St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church sits at the heart of Catholic life in Crystal Lake, a parish of more than three thousand families in McHenry County anchored by two worship sites, an attached Catholic grade school, a thriving Hispanic ministry, and a food pantry that serves neighbors across the region. Its mission statement reads: "We are a Catholic family, living our awareness of Christ's presence through worship, service, evangelization and community for the benefit of all." The parish belongs to the Diocese of Rockford and traces its roots back to 1846.
Two Worship Sites, One Parish
St. Thomas is unusual among parishes its size because Mass is celebrated in two distinct church buildings on opposite sides of town. The newer Oak Street Church, at 451 W. Terra Cotta Avenue on Route 176, hosts the English Masses and most of the parish's weekday and Sunday worship. The older Pierson Street Church, at 453 Pierson Street, is the home of the Hispanic Ministry and most Spanish-language Masses. The Parish Center (main office) is at 272 King Street.
The hexagonal Oak Street Church was dedicated on Easter Sunday 1968 and was built to express the unity the Second Vatican Council called for in liturgical architecture. No one in the building sits more than fifty feet from the altar, and the Blessed Sacrament Chapel behind the sanctuary is visible from every pew. A magnificent 21-rank Wicks pipe organ, donated by parishioners Al and Florence Kasluga in 1969, anchors the music of the parish; in 2003 a unique chandelier-style addition made it the largest pipe organ in McHenry County.
Pierson Street Church is the original parish church, with a brick edifice dedicated on July 12, 1925 by Bishop Peter J. Muldoon that seated 500 people. Across more than a century of use it has been repeatedly refreshed, most recently with new tile, painting, carpet, wood pews, and kneelers in 2016, and new liturgical furnishings donated by the Hispanic community in 2017.
A Parish Shaped by Bilingual Worship
Few parishes in the diocese reflect the changing face of suburban Chicago Catholicism as visibly as St. Thomas. On any given Sunday the pews fill with English-speaking families at Oak Street and Spanish-speaking families at Pierson Street, often gathering afterward for donuts, faith formation classes, and parish socials.
The English Sunday schedule at Oak Street includes the Saturday Vigil at 4:30 PM, then 7:30, 9:00, 10:30 AM, 12:00 noon, and 5:30 PM. Daily Mass in English is offered Monday through Friday at 6:30 and 12:10 PM at Oak Street, with a Saturday morning Mass at 7:30 AM.
The Spanish-language schedule at Pierson Street includes the Saturday Vigil at 6:00 PM, Sunday Masses at 9:30 and 11:30 AM, and weekday Masses at 6:00 PM on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Confessions in Spanish are heard Friday from 6:00 to 7:00 PM and after the Saturday evening Mass, or by appointment through the parish office.
The parish's Hispanic Ministry also runs sacramental preparation programs for First Communion, Confirmation, marriage, quinceañeras, quinceañera classes, and Anointing of the Sick, with offices staffed Monday through Friday and a dedicated Hispanic Ministry secretary and Sacramental Program coordinator.
A Heritage That Goes Back to the Little Church in the Woods
The story of St. Thomas begins in 1846, when the Reverend McMahon organized a mission church for Catholic families scattered across Algonquin and Grafton Townships. The first church was a log structure on the grounds of what is now Mount Thabor Cemetery, about four miles west of Crystal Lake along Route 176. Residents of Algonquin Township called it the Little Church in the Bush; residents of Grafton Township called it the Little Church in the Woods. It served perhaps twenty-five families and was served from Woodstock by a series of priests through the rest of the nineteenth century.
By 1877 the congregation had grown so much that weekly Mass had to be celebrated in the larger quarters of Fitch's Hall in Crystal Lake. In 1881 the parish built its first proper church on Pierson Avenue, with the Rev. Thomas F. Leyden overseeing construction and the parish valued at five thousand dollars. Crystal Lake separated from Woodstock in 1905, and in 1908, when the Diocese of Rockford was formed from the Archdiocese of Chicago, the parish took its place in the new diocese.
