The goal of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) is to establish and implement the vision of the parish. It is a group made up of the pastor and associate pastor, operations director and selected members of the parish staff and dedicated leaders in parish ministries whom the pastor has invited. Our goal is to organize the administration of the parish in a new way, so as to effectively minister to the people of the parish in the environment of a newly–united parish and fewer priests. We intend to develop leadership within the parish so as to place less administrative demands on the priests and enable them to do the primary job of shepherding for which they were ordained. Precisely because there are challenges and obstacles in the process of transition, the goal of the SLT is to implement a vision that seeks to recognize those difficulties and build the new reality that can use those challenges as a means of growth and transformation, just as the cross is the point of transformation from death into new life.

The purpose of the SLT is to set a vision for the parish and ensure that this “big–picture” vision is made reality by breaking it into details and leading the parish in the process of implementing that vision. Currently, our major goals are to help unify our parish while respecting the traditions that our parishioners have from their previous parishes and to improve regular communication to the entire parish. This team is distinct from the Parish Pastoral Council in that, while the pastoral council seeks to get feedback from our parish and advise the pastor and staff, the SLT is a decision–making body that looks forward and, from the advice of the parish council, seeks to implement a vision with the pastor. The mission, composition, and authority of the SLT can be changed by the pastor depending on the needs of the pastor or the parish.

The SLT meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month from August through May in the Fireside Room at 3:30 PM at the St. Celestine Pastoral Center.

Get to Know the SLT Members

Lois DeFelice is a graduate of Our Lady of Mercy Grammar School, Alvernia High School and part of the first graduating class of Northeastern Illinois University. She holds a Masters Degree in Religious Studies from Mundelein University. She is assisting in the coordination of the Ministry of Care for our St. Guerin Parish. Lois has interacted with both of our worship sites over the past 43+ years of ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago. She ministered at St. Cyprian for 11 of those years as Director of Liturgy and Faith Formation. She is a certified Pastoral Associate and Director of Religious Education and has a passion and love of ministry. Lois is a widow, mother of 5 adult children and grandmother of seven and works as a Guest Service Associate at Wrigley Field.

Lynn Loftus is married to Stephen, and has two children and three grandchildren. She taught at St. Celestine School for seventeen years and St. William School for three years. She earned her BA from Northeastern Illinois University and her Masters in Education from Dominican. She has been a St. Mother Theodore Guerin parishioner for four years and a St. Celestine parishioner for 30 years prior.

Sheila Klich is the principal of St. Celestine School. She has 25 years of experience in schools in the Archdiocese of Chicago. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from DePaul University, a Master’s degree in Teaching Reading from Northeastern Illinois University, and a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Notre Dame. She has also done Certificate work through Loyola University’s All Are Welcome Program, which focuses upon inclusive education in Catholic Schools.She lives with her family in the Schorsch Village neighborhood. Her family includes her husband, Mark; her daughter, Riley; and her tuxedo cat, Dante. She enjoys reading, running, and Notre Dame Football.

Ruthanne Swiatkowski is a graduate of St. Francis Borgia Grammar School and Mother Guerin High School. She holds a Bachelor's degree in English and Speech-Secondary Education and a Master’s in Human Resource Development from Northeastern Illinois University. Ruthanne is a certified Director of Religious Education with coursework completed in Catechetical Studies at Dominican University through the Archdiocese of Chicago. Her professional experience includes teaching at Alvernia and Trinity High Schools, working in Human Resources and also at St. Francis Borgia where she was the Director of Religious Education for 15 years. Ruthanne is the Director of Lifelong Formation at St. Mother Theodore Guerin Parish and enjoys working with people of all ages. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, reading and traveling.

Kim Hagerty graduated from St. Juliana grammar school, St. Scholastica High School, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and has a Masters in Counseling from Northeastern Illinois University. Married to Patrick (now a Catechist!), they have had three children and are grandparents of four. Kim is the Director of Evangelization and the parish bulletin editor. She and Pat have been parishioners of St. Mother Guerin for four years, and before that, of St. Celestine and St. Pascal.