Letter From Fr. Brad About His New Pastor Assignment

Dear Saints Peter and Paul community,

As I complete my fifth year here at Saints Peter and Paul, I feel a deep appreciation for the work we have accomplished together.

The grade school is thriving—spiritually, culturally, and financially—under the leadership of Mrs. Tricia Weis, who I hired in 2020. Enrollment has grown significantly, and we have completed a junior high security project and full remodeling of the school administrative offices. We also opened a preschool in 2021, which has been enthusiastically supported.
To foster community after the pandemic, we introduced a major summer festival in association with the 175^th anniversary of the parish. Homecoming Fest has been an overwhelming success, with 1,600 attendees this past year.

Hope for Tanzania was launched in 2021 to support the work of our former priest-in-residence, Fr. Nestor Mtweve. Since the launch, the parish generously has raised an astounding $448,000 to support and expand the INUKA Rehabilitation Hospital, which now has a security wall, ambulance, outpatient building, and therapy center, as well as medical and therapy equipment to better assist its patients—some of the most vulnerable children in Tanzania.

The parish itself is in a strong fiscal position—just one of many indications of this is that offertory levels are now in line with giving levels prior to the impact of COVID-19. Two capital projects will be completed this year: the illumination of the exterior of our historic Church, supported by proceeds from Light the Way 2022, as well as the installation of a school playground.

I’ve also had the opportunity to shape an amazing parish staff, due to seven or eight hires I’ve made over the past couple of years due to retirements and relocations (and a mother with a growing family who chose to stay at home). I’m truly the happiest that I’ve ever been during my time at Saints Peter and Paul in regards to the culture and skills of the staff, as well as their sense of collaboration and support of one another and the parish community.

So it is with mixed feelings that I announce that I will be leaving Saints Peter and Paul in July 2023 to assume an open pastorate position at Holy Family Catholic Church in Shorewood. Although I am one year shy of completing my initial six-year assignment here, this opportunity was created when Fr. John Phan announced earlier this year his intention to incardinate to the Diocese of San Diego for family reasons. And Holy Family is very attractive to me for a personal reason as well.

As you may know, I am extremely close with my younger brother Todd, who lost his wife to cancer in 2017. At the time of Kim’s death, I was blessed to have one final year at the Cathedral, so my physical proximity to my brother and his children—my nephew Bryan and my niece Brianna—was most helpful to our family. Although Bryan is now more independent as a college student at the University of Dayton, his sister Brianna is a child with medically complex needs who requires constant supervision and care. She is now 17 years of age, but Brianna is nonverbal and utilizes a wheelchair to navigate school. Although Todd has a demanding job that largely allows him to work from home outside of school hours, it does require some on-site meetings in the early mornings, as well as travel several times per year. There are only two family members who Todd trusts to care for Brianna in his absence for overnight travel—me and her maternal grandfather, who is 78. Our parents are deceased, and we have just one other brother who lives in Tennessee.

And while it is true that I have provided as much assistance to Todd’s family as I could while living in Naperville, Holy Family Parish is just two miles from my brother’s home. The ability to provide spot care and the occasional overnight coverage for Brianna would be aided significantly by this close proximity.

This responsibility to help care for my family, combined with their considerable need, has compelled me to take this opportunity at Holy Family one year short of fulfilling my six-year term here. And because my departure will naturally cause a new pastor to begin ministry here in July, the current staffing of the parochial vicars at Saints Peter and Paul is likely to stay in place.

Over the next few months, I will work diligently to ensure the continuity of the good work we have done together. And the diocesan personnel board—of whom Fr. Ryan Adorjan is a member—understands how active and special Saints Peter and Paul Parish is.
It was an honor to be your pastoral leader for the last five years. Be assured that my prayers for you and your families—and the friendships we have developed—will continue. And I humbly ask for your prayers as well.

In the peace of Christ,





Fr. Brad Baker