Father Edwin A. McCormick became the first permanent pastor of Crystal Lake in 1922. He built the rectory (now the Parish Center) on King Street and dedicated the Pierson Street Church in 1925. He also opened the parish school under their care in 1927 with the Dominican Sisters of Springfield staffing the building, and he acquired a Catholic section of Crystal Lake Memorial Park Cemetery in 1953. When he died in December 1955 after forty years of service, the community named a public park in his honor, and Father McCormick Memorial Park still bears his name today.
Through the pastorates of Father Burwell E. Beddoes, Father Raymond Eipers, and Father Leo H. Ambre, the parish grew to more than two thousand households. In 1967 Father Ambre broke ground on a new church on Route 176 at Oak Street, the hexagonal building that would become the spiritual and architectural center of the parish. In 1979 the parish helped found a new sister parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, contributing land, a rectory, and a half-million-dollar loan to launch it.
Father Geoffrey Wirth oversaw major renovations of Oak Street Church in 1988 and led the parish through the 1990s building campaigns that produced a new school addition on King Street and a 12,000-square-foot community center at Oak Street. Msgr. Daniel Hermes, who arrived in 2001, led the remodel of the Oak Street sanctuary and the construction of the Adoration Chapel that now anchors the parish's devotional life. Father John R. Evans succeeded him in 2018, and in 2021 Father Robert Jones, who had earlier served at St. Thomas in the 1990s, returned as pastor.
Mass Times and Confession
The Mass schedule is designed so that a Catholic can find a Mass every day of the week within the parish boundaries. The Saturday Vigil in English is at 4:30 PM at Oak Street; the Saturday Vigil in Spanish is at 6:00 PM at Pierson Street. Sunday English Masses at Oak Street are at 7:30, 9:00, 10:30 AM, 12:00 noon, and 5:30 PM. Spanish Sunday Masses at Pierson Street are at 9:30 and 11:30 AM.
Weekday Mass in English is Monday through Friday at 6:30 and 12:10 PM at Oak Street, with a Saturday morning Mass at 7:30 AM. Spanish weekday Mass is at 6:00 PM on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at Pierson Street.
Confession in English is heard Monday from 5:00 to 6:00 PM at Oak Street and Saturday from 8:00 to 9:00 AM and 3:00 to 4:00 PM at Oak Street. Spanish confessions follow the Friday evening and Saturday evening Masses at Pierson Street, or by appointment. The Reconciliation card is available in Spanish from the parish office.
The Stained Glass and the Adoration Chapel
The art at St. Thomas is more than decoration; it forms a layer of catechesis. The four entrance windows of Oak Street Church represent the four Evangelists in their traditional forms: St. Matthew as the winged man for the Incarnation, St. Mark as the lion for the Resurrection, St. John as the eagle for the Ascension, and St. Luke as the calf for the sacrificial death on the cross.
At the heart of the sanctuary sits a faceted dalle de verre window whose colors radiate outward from the Chi-Rho, the ancient monogram of Christ, with a red shield recalling the great sacrifice. The North-end Baptistry window, viewed from the altar, descends from a dove at its peak through dark blue glass to a cross rising out of a pool of water, surrounded by fish, an anchor of hope, a key, and an angelic form, all symbols of the new life opened by Baptism.
The Adoration Chapel at Oak Street Church, built in 2013 to a design that won Bishop David Malloy's personal support, is dedicated to perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. Three walnut beams draw the eye forward to the monstrance on a marble pedestal; that marble altar was refashioned from the Bishop's private chapel in Rockford and used by the first six Bishops of the diocese. Six new stained glass windows line the walls, dedicated to St. Thomas the Apostle, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, St. Francis Xavier, St. John Vianney, St. Gianna Beretta Molla, and Cardinal Francis Xavier Van Thuan, each chosen to embody a particular grace or vocation. The chapel is open Monday at 6:15 AM through Friday at 9:00 PM, Saturday from 7:15 AM to 5:45 PM, and Sunday from 7:15 AM to 6:45 PM.
