Quarterly Newsletter of the Clerics of St. Viator • Volume 9, Number 2
Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church The first church of the Clerics of Saint Viator in the United States is located in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish is the mother parish of all of the Catholic churches in Kankakee county. It was early in the 19th century that French and Canadian settlers established themselves on the banks of the Kankakee River. The one thing they had in common was their strong Catholic faith and so it was that in June of 1837 the first mass, in what was then known as Bourbonnais Grove, was celebrated by Fr. Lalumiere in the rural home of Noel Levasseur, a stanch Episcopalian Canadian fur trader. By April 29, 1847, a log church, dedicated to St. Leo, was established by the Rt. Rev. William Quarter, the first Bishop of Chicago. The Rev. Renee Courjault, a native of France, was appointed as pastor. That September, the parish congregation had grown to 77 families and 471 individuals. By 1850, the old log church had been replaced by a new frame church dedicated to the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the congregation had grown to 1600 members. This church was destroyed by fire in 1853, and a new structure which is the present church, was erected in 1856. The stone used in the building of the church was cut in the local limestone quarries by the parishioners and hauled by oxen to the construction site. The stone structure was reinforced with 24-inch timbers and welded together with oak pegs. Upon completion in 1858, the church was described in journals as “architecturally unique, the construction superb, and the balcony surrounding the church is a masterpiece of engineering.” Except for some minor steel reinforcements, the structure stands today as it did some 160 years ago. In 1860, three sisters, members of the Congregation of Notre Dame, arrived from Montreal, Canada to establish a school for girls. However, it was thought that the boys were not receiving the proper Catholic instruction. Fr. Cote, pastor of Maternity BVM in 1864, appealed to the Provincial of the Canadian Province of the Clerics of Saint Viator requesting him to send Viatorian brothers to establish and take charge of a school for boys. Fr. Cote also agreed to resign from his parish so continued on page 2
Our Mission... The Easter season is a time of promise; of life unfolding. The winter season is a time of rest and hibernation; of gathering new energy. The seasons of life demonstrate the ebb and flow of energy; from birth to death. In a sense, birth and death are both an illusion. As we study the appearance Fr. Charles G. Bolser, of matter itself, we find that what we experience is CSV, Provincial only the manifestation of something much deeper and more profound. Modern scientists continue to demonstrate the depths of the mystery and miracle of existence. What we experience as real is based on our personal and collective perspective. We know that all material things are composed of atoms, molecules and even smaller particles that we don’t see or understand, but at the same time, we experience things with particular forms and structures that make sense of our limited imagination. Our imagination is limited by our own time and space – we fail to grasp the reality of times centuries ago and in other places. Even today, we fail to truly understand the way other cultures look at the world – we look at them from our own perspective and judge them accordingly. This limited experience is based on our own fears, dreams, expectations, and understanding. People of different religious experiences, races, sexual differentiation, ethnic and regional backgrounds judge others based on their particular viewpoints about everything. But life is much more interesting and diverse that one viewpoint, belief or conviction. Life is and has been constantly unfolding with a diversity that reflects the diversity of the one God. We have been used to thinking of God as one being – out there somewhere separate from us, static in nature, and like a clock maker or mechanic who makes something and then keeps it running. Somewhere in our deep past, we developed the idea of a quasi god in rivalry with our God – Satan. We began to look at things as if all is composed of opposites. Reality in this view is black or white; light or dark; good or evil, etc., etc. As we begin to look deeper, we also begin to see that all that is, is not simply either/or; it is also both/and. All that is, is composed of light and darkness; good and bad; black and white. All that is, is much more complex that we like to admit – we would much rather see things as simple. Anything else is ambiguous and painful to deal with. As we watch life unfold around us and within us, we observe the passing seasons and our inexorable journey that is not simply my own life, but continued on page 2