‘We hope to be here for many, many more’: Holy Family church marks four decades of service
Inverness’ Holy Family Catholic Community Church is celebrating 40 years of service this weekend, with a guarantee that this is only their beginning.
The parish’s celebration will take place Saturday and Sunday after Mass at the church, 2515 Palatine Road. Saturday’s Mass begins at 5 p.m. and Sunday offers multiple services at 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m., and 11 a.m. The 9 a.m. Mass will be livestreamed and will offer sign interpretation for those who need it.
The celebration largely will take place on Saturday, involving a special Mass and an offering of food and drinks. Each of Sunday’s Masses also will be followed by special hospitality. The village of Inverness is expected to give the parish a special acknowledgment and guests will watch special video presentations, giving them the opportunity to learn more about the church and the people that make it thrive.
The founding pastor, the Rev. Medard Laz, and other priests who have been a part of Holy Family will be invited to return for the celebration, said the Rev. Terry Keehan, Holy Family’s pastor for the past 15 years.
Parish leaders have been sharing 40 fun facts about Holy Family during daily Mass for the 40 days leading up to the celebration, Keehan said.
“We are a very vibrant Catholic church, very committed to social justice,” Keehan said.
Holy Family’s mission is empowering all to experience New Life in Christ through sacramental living, transformative worship, lifelong spiritual growth and community in service to others, according to its website at https://www.holyfamilyparish.org/.
The parish’s first Mass took place on Dec. 1, 1984 in the cafeteria at Fremd High School in Palatine. The church continued to hold Masses at that location for the next four years and didn’t settle into its official home until April 30, 1988.
Over the years, the Holy Family community has been guided by three different pastors: Laz, Patrick Brennan, and Terry Keehan. Each pastor has worked to further the parish’s mission, and successfully grown the church’s popularity each year. The parish’s membership now is roughly 4,500 registered families — grown from the roughly 500 people that showed up for the first mass at Fremd High School, Laz said.
“(Father Pat and Father Terry) have very much kept the spirit and the mission of the church. It’s a very welcoming community … I believe Holy Family is still a parish that tries to love one another,” Laz said.
Those involved in the church pride themselves on being extremely progressive while still upholding the ideals they believe are core to the Catholic faith. Holy Family’s doors are open to all, providing an environment for worshippers to deepen their faith, according to its website.
“We’re very proud of them. We’re pleased to have them in our community,” said Inverness Mayor John Tatooles.
The parish’s teams will be wearing T-shirts with the message “the next 40 years” during each weekend Mass and subsequent celebration.
“That’s just going to be one way that we’re acknowledging that we’re pausing for a moment in time to celebrate 40 years, but we hope to be here for many, many more,” Keehan said.