Religious Education for Children and Youth
The parish's Religious Education program, directed by Mary Beth Jordan, is designed to meet families where they are. The traditional classroom model gathers students from preschool through seventh grade on Wednesday afternoons from 4:30 to 5:45 PM at the Pierson Street Campus. Family Faith Formation meets two Wednesday evenings each month from September through April, beginning at 6:00 PM with prayer, dinner together, and separate classes for children and parents until dismissal at 7:45 PM. A Home Study option, fully online and family directed, is offered for those who need maximum flexibility; families who choose it are asked to attend the noon Family Mass once a month.
The Youth Ministry for grades six through twelve meets on Thursday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 PM in the Community Room at the Oak Street Church. It runs on the conviction that "God loves you and that He has a plan for your life" (Jeremiah 29:11) and offers weekly small groups, retreats, service projects, social events, road trips, and large-group nights. Friends from other parishes and other faith backgrounds are always welcome. The signature summer experience is Camp WOW, a four-day, three-night Catholic day camp with swimming, zip line, Wacky Olympics, daily Mass, Reconciliation, Adoration, small groups, and bonfires, staffed by high school counselors. The parish also sends a delegation to the Steubenville Youth Conference each summer in partnership with St. Mary in Huntley.
Sacramental preparation for Confirmation typically begins in eighth grade; older teens and adults prepare through the OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults), which begins in October each year and culminates in the reception of Baptism, Confirmation, and First Communion at the Easter Vigil.
Hispanic Ministry in Depth
The Hispanic Ministry at Pierson Street Church is not a side chapel or an add-on. It is a fully functioning community, with its own Mass schedule, its own sacramental preparation programs, its own office on King Street, and its own calendar of small communities, youth groups, and adult faith formation. Spanish-speaking staff, including a Hispanic Ministry secretary and a Sacramental Program coordinator, run the program year-round.
Baptisms are celebrated on the second Saturday of each month at 10:00 AM at Pierson Street, following a pre-baptismal talk for parents and godparents on the first Sunday of the month at 1:00 PM. First Communion preparation is for children at least eight years old by September 1 of the program year; Confirmation preparation is for those at least thirteen. Marriage preparation begins at least six months ahead of the wedding and includes recent baptismal certificates, Confirmation certificates, Pre-Cana, and Natural Family Planning courses. Quinceañera preparation is offered throughout the year for registered parishioners who have received the three Sacraments of Initiation.
Jóvenes en la Fe, a Hispanic youth community, meets on the third Tuesday of each month from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, and small parish communities gather for adults on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday evenings and Wednesday mornings, with a young adult group, Verso L'Alto, meeting Monday and Friday at 7:00 PM. The parish also maintains a calendar of baptisms and publishes a Plan Parroquial that lays out goals for the Hispanic Ministry.
Music and Liturgical Ministries
Music at St. Thomas is shared between the Adult Choir, the Contemporary Choir, the Children's Choir, the Resurrection Choir, and a small army of volunteer cantors, accompanists, and instrumentalists. The Adult Choir rehearses on Thursday evenings from 7:00 to 8:15 PM and typically sings at the 9:00 AM Sunday Mass; the Contemporary Choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:00 PM and sings at the 10:30 AM Sunday Mass; both choirs are open to high school age and above. The Children's Choir rehearses on Thursday afternoons from 4:00 to 5:00 PM and sings every other week at the 12:00 noon Sunday Mass; it is open to students in second through eighth grade. The Resurrection Choir gathers as needed to sing at funerals.
Instrumentalists of all kinds are welcomed; quartets and quintets are featured at Christmas and Easter. Accompanists are hired for weekend Masses, weddings, and funerals after an audition that tests sight-reading and keyboard proficiency. A handbell ensemble rounds out the program.
Lay liturgical roles are essential to parish life. Altar servers are trained in fifth grade and continue through twelfth grade. Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion (EMHC), lectors, ushers, and members of the Art and Environment team all serve at weekend and weekday liturgies. The Adoration Chapel has its own dedicated coordinators and email.
