St. Mary's Mardi Gras fundraising success as reported in Trib Local Edition of The Chicago Tribune:  www.triblocal.com
And in The Park Ridge Herald-Advocate: www.pioneerlocal.com

St. Mary's Donors Give Presents to Park Ridge Youth Campus as reported in The Park Ridge Herald-Advocate: www.pioneerlocal.com

Women of St. Mary's meet on the first Monday of each month to feed their spirits, nurture their curiosity, and explore unique perspectives and questions within the Christian tradition. This group explores our own faith journeys through the stories of other women - women in scripture, women in Christian tradition, women in fiction and contemporary women of faith. All women are welcome. The next gathering will be Monday, April 5th from 7 - 8:30 in the Grauer Lounge. We will be discussing Still Alice by Lisa Genova.
For information contact Rev. Martha Durham, martha@stmaryspr.org

Dancing at Mardi GrasThe St. Mary's Mardi Gras Committee is ecstatic to announce that the Mardi Gras Fundraiser on February 13, 2010 netted nearly $20,000! These proceeds will be sent to Episcopal Relief and Development to aid in the recovery in Haiti. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this event a huge success.

These St. Mary's Centennial articles were compiled by Jeanne Marshall for publication in the newsletter, St. Mary's Messenger, as part of our centennial celebration. Two articles appeared each month during the first half of our centennial year of 1995, and covered the years 1895 through 1976.

Each Winter in January or February for over ten years, the women of St. Mary’s have broken through the bleakness of winter by gathering for a 24 hour retreat of fellowship and spiritual renewal. Our time together is spent in peaceful worship, relevant workshops, simple social time, and free time.

A group of lay people who extend the fellowship of our communion table to members who cannot make it to church. LEMs are often sent out from the communion table to share prayer, Holy Communion and fellowship with members who they visit on a regular basis. Deacon David Grauer coordinates this ministry.

St. Mary’s Treasure Chest is a re-sale shop run by the women of St. Mary’s. The shop raises money to support both church charities and the work of our congregation. Generous gifts from the shop helped the church to pay off its mortgage and continue to help us improve our facility and give generously to charitable organizations. The Shop is open from September through June. The directors are Mary Redmann and Ellen Zurek.

Understanding meditative movement as a pathway to spiritual and physical health is central to the practice of yoga. St. Mary's is blessed with two complimentary yoga classes. For information contact the parish office at 847-823-4126.

The prayer shawl knitting ministry is a worldwide ecumenical movement of women’s groups gathering to pray and knit for those in need and those celebrating life’s joys. As the St. Mary’s prayer shawl knitting group gathers to create shawls for others, their handiwork becomes an expression of their love—and of the loving care of the God who works through them.

 Alcoholics Anonymous
 Elizabeth Brown, Violin Teacher
 Cameron Smith, Piano Teacher 
 Adrienne Grove, Voice Teacher 
 Chicago CSI Church, St. Mark's 
 Claret Oulvey, Jazzercise
 Narcotics Anonymous
 Petite Opera Productions 
 Single Mothers by Choice

A group of lay people trained in pastoral care by Bishop Anderson House at Rush Medical Center. Working in cooperation with supervising clergy, Lay Visitors represent the caring attention of our congregation to members who are sick, or shut-in. Through conversation, listening and prayer visitors attend to the spiritual needs of members in the hospital, nursing homes or in home care.

St. Mary’s has completed its mission to “Open Doors” with greater accessibility, dedicated space for Christian formation, and improved hospitality places for gathering and celebrating.