Pastor: Father Stanley G. Rataj
Masses: Saturdays 5 p.m.; 7 p.m. Spanish/ Sundays 6:30, 8:30 & 10:30 a.m.; noon and 6 p.m. in Spanish
Seating capacity: 600
Phone: (773) 735-1121
Parish founded: 1909

Photo by: Sandy Bertog

St. Nicholas of Tolentine
6200 S. Lawndale Ave.

Parishioners here had to be content with a basement church for 14 years until hard times ended. An English Gothic edifice designed by Gerald A. Barry was dedicated in 1938, and it was well worth-the-wait. The interior’s marble altar and stained glass windows are added treasures.

From the melting-pot parish of hard-working Irish and Europeans, 42 women became nuns and 26 men were ordained priests. In recent years its transition to a mostly Hispanic community has seen a burst of new activity. More than 40 organizations were represented in the procession at the parish’s 90th jubilee Mass. The traditional carnival and parish picnic are thriving, and people also gather at a tremendous novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe in December. “Every night there’s someone praying in the church.” Soon there will be an adoration chapel, and enrollment is up in its school. Faith keeps moving mountains here.