Can you tell me how to get to Joliet? And other questions

After installation, Bishop Sartain will call Chicagoland home

Published: June 24, 2006

By Malea Hargett
Editor

Catholic Explorer

The Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet, Ill., was built in 1917 as a parish in the Archdiocese of Chicago. It will be the site of Bishop Sartain's installation June 27.

Catholic Explorer

The Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet, Ill., was built in 1917 as a parish in the Archdiocese of Chicago. It will be the site of Bishop Sartain's installation June 27.

For many Arkansans, the Diocese of Joliet is now on the map as a place of interest.

The diocese includes seven counties with Joliet as one of its largest cities and location of its chancery offices. It is located 44 miles southwest of Chicago. Today the growing diocese has about 650,000 Catholics and many more people are continuing to move into the area.

Diocese history and activities

The Diocese of Joliet was founded on March 24, 1949, after seven counties were removed from three area dioceses --Chicago, Rockford and Peoria.

"At the time there were 90,000 Catholics living in the seven counties," Bishop Joseph L. Imesch wrote in 1999, marking the diocese's 50th anniversary.

While the diocese is considerablely younger than the Diocese of Little Rock, several churches in the Joliet area have been around for more than 150 years.

The Cathedral of St. Raymond was built as a parish in 1917 when it was part of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Catholics, which make up 36 percent of the population, can also attend 13 other parishes in the city of Joliet.

While the Chancery is located in Joliet, many of the pastoral offices are located 10 miles away in Romeoville, chancellor Sister Judith Davies, OSF, said. Bishop Sartain's office will be located in Joliet as well as the offices for business, finance, schools, religious education and tribunal. In addition to housing diocesan offices, the St. Charles Borremeo Pastoral Center in Romeoville is used for conferences and meetings.

The Catholic Charities office is located downtown and has two other locations.

"The vision has been for many years to come together (in one building)," Sister Judith said.

Sister Judith has been the chancellor since 1989 and knows about many of the programs that the diocese supports. The diocese has made a name for itself with its support of local and foreign missions, she said.

"We offer many opportunities to help the less fortunate," Sister Judith said.

Currently two diocesan priests are on assignment as missionaries in Ecudor. Routinely, the Peace and Social Justice Ministry sponsors medical and construction missions to Ecudor, Bolivia, the Phillipines and Kenya.

"In our diocese in outreach to Bolivia through the efforts of the bishop (Joseph L. Imesch), we built a hospital down there," Sister Judith said.

Mission trips also are scheduled for the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and areas of Texas and Louisiana affected by the hurricanes. Over the past 12 years, more than 1,000 people from the diocese have worked on short-term missions sponsored by the diocese, according to director Thomas L. Garlitz on the office's Web site, http://www.paxjoliet.org.

Bishop Sartain will also be introduced to a broader range of languages and cultures in Joliet. In addition to Spanish, Masses are regularly celebrated in Polish, Filipino, Vietnamese and Korean.

The Diocese of Joliet is home to three Catholic colleges: the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Benedictine University in Lisle and Lewis University in Romeoville. Together, they educate about 12,000 students.

City history and geography

The See city in the Diocese of Joliet is considered part of "Chicagoland," the sprawling suburbs where thousands of people live and commute back and forth to the city. Many families have moved to the area over the past few years.

The northern part of Will County, where Joliet is located, and DuPage County, where more than half of the Catholics in the diocese live, are considered the suburbs of Chicago.

Some other cities in Will and DuPage counties include Aurora, Romeoville, Naperville and Wheaton.

Three of the fast-growing counties in Illinois and in the country are located in the diocese: Kendall, Will and Grundy counties.

Kendall County, west of Joliet, is getting national recognition. In 2005 the county ranked No. 3 with an increase of 9.4 percent. In 2004 it was ranked No. 2 with 8.3 percent increase. In 2005 Grundy County, also west of Joliet, grew 6.5 percent, making it the 11th fastest-growing county in the United States.

"Joliet is the fastest-growing city east of the Rockies," Russ Slinkard, president of the Joliet Chamber of Commerce, said.

Slinkard attributes the growth to affordable housing and a good job market. People are not just moving from Chicago to the area, he said.

"Really people are coming in here from all over," Slinkard said. "It is unprecedented growth in the area."

Today Joliet has a population of 129,519, making it smaller than Little Rock. Cities comparable to Little Rock include Aurora (157,267 residents) and Naperville (163,896 residents.)

Joliet and Aurora are ethnically diverse. In Joliet, 22 percent of residents are black and 19 percent are Hispanic, Slinkard said.

"There is a wonderful Spanish contingency in the diocese," he said.

Downtown Joliet is located on the Des Plaines River and the area is bustling with activities, including Harrah's Casino. The Empress Casino is nearby. The two casinos are the largest employers in Joliet, Slinkard said.

Many visitors come each year to attend NASCAR and drag racing events at Chicagoland Speedway and Route 66 Motor Speedway. The Joliet Jackhammers is the city's minor league baseball team.

Fans of the 1980 movie "The Blues Brothers" have heard of the "Joliet Prison," which is located near downtown. It was a landmark in the city for more than 140 years. The Joliet Correctional Center closed for good in 2004.

In contrast, the southern part of the diocese is still sparsely populated and the site of farming operations. Kankakee, Iroquois and Ford counties have about 33,000 Catholics total.

Like many places in Arkansas, the lure of the river and Delta land suitable for farming were attractive to newcomers settling in Joliet 200 years ago. The area was once part of the Illinois prairie.

"I am very impressed with what I have seen so far," Bishop Sartain said during an interview with Arkansas Catholic about his initial visits to the diocese.