Introduction

“The Sacraments are signs and instruments of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1131

Learn about each of the sacraments below.

Baptism

“Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as children of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1213-1274

Baptism is the first Sacrament of Initiation. Through baptism, a person is cleansed of all sin, reborn, and sanctified in Christ through water and the Holy Spirit.

The Grace of Baptism

For the forgiveness of sins: In those who have been reborn, nothing remains that would impede their entry into the Kingdom of God, neither Adam’s sin, nor personal sin, nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is separation from God (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1263).
“A new creature”: Baptism makes us an adopted child of God, giving us sanctifying grace through the Most Holy Trinity. This grace enables the baptized to believe in God, hope in him, and love him. It also allows them to grow in goodness through moral virtues.
Incorporated in the Church, the Body of Christ: From the baptismal fonts is born the one People of God of the New Covenant, which transcends all the natural or human limits of nations, cultures, races, and sexes: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1267).
The sacramental bond of the unity of Christians: Baptism constitutes the foundation of communion among all Christians, including those who are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church. Those who are incorporated into Christ have a right to be called Christians and, with good reason, are accepted as brothers and sisters by the children of the Catholic Church (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1271).
An indelible spiritual mark: Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark of his belonging to Christ. The baptismal seal enables and commits Christians to serve God by a vital participation in the holy liturgy of the Church and to exercise their baptismal priesthood by the witness of holy lives and practical charity. No sin can ever erase this mark (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1272-1273).

At St. Patrick Church of Merna

Saturdays: After the 4pm Mass
Sundays: After the 11am Mass

At St. Mary Church in Downs

Sundays: After the 9am Mass

Please call the parish office to check availability and to schedule your baptism.

Parish Office: (309) 662-7361

Baptism Classes

First-time parents are required to attend a one-time pre-baptismal preparation class. These classes are usually offered on the first Monday evening of each month. Information regarding sponsors, parent responsibilities, and an overview of the Rite of Baptism is given during these preparation classes.

Please call the parish office to check availability and to schedule your baptism.

Parish Office: (309) 662-7361

Non-Registered Families

If you are from out of town or not a registered family within our parish, please provide the following documentation:

Letter of permission/proof of registration from your home parish
Proof of Pre-Baptism class (for first-time parents)

If you wish to ask a Priest or Deacon from another parish to officiate at the baptism, please contact your clergy first to confirm his willingness and availability. They will need to provide our parish office with a letter of permission to baptize.

At baptism, the godparent begins a life-long relationship with their godchild, praying for and supporting their godchild in faith, as well as providing an example of the Catholic faith in action.

You may choose one or two sponsors for your child. Only one is necessary. At least one sponsor must be an active, practicing Catholic. The other godparent may be a Christian of another denomination. If both godparents are Catholic, one should be male and one female.

The Catholic sponsor must meet the following qualifications:

Be a practicing Catholic and a registered member of a parish
Be at least 16 years of age
Have received the Sacraments of Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation in the Catholic Church

The church where your child is baptized will provide the baptismal candle and a baptismal bib, as a symbolic gift from the parish. These are yours to keep as a reminder of this joyous milestone.

A Baptismal Certificate for your child will be handed to you following the baptism. Please note that the Baptismal Certificate will reflect the mother’s maiden (baptismal) name. Please keep the certificate in a safe place with other important documents for future reference.

We look forward to helping you plan your child’s baptism! If you have any questions, please contact the parish office.

Parish Office: (309) 662-7361

Reconciliation

“Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as children of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission.”

John 20:21-23

St. Patrick Church of Merna

FRI

12:00 pm – 4:00 pm

SAT

9:00 am – 10:00 am

Confessions are heard in the confessional marked “Fr. Matt” at the back of the church.

St. Mary Church in Downs

SAT & SUN

Immediately following weekend Masses

For 30 minutes

If you have any questions, please call the parish office.

Parish Office: (309) 662-7361

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a conversion of heart away from sin and toward God. It begins with remorse for having offended God and entails both a change in one’s life and a determination to avoid the further occasion of sin (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1427-33).

The sacrament consists of four parts or acts of the penitent:

Contrition: In order to be forgiven, we need to have sorrow for our sins. This means turning away from evil and turning to God. It also includes determination to avoid such sins in the future (USCCA, 265).
Confession: For there to be true repentance, the words of remorse must be spoken aloud. Confession is the baring of the soul; the humble prostration before the Father who runs to meet the repentant sinner and welcomes with embracing love (Liturgy Documents Vol. 2, 160).
Act of Penance: Consists of prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, and/or sacrifices. Such penance helps us become co-heirs with the risen Christ. (Liturgy Documents Vol. 2, 160).
Absolution: The penitent is invited to express sorrow in one’s own words or from a choice of prayers. With the imposition of hands, the priest’s absolution completes the sacrament by being a visible sign of God’s mercy and pardon to the repentant sinner, a sign made in, by, and through the Church.

Holy Eucharist

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”

John 6:53-56

The Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian Life” (Lumen Gentium, 11). It is the sacrament in which Christ is really and truly present under the appearances of bread and wine. The Sacrament of the Eucharist was described as follows by the Second Vatican Council:

At the Last Supper, on the night when he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of his Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the Sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1322-1419).

