Queen of the Rosary in Elk Grove Village honors its final pastor with parade

If you were driving down Elk Grove Boulevard last Saturday near Queen of the Rosary Catholic Church, you might have been a little distracted.

A parade of cars with parishioners were tooting their horns and sending well wishes to the Rev. Fred Pesek, the parish pastor of three years who was standing in front of the church.

Pesek will be the last pastor in the 61-year history of the church. The parish will be merging with cross town parish St. Julian Emyard to form one Catholic church in Elk Grove Village.

Pesek and the Rev. Brian Kean of St. Julian Emyard will be assigned to new parishes within the next few weeks.

The two parishes will become one on July 1, with the Rev. Dan Folwaczny as pastor.

Both parishes will remain open for weekend Masses under a plan announced in February. The new parish will have one pastor, one set of financial books, one website and one weekly bulletin, but Queen of the Rosary School will keep its name.

The archdiocese plans to monitor the operations of the combined parish over the next three years.

To show appreciation for Pesek Saturday, June 13, parishioners drove past Queen of the Rosary to greet Pesek while the parish guitar musician played. The cars then parked in the parking lot facing the church steps so all could be involved in prayers.

"We said prayers for Father Fred that Deacon Jerrold Szostak presented," parade organizer Laurie Miller said. "Since we were all in our cars, the response to our prayers was through two honks of our car horns.

"At the end, everyone who had assembled blew bubbles from their cars to lift our prayers to heaven," Miller said.

Miller felt that a parade would be the safest and most meaningful way to say goodbye during the COVID-19 pandemic. Key people who assisted Miller were her husband David, Geri Allaire and Brian Michalski.

"I had great help from several other parishioners who assisted with many different tasks," Miller said.

For Pesek, a native of Chicago's Southwest Side who attended now-closed Quigley Preparatory Seminary South, it was a unique experience in his career, which has also included 10 years as pastor at St. John Evangelist Catholic Church in Streamwood.

"A parade for a priest," he said with a smile. "It was a surprise, and that's a first for me in 31 years as a priest. It was very different but very nice. I'm going to miss Elk Grove. I love Elk Grove."