Dear Parishioners,
As much as I like to pray, I’m really bad at saying grace before meals. I do it when I’m out with people, be it in your homes or at a restaurant, but I’m terrible at it when I’m by myself. (Public Confession #25 for Fr. James here.) I make my food, quickly consume it, and move on to the next thing. I guess I’m thinking subconsciously this activity isn’t spiritual and just a means to an end (nourishment). It’s not until after I’ve inhaled the food that I realized I forgot to pray and that I probably should have stopped to ask God to bless the endeavor.
Dear Parishioners,
“No man is an island,” wrote John Donne, a poet from the 17th Century, a verse then used in a title by 20th Century Trappist Thomas Merton in one of his books. We are not meant to be alone.
Dear Parishioners,
This past Thursday (August 4th), we celebrated the feast of Saint John Vianney, the patron saint of priests and known as the Cure d’Ars (see picture below). He is a saint near and dear to my heart, and to the hearts of many parish priests. In fact, if you go into the sacristy here at Saint Paul of the Cross, you’ll see a little statue of Vianney (thank you, Mary Gail, for the gift!). We also have a statue of Vianney in the priest quarters of the rectory (thank you, my Aunt Eleanor!), along with a relic of his.
Father James Wallace grew up in Winnetka, Illinois and attended Sts. Faith Hope and Charity grammar school, New Trier High School, and then The George Washington University in Washington DC, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Political Science in 2007. He attended seminary at The Pontifical North American College in Rome and was ordained a priest in 2012 for the Archdiocese of Chicago. In addition to being the pastor of Saint Paul of the Cross Parish, he serves as a canon lawyer for the Archdiocese, a dean in Vicariate II, and a professor of canon law and spiritual director at Mundelein Seminary. He is also one of the featured Mercy Home Sunday Mass celebrants, airing Sundays at 9:30am on WGN.
Phone: (847) 825-7605
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