St. Damian Church

To paraphrase a song from Adele, “Hello. It’s me. I was wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet.  Hello from the other side.”  Hello, it’s me, and it is with great surprise and joy that I am with all of you again after all these years.  To old friends, hello again; to new acquaintances, hello nice to meet you, I am Fr. Bob Stuglik

Many parishioners may recall that I am an avid enthusiast of J.R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  It is such a great Catholic book.  I find myself going back to this work time and time again.  As I wrote my goodbye to Stephen’s, I used a passage from The Lord of the Rings in my farewell reflection.    Likewise, I use a passage from The Lord of the Rings, as I say hello to all of you at St. Damian’s. There is a passage in Chapter V, entitled the White Rider, in book II, The Two Towers that has come to my mind as I reflect upon my recent assignment from the Cardinal to come back to you all.  In this passage, Aragorn, Gimli the dwarf, and Legolas the elf are walking through the dark old forest of Fangorn when they come upon another person by surprise in the forest.  At first, they think that it is the evil wizard Sauruman who has found them, but it is not.  Much to their surprise, it is revealed that their old friend Gandalf has appeared and is standing before them.  This is a surprise to them because they thought he had fell to his death earlier.  Now, Gandalf has returned somehow, and he is different, he is now Gandalf the White.  Gandalf tells his old friends, he “fell through fire. And water…darkness took me. And I strayed out of thought and time.  Stars wheeled overhead...but it was not the end.  I felt the light in me again.  I’ve been sent back until my task is done.” 

Like Gandalf, I return to you changed.  I am not the same person that I was when I was just a newly ordained baby priest.  Like Gandalf, I too have gone through fire and water through the past fifteen years of my ministry.  I left St. Damian’s in 2009 to become the pastor of St. Joseph in Summit at the request of Cardinal George.  St. Joseph was a trilingual parish (English, Polish, and Spanish speaking).  It was a blessed assignment, and I grew in my priestly ministry in many ways there, but it was also very difficult and challenging.  It is not easy to serve three different ethnic communities and to do that by myself as the sole priest for the last 10 out of my 12 years there.  It took many years of hard work to bring the parish together and make it grow.  After many years of hard work, St. Joseph was finally at a good place, but then the pandemic hit, and shortly thereafter, the Renew My Church process.  As a result, St. Joseph’s parish school was closed and the beloved parish of St. Joseph, over 115 years of history, was merged with its neighboring parish to the south, and everything on the parish campus was closed after my departure in 2021.  The merging of St. Joseph Church and subsequent closing of parish and school were very sad, heartbreaking, and difficult for myself and parishioners alike. It felt like falling through fire and water as Gandalf described. Since 2021, I have been serving as the assistant priest at St. Stephen in Tinley Park for the past 3 years. 

 Now, the Lord has decided to send me back to St. Damian’s. You are reading this much later, but I write this article just three weeks after receiving the phone call from the Cardinal, on the Wednesday after Memorial Day, that he is appointing me to be the administrator, pastor of St. Damian’s beginning July 1.  You can image all the thoughts that were going through my heart and mind.  I still find myself in a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions now.  At the Priest Convocation at Lake Geneva last week, I had a chance to speak with Cardinal Cupich.  I thanked him for thinking of me and for the new assignment to St. Damian, heart attack notwithstanding. The Cardinal chuckled and said “Thank you.  You are a good priest.  Thank you for your service to the Archdiocese.  St. Damian will be good for you.  There are good people there.  You will do good there.”  It is rare for a priest who begins his priestly ministry in one parish to be called upon later to return there as administrator, pastor, yet that is what the Lord has decided to do with me.  Like Gandalf, I have been sent back until my task is done.  What is my task?  I cannot say that I know exactly why.  I may never know in this life.  I have been reflecting upon the words that the Cardinal told me.  You will do good there.  I think that’s it. I think that’s part of my task here. You will do good there.  It’s an imperative given to me by the Lord.   My task is to do good for the Lord.  This is the task for the staff of St. Damian’s as well: do good for the Lord.  It is the task for all the parishioners of our parish.  Our task is to do good for the Lord!

In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf is a companion, helper, guide, and friend.  By the grace of God and the help of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph, I hope to be this to our parish community as well.  Please remember to pray for me daily.  In a special way, I would like to thank Fr. Joe Noonan for his graciousness to me and for his fraternal priestly support.  We thank God for all the blessings of Fr. Joe’s priestly ministry at St. Damian’s and we pray that our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph surround him with their care and intercession.  Thank you also to Fr. Michael and all the staff for welcoming me so warmly.  Please bear with me as I settle in.  May the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph pray for us.  Vivat Jesus! Live Jesus! 

Fr. Bob

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Pastoral Center Hours

Monday - Thursday:  9:00AM - 8:00PM
Friday: 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Closed Noon - 1:00PM for Lunch
Saturday: 9:00AM - 1:00PM
Sunday: Closed

Map of Parish and School