Plans For Human Services Center Will Be Presented at Public Forums

The St. Catherine-St. Lucy Rectory. Image courtesy of Growing Community Media/Wednesday Journal.

A series of public forums are scheduled to discuss creating a human services hub uniting Oak Park and the West Side of Chicago.

Father Carl Morello, pastor of the Oak Park Catholic parishes, put together a team of parishioners to study the feasibility of repurposing the St. Catherine-St. Lucy (SCSL) Rectory into a Human Services Center that would address critical, unmet needs of families in the Austin Neighborhood. Dan Doody and Jack Crowe have led the team for the past 6 months, talking to over 40 nonprofits, surveying school families at SCSL and in Austin, and evaluating the rectory building’s needed upgrades. The team will share their findings and answer questions at the forums.

The following forums are currently scheduled:

• Sunday, September 10, 11:30 AM - St. Giles Family Mass, School Gym

• Sunday, September 17, 11:30 AM - St. Giles, McDonough Hall

• Sunday, September 24, 12:00 PM - Ascension, Pine Room

• Tuesday, October 15, 12:00 PM - St. Edmund, Murphy Hall

• Tuesday, October 24, 7:00 PM - St. Luke, Waldron Hall, School Building

• Thursday, November 2, 7:00 PM - St. Bernadine, School Cafeteria

• Thursday, November 9, 7:00 PM - St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church

• Sunday, November 12, 11:30 AM – Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church

• Thursday, November 16, 7:00 PM – Pilgrim Congregational Church

Please register here for the session you plan to attend. Pre-registration will enable us to prepare for the number of people expected to attend, but please come even if you are unable to register.

Additional public forums will be announced soon.