The Effects of the Eucharist

Unites the Recipient to Christ: The first effect of the Eucharist is to unite the recipient to Christ, for the Eucharist contains Christ himself. This union was what Christ promised in the Bread of Life Discourse (John 6:56).
Gives Life: For just as material food and drink assist in maintaining, improving, and building up our life, so too does the Eucharist — the “true food” and “true drink” — bestow life (John 6:54).
Gives a Share in the Life of Christ and the Trinity: The life that is nourished by the Eucharist extends to the spiritual life, to eternal life that will culminate in the future resurrection of the body (John 6:55).
Unites the Church: The social or communitarian aspect to the Eucharist builds up the mystical body of Christ. Just as the Christian faithful are united to each other in faith and baptism, so too are they united in Christ through the Eucharist (Catholic Bible Dictionary, 259).

Confirmation

By the sacrament of Confirmation, the baptized are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence, they are true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed. Lumen Gentium 11; cf. OC Introduction 2.

Along with Baptism and the Eucharist, Confirmation is considered one of the three “Sacraments of Initiation.” Confirmation was instituted by Christ in his promise to send the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-21).

That promise found fulfillment at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles. The Apostles were transformed by the Holy Spirit, receiving the powers of speaking persuasively, performing miracles, and demonstrating the personal holiness of Christian life (Catholic Bible Dictionary, 159).

The Effects of Confirmation

Confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the Apostles on the day of Pentecost (Catechism of the Catholic Church,1302-1303):

It roots us more deeply in the divine filiation.
It unites us more firmly to Christ.
It increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit within us.
It renders our bond with the Church more perfect.
It gives a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, confess the name of Christ boldly, and never be ashamed of the Cross.

Religious education classes are held every year, beginning in September and ending in April. Confirmation preparation is a two-year program, beginning in the fall of 7th grade and culminating with the Confirmation Liturgy in the spring of the student’s 8th-grade year.

St. Patrick Church of Merna

For more information on Confirmation Preparation:

Religious Education: Grades 6-8 Contact Clare Martens

St. Mary Church in Downs

For more information on Confirmation Preparation:

Contact Jennifer O’Brien

Adults who have not received the Sacrament of Confirmation but are interested in full Communion with the Catholic Church will go through the OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) program. At this time, parishioners of both St. Patrick Church of Merna and St. Mary Church in Downs attend one program provided at St. Pat’s. OCIA begins in the fall and concludes at the Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday, where the candidates are brought fully into the Church in a beautiful liturgy. For more information on joining the next OCIA class and what the program entails, see our Learn About Catholicism page or contact the parish office.

Learn About Catholicism Parish Office: (309) 662-7361

Holy Orders

“In the Church and on behalf of the Church, priests are a sacramental representation of Jesus Christ. They exist and act in order to proclaim the Gospel to the world and to build up the Church in the name and person of Christ, the Head and Shepherd.”

St. Pope John Paul II, Pastores Dabo Vobis

Considering Priesthood? Considering Becoming a Deacon?

Marriage

Matthew 19:5-6

Planning a wedding liturgy can be an overwhelming task. At our parish, we are honored and take seriously the responsibility of helping prepare you for a joy-filled and lifelong marriage.

For information and to schedule your wedding for either church, please contact the parish office. Our front office staff will be able to check date availability, outline the steps necessary to reserve a date for your wedding and assist with scheduling meetings with our priests. Once your date is confirmed, you will be in contact with our liturgical coordinator to plan your special day.

Parish Office: (309) 662-7361

Anointing of the Sick

“By the sacred anointing of the sick and the prayer of the priests the whole Church commends those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord, that he may raise them up and save them.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1499

What is Anointing of the Sick?

Known as one of the Sacraments of Healing, this sacrament was instituted by Christ to strengthen the sick and dying to face the challenges that come with illness, to intercede for the restoration of health, and to remit the sin of the infirm.

This sacrament is not only for those who are at the point of death. “When anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time for him to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1514).

Therefore, the sacrament may be received by anyone who has a serious illness, those preparing for surgery, and those who suffer difficulties because of advanced age.

Only priests (bishops and presbyters) are ministers of the Anointing of the Sick. Those administering the sacrament will do so using oil blessed by the bishop, or if necessary, by the celebrating presbyter himself. The faithful should encourage the sick to call for a priest to receive this sacrament (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1516).

Like all sacraments, the Anointing of the Sick is a liturgical and communal celebration, whether it takes place in the family home, a hospital or church, for a single sick person or a whole group of sick persons (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1518).

The celebration of the sacrament includes the following principal elements:

Priest lays his hands on the sick
Praying over the sick in the faith of the Church
Anointing of the sick with oil blessed by the bishop
If circumstances allow it, the celebration of the sacrament can be preceded by the sacrament of penance and followed by the sacrament of the Eucharist.

To request an anointing, please contact the parish office or one of our priests.

Parish Office: (309) 662-7361 Our Priests

Please Include the following information

Name and phone number of the sick
Name and phone number of the caller and your relationship to the sick
Location of the sick (home, hospital, nursing home, etc.)
Purpose of the visit (anointing, communion, confession, etc.)

In the case of emergency illness or accident

Call the Parish Office. Outside of normal business hours, you will be directed to the priest’s emergency phone line.

Parish Office: (309) 662-7361