Sharing Board

Mission

We believe that our Sharing Program makes the Gospel vision of love real through effective action. The Sharing Program provides a concrete way of expressing this vision by:

• Sharing our faith,
• Building bridges through friendship and understanding,
• Sharing financial resources, food, clothing and ourselves.
• Involving the Parish members more directly in outreach activities.

A Tradition of Sharing

Parish Sharing is an archdiocesan-wide program that seeks to build bridges between communities separated by race, ethnicity, culture and economic disparity. Parishes of differing backgrounds are linked as sharing parishes, with the hope that each will strengthen the other through the sharing of faith and resources.

Saint Anne has participated in Parish Sharing since its inception. Saint Anneʹs Sharing Parish is Saint Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Jesus. This is the parish resulting from the merger of Saint Frances of Rome (in Cicero),  and Saint Mary of Celle (in Berwyn). Both worship sites remain open. The parish school is in Cicero and remains known as Saint Frances of Rome. As of July 1, 2022, the new Pastor of Saint Mary Frances is Fr. Radek Jaszczuk, CSsR, who is originally from Poland. A member of the Redemptorist Order, Fr. Radek spent many years in Argentina before coming to the United States.

At Saint Anne, the Sharing Board oversees the Parish Sharing program. Members of the Sharing Board keep in close contact with our Sharing Parish, Saint Mary Francis of the Five Wounds of Jesus, as well as another sharing partner: Saint Moses the Black Food Pantry (formerly the Saint Columbanus Food Pantry.)

Funds received from the “Gold Envelopes” or “Parish Sharing Envelopes” and electronic donations collected every month via Give Central are directed to the needs of our sharing partners. The Sharing Board also looks for ways to build and strengthen ties between our different communities.

The Sharing Board has many ongoing activities throughout the year to support our Sharing Partners. These include the Sharing Tree, held during Advent, which benefits both of our partners, as well as food drives for Saint Moses the Black Food Pantry and school activities for the students of Saint Anne and Saint Frances. There are many ways to get involved! We welcome anyone who is interested in learning more about what we do to come to one of our monthly meetings or contact our chairperson, Bill Sneed at william.sneed@icloud.com.