The Church's social teaching is a rich treasure of wisdom about building a just society and living lives of holiness amidst the challenges of modern society. Modern Catholic social teaching has been articulated through a tradition of papal, conciliar, and episcopal documents. The depth and richness of this tradition can be understood best through a direct reading of these documents.

Read more on the U.S. Catholic Bishops' website

It is an unfortunate truth that an abortion mill operates within our community, and just blocks from our parish church. Our pro-life ministry works - and prays - for an end to abortion in our city and country. Each year, our Bishop and hundreds of Catholics from across our diocese join us for a Mass and a peaceful walk to the clinic, where we pray together through the morning. The last Saturday of every month, parishioners join outside the clinic to pray the Rosary.

Pro-Life Ministry | Priests for Life |

Much of the outreach work our Church does in our community happens through Catholic Charities. Catholic Charities is one of the longest-operating charitable organizations in our country and in our community. With a stated mission "to extend to all the healing and empowering presence of Jesus," it carries the infrastructure and resources to provide vital social services for our community and diocese, including adoption; counseling programs; day care; senior services and guardianship; health care; residential care, foster care, independent living; special education, emergency shelter care; family preservation services; food and clothing distribution; crisis assistance; and discount resale stores. Click here for local locations and contact information.

In addition, Holy Family parishioners work hard to assemble food baskets for the needy in our own community each Thanksgiving and Christmas and coordinate a "Giving Tree" of Christmas gifts for the less fortunate each Christmas.

Our parish is proud to have provided the inspiration for - and been a founding member of - the United Congregations of the Metro-East (UCM). UCM is an association of 26 member congregations throughout the metro-east region of the greater St. Louis region, representing the full range of communities in southwestern Illinois: older urban communities and new suburban areas, white, African-American and Hispanic, wealthy and impoverished. UCM works to influence political leaders in our region and those representing us in the Federal government to make funding and other legislative decisions that positively impact those most in need in our region.