when they need to use the restrooms, and please, never allow them the opportunity to wander alone near our exit doors.

More SCAM EMAILS  and  SCAM TEXTS  are going around again. Never believe them . Some are supposedly from me, or from our Deacons, or from Fr. Paul, asking you to contact us, or to purchase gift cards for us to distribute to other people. Don’t be fooled. We would NEVER ask you to do this kind of thing, no matter “how busy” these messages say we might be. Just DELETE these scam requests and save yourself some major headaches  and financial losses .  

Please be EXTREMELY CAREFUL when exiting our Parking Lot and making the left turn onto Arlington Heights Road to travel south. We have always hired (and we still do) Arlington Heights police officers for traffic control at our Saturday evening 5pm Mass and at two of our Sunday morning Masses, but less and less officers are signing up for this detail, so please be very cautious, and, as always, be extra kind and patient to your fellow drivers exiting our parking lot. Thank you!

Our Adoration Chapel is a wonderful place to find some personal peace. Pray before the EUCHARISTIC LORD Monday through Friday from 7am to 7pm. Enter the Chapel through Door 4.

More Altar Servers are needed at our weekend Masses. The parents of any interested boys or girls should contact Deacon Joe or Fr. Paul. Veronica (Ronny) Erxleben is now leading altar server training.

Our Rosary Group is praying a continuous SPIRITUAL BOUQUET   “for peace in the world” , so please continue praying Rosaries and  Hail Mary’s  and letting Tomi Gaudio know at  tomig@comcast.net  so she can keep count. As of this writing, over 487,150 Hail Mary’s have been prayed.

Our St. Edna 60th Anniversary Cookbooks are loaded with many wonderful recipes. You can purchase them at the Parish Office.

May God bring hope to our suffering world. Pray that all negotiations for peace in nations at war are successful and blessed.

Fr. Darrio


Are you looking for the Ongoing Events & Activities?

Please visit the ONGOING Events on our Events page for a list of what is always going at St. Edna!

ONGOING EVENTS