Crystal Lake Food Pantry and Outreach
St. Thomas is the home base for the Crystal Lake Food Pantry, a community-wide effort that rescues food from local grocery stores, sorts bread donated by Aunt Millie's and the Northern Illinois Food Bank, and distributes groceries to households in need. Volunteer drivers use their own vehicles to deliver bread to other pantries across McHenry County on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings. Pantry Share Program volunteers hand out extra produce and bread on Saturday mornings between 10:00 AM and noon. Home delivery drivers bring groceries to homebound neighbors four to six times a month. The pantry is also looking for Saturday morning food rescue truck drivers, Monday and Tuesday bread sorters, and Thursday morning NIFB pallet sorters, all with on-the-job training provided.
The parish's own St. Thomas Meal Ministry prepares and delivers short-term meals to parishioners who have lost a loved one, are ill, are preparing for or recovering from surgery, or have had an extended hospital stay. The Prayer Shawl Ministry stitches and blesses prayer shawls for anyone in sorrowful or joyful circumstances; each shawl comes with a Catholic medal and a handmade prayer card, and the group gathers on the second Friday of each month from 10:00 AM to noon at the lower level of Oak Street Church. The Garden Ministry meets at Oak Street on Tuesday evenings at 6:00 PM and Thursday mornings at 9:00 AM during the summer to keep the parish gardens weed-free and beautiful.
Parish School, Preschool, and Resale Shop
St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School, at 265 King Street, shares the parish's central campus. It opened in 1927 with sixty pupils under the Dominican Sisters of Springfield and has grown through major additions in 1959, 1994-1996, and into the present. The school offers faith formation, athletics, musicals, and Christmas events on site, eliminating the need to rent outside facilities. It is led by Principal Samantha Anderson and Advancement Director Colleen Nieckula.
Little Saints Preschool, at 454 Lake Street, opened on a new site in 2016 with two classrooms, a multi-purpose room, and a fenced playground. It now serves three- and four-year-olds in multiple classrooms, plus a toddler playgroup for two-year-olds and a stay-and-play extension. The Little Christopher Resale Shop, at 469 Lake Street, is run as part of the parish Women's Club and supports parish outreach through its sales.
Groups for Men, Women, and the Parish Family
St. Thomas maintains a full calendar of small groups and apostolates. The Knights of Columbus Council #3880 raises funds for life issues and parish needs, and members of the council funded the granite "To Life" monument at the parish in 1999. The Women's Club is open to all women of the parish and includes numerous guilds that handle funeral luncheons, run the Little Christopher Resale Shop, and assist at parish functions. The Men's Group and the apostolate That Man is You invite men of the parish into regular fellowship and formation.
SPRED (Special Religious Education) serves parishioners with intellectual and developmental disabilities, building a community of faith among friends and volunteers. The Light of the World Retreat is offered to men of the parish each year as a retreat experience. Bible Studies gather information and registration through the Adult Ministry page. Fr. Mike's Sunday Homilies are posted to YouTube so that anyone who missed a Sunday can catch up.
Getting Involved, Staying Connected
The parish's Ministry Handbook, updated regularly, describes every ministry of the parish in a single document, and a Time and Talent form connects volunteers with ministry leaders. The parish's electronic communications go out through Flocknote, with separate sign-ups for general parish news, Hispanic Ministry news, OCIA registration, youth ministry events, and the annual parish Flocknote. Bulletins are published weekly and archived online going back several years, with announcements, homily notes, and the parish calendar.
Online giving is available through Faith Direct for both the parish and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and online giving in Spanish ("Fe Directa") is available through a separate link for those who prefer to give in their own language. Mass is livestreamed on the parish's YouTube channel, and homilies and special music are archived there for later viewing.
Anyone interested in joining the parish can complete a Parish Registration form online. Anyone planning a baptism, wedding, or quinceañera can begin the conversation with the front office; anointing of the sick and home visits for the homebound are coordinated through the parish office as well. New volunteers, especially those working with children and youth, complete the Diocese of Rockford's VIRTUS Protecting God's Children training before they begin.
For more than 175 years, St. Thomas the Apostle has been the Catholic home for families in Crystal Lake and the surrounding countryside. Today that home is two churches, two languages, a school, a preschool, a food pantry, an adoration chapel, and a community of small groups, choirs, and ministries, all gathered in the same mission the parish has carried since 1846: to live an awareness of Christ's presence through worship, service, evangelization, and community for the benefit of all.