Welcome to
Immaculate Conception Parish!
110 S. School Street
Braidwood, IL 60408
Phone: (815) 458-2125
Fax: (815) 458-2836
E-mail: icparishbraidwood@gmail.com
Sunday Mass at Assumption Church
Sunday, 9:30 AM
Daily Mass
Thursdays at 8:30 AM
Sunday 9:30 AM Mass will be held at Assumption Catholic Church (195 S. Kankakee St., Coal City) until further notice.
Click here to register for Sat. 4:00 pm, Sun. 7:30 and 11:30 AM Masses held at Assumption Parish in Coal City.
THE NAME OF “JESUS” - What’s in a name?
Devotion to the “Holy Name” is devotion to Jesus because the name is not just a label. “In the name of” means “in the real presence and power of.” Think of your name signed onto your checks. “What’s in a name?” Everything: reality, identity, and destiny.
Reality is in a name because God, the creator of reality, also names it, and He gives us the right to name the things in nature that He has designed to serve us. Thus, Adam named the animals.
Identity is in a name because since God invented us, we have no more identity outside Him than Frodo Baggins has any identity outside Tolkien.
Destiny is because our Author writes the story of our lives. When God changed someone’s name in Scripture, He changed their destiny: Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel, Simon to Peter.
Names are not arbitrary labels. Names are meanings. We grow into our names, or we fail to grow into them; we live out our names, or we fail to live them out. Jesus (the name which means “Savior” or “God saves”) really is the Savior. That is His reality. That is His true identity, and that is His destiny — the reason He came into the world. Explore your name. It is no accident that you have it. History (His story) has no accidents. When we name someone, the name should, as St. Thomas says, “answer to the nature of the thing,” but sometimes it fails to do that. It can be a wrong name. But when God names someone, it is never a wrong name because His names, words, and thoughts do not correspond to preexisting things as ours do (thus they cannot fail to correspond either), but they create the things He names. Thus, according to the creation story in Genesis, He created everything in the world by naming it. (“Let there be . . . and it was.”) This applies to both (1) Christ’s “old name,” the name He had from before the beginning of time, which is the Logos or “Word (speech, discourse, language, communication, revelation, expression, truth, mind, thought, reason, wisdom, understanding, plan) of God” and to (2) His “new name”, “Jesus”, when He became our Savior through His Incarnation, death, and Resurrection.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
There is no denying the importance of light to humanity. It brings comfort, warmth and growth. It leads us from darkness. It guides our journey.
Of course, as Christian stewards, we recognize that Christ is the true “light of the world” (Jn 8:12), and equally important to those corporal, tangible benefits are the countless spiritual ones His special light provides. Each and every day, I am grateful to Him for lighting my path, especially as I begin my ministry here in the Diocese of Joliet.
But what becomes of Christ’s light? Do we keep it for ourselves?
One cannot help but consider the servant in the Parable of the Talents, who buried his master’s bag of gold instead of increasing its yield and was subsequently thrown out into the darkness. Christ’s disciples are called to magnify His light, which is why we chose Shining the Light of Christ as the theme for the 2021 Catholic Ministries Annual Appeal (CMAA).
Please prayerfully consider joining me in supporting the 2021 Catholic Ministries Annual Appeal and shining Christ’s light brightly in our diocese.
Peace,
Most Reverend Ronald A. Hicks
Bishop of Joliet
September 21, 2020
DIOCESE OF JOLIET
Reception of Communion on the Tongue – During Coronavirus Pandemic
Parish Reopening Co-Leadership Teams,
For well-founded reasons the liturgical guidelines during the pandemic limited distribution of Holy Communion in the hand. Pastors are still urged to encourage the faithful to receive in the hand, as it is the safest way to distribute/receive Holy Communion. However, out of respect for those who insist on receiving on the tongue and with the hope of avoiding conflicts at this most sacred time of the Holy Mass, an exception may be made in a given parish at the full discretion of the pastor, and only in accord with a strict observance of the procedure provided here.
Procedure for Distributing Holy Communion on the Tongue
a. Parishes are to establish a dedicated station for those receiving Holy Communion on the tongue, separate from those coming to receive communion in the hand;
b. Communicants move forward to the designated station in single file maintaining six feet between each person assisted by markers on the floor;
c. The minister distributing Holy Communion wearing a mask/face shield, sanitizes his / her hands, either from a nearby table, or offered by an usher;
d. The communicant sanitizes his/her hands from a table or from sanitizer offered by usher, removes the strap of the mask or face covering from one ear, letting it hang from the other ear and exercises care not to touch the face, clothing or any other surface after sanitizing the hands;
e. After having sanitized his/her hands, the communicant approaches the priest or
extraordinary minister, and receives the Host on the tongue;
f. The communicant steps six feet to the side, replaces the mask over the mouth and nose and returns to his/her seat;
g. The minister puts the ciborium on a near-by table and sanitizes his / her hands, rubbing hands together and until they are dry (at least for 20 seconds each time). This must be done after each communicant receives;
h. The minister picks up the ciborium and begins the process again;
i. All other guidelines about masking, face shields and other preparatory actions before distribution remain in force;
j. Because of the safety precautions exercised for those receiving Communion on the tongue, each parish will have to determine how best this is to be done given the fact that some parishes distribute Communion to recipients remaining in the pews. In any case, it has worked out well for those who receive Communion on the tongue to come last and to a designated station.
It should be observed from the outset that more care and time will be required in implementing this exception, as communion on the tongue poses additional health risks to both the minister and the communicant. Out of regard for specific health protocols, this process may not be rushed, particularly the sanitizing and drying of the minister's hands between communicants. Failure to strictly follow this procedure may result in de-certification of the parish to host congregations for liturgical services.
Most Reverand Richard E. Pates
Apostolic Administrator
Diocese of Joliet
St. Vincent's Meals are being served every Monday night in January and February from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. at United Methodist Church, 6805 E. McArdle Road, Coal City. If you would like to donate to help this ministry, please click the "Donate Now" button or send a check for St. Vincent Meals to the church office. Funds will be spent on food for the meals and the containers we put them in. Thank you for your prayerful consideration.
Visit the Diocese of Joliet website.
Click to visit the website of Assumption Parish, Coal City.