About the Church 

Programs & Groups 

Sacraments 

Pastoral Care 

Catholic Links

Our parish was named in honor of St. Peter Damian who was born in Italy in 1007.  He was educated as a professor and in 1035 entered the Benedictine Monastery at Fonte Avellana where he was elected prior in 1043.  Peter was advisor to popes and kings, and in 1057 was appointed Cardinal Bishop of Ostia by Pope Steven IX.  His extensive writings were instrumental in reforming the church of his time.  He frequently undertook missions of diplomacy for the papacy.  Despite his stature as Cardinal Bishop, he was asked to be relieved of his office by Pope Alexander II and retired to his monastery to live a life of solitude.  He died in 1072.  In 1828, he was declared a Doctor of the Church.

A Short History

In July of 1949, Rev. Thomas Barry Horne was appointed by the Chicago Archdiocese to organize St. Peter Damian Church.  On Thanksgiving Day of 1949, ground was broken for our first church at North and Marion Avenues, and the cornerstone was laid May 30, 1950.  By September 1950, Mass was being celebrated and on July 6, 1952, the new parish church was dedicated by Samuel Cardinal Stritch.  The church seated 200 faithful and had an attached parish house of four rooms for use as the pastor's residence.

In 1953, lightning struck the new church and the resulting fire destroyed the rear part of the church including the residence in the rear.  Through the generosity of the parish faithful, the church and residence were restored.  In February of 1973, Fr. Horne retired and on July 2, 1973, Fr. Jerome Klug became pastor.

In February of 1976, a parish administration building providing living quarters for priests, the parish and secretarial offices, counseling offices, and a lower level for meeting rooms was completed.

Between 1975 and 1978, parish membership increased dramatically from 400 to 750 families.  In July 1978, ground was broken for a new church building which was located just south of the old church.  The new building was named the St. Peter Damian Parish Life Center because it provides for all the needs of parish life, prayer, education and social events.  The cornerstone bears the inscription, "This building was erected by the family of St. Peter Damian to instill the love of Jesus in our community."  The first Mass in the new Parish Life Center was offered on the Feast of St. Peter Damian, February 21, 1980.

Our parish continued to grow and a south wing was added to the house.  The expanded offices of our religious education program include ten additional classrooms that can be easily converted, with moveable acoustic partitions, into a large social hall.  This wing was dedicated in the summer of 1990 and is now called Hardy Hall in memory of a parishioner benefactor.

Rev. Jerome Klug retired in 1990.  Rev. Thomas Hoffman is the current pastor.  He joined St. Peter Damian in 2003.

The parish, under the guidance of our pastor, has established a Parish Pastoral Council whose main task is to develop long range plans for the parish.  The family of St. Peter Damian now has over 2000 registered family units and continues to grow and flourish in our community as we work together to imitate our savior, Jesus Christ.

Parish Pastoral Council

Under the guidance of our pastor, a Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) was developed and put in place in 1994.  The Council meets monthly with the pastor in an advisory capacity to discuss and give counsel on parish related questions.  The mission of the PPC of St. Peter Damian is to "listen to the Holy Spirit and respond to the needs of the people of the parish in cooperation with the pastor."

In accordance with archdiocesan norms, commissions have been established to act as umbrella organizations for the various parish ministries.  The parish has five commissions:  Administration, Education, Human Concerns, Social Life, and Spiritual Life.  Each commission is comprised of parish ministries with similar functions.  The leaders of the parish ministries are members of their respective commissions, and each commission has appointed officers to govern their periodic meetings.  Each commission has two PPC members who act as liaison between the commissions and the PPC.  The objective of the commissions is to maintain lines of communication between the ministry personnel, those ministered to and the pastor.