Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church

On behalf of everyone at Our Lady of Lebanon Church, we extend a warm welcome to you and your family! You are now part of one of the fastest growing Maronite Catholic Communities in the United States. We hope you’ll find Our Lady of Lebanon to be the friendliest too.

We’re glad you’re here. There are several enriching ministries and committees providing excellent resources for parishioners. We encourage you to get involved and share your time, talent and treasure. By doing this you’ll meet people, enrich your faith life and feel part of a community. We are blessed, and truly happy, to have you as a part of our parish family.

Welcome! 
 

We strive to create an environment where all of God's children are welcome, by reaching out and serving the needy, fostering spiritual growth in our families, educating our children in Christian values, and by welcoming visitors into our community. The stewardship of our time, talents and treasures expresses our continuous accountability to God and the shared responsibility to each other, to the community and to the world.  

In the early 1950's the Maronites of Chicago's west side were raising money to build or purchase a church. They raised enough money to buy a small five room bungalow on Talman and 15th street in Chicago. The first floor of the bungalow served as the priest's residence and the finished basement served as the church. The basement had two rooms, the larger room served as the church and the smaller room was a kitchen, meeting area. It was small but it was ours.

Our first pastor was Rev. Wehbe. Father Wehbe was concerned about his health and was anxious to return to Lebanon. Cardinal Stritch did not want to see the church disbanded so he appointed Rev. Martin Scannel, a Dominican priest to be the Administrator, interim Pastor. Father Scannel was very interested in the Maronite Rite and worked well with the parishioners to keep the church alive and well.

On November 1, 1956 , Father John Naffah arrived in Chicago from Argentina. Msgr. Naffah and his loyal parishioners worked together to buy and remodel a Frank Lloyd Wright church on Midway Park in Chicago in the early 1960's.

The next milestone takes the church out of Chicago to the western suburb of Hillside. A beautiful small church which was part of a large seminary complex. Father Victor Kayrouz joined Msgr. Naffah and eventually became Pastor until the church was sold.

Msgr. Alfred Badawi became pastor of Our Lady of Lebanon and together with the parishioners built our beautiful church on Grace St. in Lombard, IL.  Msgr. Badawi served Our Lady for 8 years followed by Father Charles Kashan for two years, and Father Pierre El-Balaa for another two years. 

We are now blessed to have Father Pierre El Khoury as the pastor of Our Lady of Lebanon Church.