Vocations for Serving God The word “vocation” in our Catholic language means a ‘calling’ from God, based on the Latin word “vocare” – “to call.” Each of us have some ‘calling’ from God to serve Him and the Church in some way that no one else can do in the same way. The Church promotes three primary vocations: the single life, religious/priesthood, marriage. Within those are other ‘callings’ to be a parent, grandparent, nurse, teacher, attorney, parish staff, custodian, physician, etc. Depending on our unique gifts and ...READ MORE

A Blessed Feast of St. Clare to You! In my 24 years here as pastor, my love and devotion to St. Clare our Patroness has grown immensely. I know many of you also appreciate the virtues and faith that St. Clare teaches us to emulate. From her many qualities, three main examples that stand out for me from her faithful discipleship are: ...READ MORE

Introducing Jim Edwards…   As I stated in my article last weekend, our thanks to Ed Seipp for his many years of serving as business manager in our parish.  Ed is now working with Jim Edwards who is transitioning into the position of business manager.  Please join me in welcoming Jim to our staff!   Jim Edwards was born and raised in...READ MORE

Gratitude! We are so blessed here at St. Clare Parish to have such faith filled, talented staff members. Without them I would not be able to focus on my primary duties of preaching, ministering the sacraments of God’s Grace, and the pastoral care of our parishioners. Our staff member, Ed Seipp, has served faithfully as ...READ MORE

This is such an exciting time for us as we welcome a new bishop for our Diocese of Belleville!   This Wednesday, July 22, Bishop-elect McGovern will be ordained and installed as the ninth bishop of Belleville at the Cathedral of St. Peter. Due to limited seating because of the pandemic, the Mass of Ordination and Installation will be broadcast at 2 p.m. live on EWTN or ewtn.com (click on live view). More information can be found at...READ MORE

To be transparent, but not cause fear, we want you to know that a parishioner who attended Mass on Saturday, July 11 at 5:00pm has tested positive for COVID-19. The parishioner was not exhibiting symptoms until the evening of ... READ MORE

Two of our parishioners, Deacon Nick Fleming and Deacon Joel Seipp, as well as Deacon Carl Schrage, were ordained to the priesthood. Watch at...READ MORE

Next weekend we give thanks to God for blessing our diocese with three new priests.  Two of them are from our parish – Joel Seipp, son of Larry and Shirley Seipp, and Nick Fleming, son of Tom and Mary Fleming. This is an historical moment for St. Clare Parish that we ... READ MORE

"Gratitude" During these past months of the virus situation, it was heart-warming to see so many of our parishioners remain faithful to their tithing as well as donations to our Development Fund for the building project. I guess that should not surprise me, given the dedication of so many of you to St. Clare Parish! That is ...READ MORE

“Ordinary Time” This weekend we begin what is called “Ordinary Time” in our Catholic Church liturgical calendar, represented in the color green used at Mass now until Advent. It is ironic since our life is anything but ‘ordinary’ these days given the pandemic and all the turmoil going in our country and world. We have to create a new kind of ‘ordinary’ in our... READ MORE

Two Options for Mass Participation:   1.   Attending with parishioners at church. Saturday at 5, Sunday 8:30 and 10:30.   2.   Watching Live Stream at 10:30 and receiving Eucharist afterwards in church Gathering Space. For those attending Mass with parishioners...READ MORE

Now available: At St. Clare Church on Saturdays, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the St. Clare Chapel, which is to the left of the baptismal font inside our church ...READ MORE

We are excited to announce the Tyrone Sanford Memorial Scholarship for Catholic high school education. To honor the memory of her late brother, St. Clare Parish School of Religion Confirmation catechist Simone Wheeler, who recently moved away, is funding the one-year scholarship for a St. Clare Parish student who will attend a Catholic high school in the year after his or her Confirmation.

Congratulations to our 2020 graduates -- college, high school and 8th grade! Realizing it's more challenging to celebrate our graduates' accomplishments this year, some of our high school graduates' parents have shared photos from First Communion, Confirmation and senior year/graduation in this special video. ...READ MORE AND VIEW VIDEO!

Planting Hope: Brightening the day for nursing home residents in quarantine Due to COVID-19, many nursing home residents are lonely, isolated, scared, and grieving at a time when we are unable, for their protection, to visit them in person to show them our love and concern. Therefore, we are collecting the following items...READ MORE

Using funds from St. Clare, our sister parish of Our Lord of Esquipulas in Guastatoya, Guatemala, has purchased beans and rice and separated them into bags for families in need of additional food at this time. Due to Coronavirus restrictions in Guatemala, they are unable to...READ MORE

GOOD NEWS! Site preparation for St. Clare’s greatly anticipated building project kicked off in earnest this week, bringing with it optimistic signs of growth for our parish as well as construction jobs to boost our local economy. We are truly blessed by your continued prayers and financial support for...READ MORE

Dear Parishioners, I miss you. Our Palm Sunday Mass set us all on a ‘procession,’ together yet physically apart, into a very unusual commemoration of Holy Week during this time of the COVID virus.  We all are called to work conscientiously in our own homes to do our best to make this a special week of prayer and fasting that leads us to Christ’s Easter Resurrection. In addition to COVID’s effects on our worship and parish life, we also take very seriously the concerns of how the virus impacts the well-being of our local community and economy. You may remember that we had plans to begin our new building addition...

Pope Francis today announced that he has named Father Michael G. McGovern, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, as the Bishop of the Diocese of Belleville. Pope Francis also announced that he had accepted the resignation of Bishop Edward K. Braxton, who was installed as the Bishop of Belleville in 2005. Bishop-elect McGovern, 55, is expected to begin his ministry...

Amid so much ‘dire’ news about the coronavirus these days, I want to share some good news of things happening at our church. We are getting a new beautiful roof! This was needed after our roof was damaged during several windstorms last summer. We found a new roofing product...