St. Mary's Church of Pecatonica

Welcome to the website for St. Mary's Church of Pecatonica, the Roman Catholic church located in Pecatonica, Illinois, and covering portions of Winnebago and Stephenson Counties, including the municipalities of Pecatonica, Ridott (partially), Seward, and Winnebago.

Religious education ("CCD") classes will begin on Sunday, October 3rd, from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM in various locations in the church or the office (formerly the rectory). Due to the continuing pandemic, we will require masks for any in-person classes.  Parents are asked to go to the CCD page for more information and to print out the form to register their children.  The form can be filled out and emailed or mailed to the parish, and the $30 fee paid later.  If your child cannot be there October 3rd, please see the calendar and have them come as soon after as possible.

STARTING TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2021, OUR WEEKDAY MASSES WILL BE AT 8:00 AM (INSTEAD OF 8:15 AM).  PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD AND CONSIDER COMING TO MASS DURING THE WEEK SOMETIMES AS YOUR SCHEDULE ALLOWS.

Long-time parishioner Rosemary Allen passed away during the pandemic, so did not have a funeral Mass.  There will be a memorial Mass for her on Saturday, October 9th, at 11:00 AM with a luncheon in the church hall following.  All parishioners are welcome to attend.

Information for the 2021 parish dinner to be held on Sunday, October 17th, from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM is found under the "Events & News" tab.  CCD will not meet on that day.  Our usual 11:15 AM Mass that day will be celebrated at 10:30 AM.

The members of the 2020 Purgatorial Society are now listed under a tab under "Liturgy."  These were the intentions noted on the All Souls Day envelopes, as well as on the envelopes for Christmas flowers. (If we misspelled any names, please let us know so we can correct them.)

We ask parishioners to be generous in contributing to the special collection requested by the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) for relief to victims of Hurricane Ida and its related storms and flooding.  Please make checks out to the parish and put "Hurricane Ida Relief" on the memo line.  Cash contributions should be placed in a sealed envelope with "Hurricane Ida Relief" written on the front, with your name as well so we can give you credit for tax purposes.  Those contributions may be put in the donation box.  The letter from the USCCB which includes information on how the funds collected will be used, can be accessed by clicking the link below.

To see our annual financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, please go to the tab for that under the "About" heading.

Knights of Columbus council #4941 will be offering a drive-thru parish picnic on Sunday, October 10, 2021, after the 11:15 AM Mass.  Like last year, people can drive through the parking lot behind St. Mary's Church (from east to west) and pick up a boxed or bagged lunch.  There is no charge for this: it is purely a gift to the parish by the generous Knights of Columbus!

NEW RULES FOR SERVICES

1. IF SICK, COUGHING, SNEEZING, OR HAVE A FEVER, DO NOT COME IN.  YOU ARE EXCUSED FROM ANY OBLIGATION TO ATTEND MASS THIS DAY.

2. UNLESS YOU HAVE A MEDICAL CONDITION THAT PREVENTS YOU FROM WEARING A MASK, OR YOU ARE LESS THAN TWO YEARS OF AGE, YOU MUST WEAR A MASK OR FACE COVERING WHETHER YOU HAVE BEEN VACCINATED OR NOT.  (WE HAVE SOME MASKS AVAILABLE ON THE TABLE IN THE VESTIBULE IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ONE.)

3. HANDICAPPED AND COMPANIONS MAY SIT IN THE VERY FRONT ROW.

4.  EVERYONE ELSE MAY SIT IN ANY OTHER PEW IN THE CHURCH THAT IS NOT TAPED OFF.

5.  THERE WILL BE NO MORE SIGNING UP FOR SLOTS: IT WILL BE FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED.  HOWEVER, EVEN IF YOU GET TO MASS EARLY, PLEASE DO NOT SIT IN THE PEWS RESERVED FOR THE HANDICAPPED IF YOU ARE NOT HANDICAPPED OR WITH A HANDICAPPED PERSON.

As we see the actual and relative numbers of the "masked" and "unmasked" change over time, we may make adjustments to these arrangements.  Our goal is to remain, and have all people perceive our church to be, a safe place to worship God and to receive God's grace to help us on our pilgrimage of life. 

Thank you for your cooperation as we navigate the changing landscape of the pandemic.  May God protect us all, and bring us all to eternal life, beginning in this life and blossoming in the next.

For some links on life matters, see the links below.

Please contribute to the 2021 Diocesan Annual Appeal (sometimes called the Diocesan Appeal or the Diocesan Stewardship Appeal).  We have reached our pledge target for this appeal year (May 2021 through April 2022) of $13,000.  However, we would appreciate additional donations to push our actual, collected pledges above our target.  This money goes to meet the financial needs of the diocese, including the diocesan administration, seminarian education, religious education support, programs for the poor, and other programs.  Any funds raised in excess of the target come back to the parish.  So, reaching or exceeding the target helps the diocese and helps the parish.  Please respond to the diocesan mailing for this appeal, either by dropping off or sending your donation to the parish, or sending it directly to the diocese.  If you send it directly to the diocese, please make sure you indicate that you want our parish credited with your contribution. Thank you for your generosity.

Thank you to everyone who has continued to send in envelopes. Feel free to continue to do so. The diocese has ended the ability to use their online giving system to donate to the parish.  We will be getting an online giving solution accessible from our website sometime in 2021.  Thank you for your patience in this matter. 

Thank you for your generosity, which has allowed our parish to be financially sound despite the pandemic and its restrictions.