Future of the SMTG Parish – Updates
YEAR 2026
SMTG Townhall Meeting – February 2026 Updates (PDF)
Seven years ago, St. Cyprian and St. Celestine were combined into a new parish, St. Mother Theodore Guerin, with one school, St. Celestine, and two churches, St. Cyprian and St. Celestine, as part of the Renew My Church process. The Archdiocese requires us to review the process every five years, and that is going on now. St. Celestine School, with 390 students, is self-supporting and is not part of this review.
In mid-August 2025, Fr. Paul Cao invited parishioners from both sites to meet with a team from the Archdiocese of Chicago who have guided us in the process of reviewing the state of the parish.
As part of the process, the team looked at the history of our parish combination, our ministries, our finances, and has toured all the buildings on both campuses to see how the facilities are used and what repairs need to be made.
We held a Town Hall Meeting for parishioners on February 7, 2026 at St. Cyprian Church, to present recommendations about the future of the parish (see the February 2026 Updates above in PDF format). After that, Fr. Paul, with the aid of the Parish Pastoral and Finance Councils, will make a decision to present to our Vicar, Bishop José María Garcia–Maldonado and the Archdiocese as to plans for the future of our parish.