Tucked into the rolling farmland of Piatt County, Illinois, Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a Roman Catholic parish that draws its people from two small towns about nine miles down the road from one another. The worship life of the parish centers on St. Philomena Church, on North Market Street in Monticello, and St. Joseph Catholic Church, on Fifth Street in Ivesdale. Together the two churches form a single faith family under the pastoral care of Father Patrick K. O'Neal, with a commitment statement that names worship of God, openness to all, service to spiritual and physical needs, Gospel witness, and prayer and charity as the parish's organizing purposes.
Two Churches, One Parish
St. Philomena, the larger of the two churches, sits at 1301 North Market Street in Monticello and serves as the parish's main hub. The parish office shares the same address, and most parish gatherings, formation programs, and activities are organized around the St. Philomena campus. About nine miles to the east, St. Joseph Catholic Church at 201 Fifth Street in Ivesdale keeps its own Mass schedule and serves the smaller farming community. The combined family is also tied in spirit to St. Michael Catholic Church in Bement, which shares pastoral ties with Our Lady of Perpetual Help and is referenced in the parish's Haiti ministry work.
Mass and Confession Times
The Sunday schedule splits between the two churches. Saturday Vigil Mass is celebrated at 4:30 pm at St. Philomena, with confessions heard beforehand from 3:30 pm to 4:20 pm. On Sunday morning, Mass is offered at 8:00 am at St. Joseph in Ivesdale and at 10:00 am at St. Philomena in Monticello, with confessions at St. Philomena from 7:30 am to 7:50 am. Confessions are also available at St. Joseph on Tuesday evenings from 5:00 pm to 5:20 pm, and upon request at either church.
Daily Mass is offered throughout the week, rotating between the two churches. Tuesday Mass is at 5:30 pm at St. Joseph, preceded by a Holy Hour and confessions at 4:30 pm. Wednesday and Friday Masses are at 7:30 am at St. Philomena. Thursday mornings alternate by the week: St. Philomena hosts Mass at 7:30 am on the first, third, and fifth Thursdays of the month, while St. Joseph hosts Mass at 8:00 am on the second and fourth Thursdays. A first Saturday Mass is celebrated at 8:00 am at St. Philomena, and Wednesday evenings at 5:30 pm feature OLPH (Our Lady of Perpetual Help) devotions and confessions at St. Philomena.
Adoration and Devotions
The parish takes the title "Our Lady of Perpetual Help" to heart with a robust schedule of eucharistic adoration. Adoration is offered at St. Philomena on the second Thursday of each month from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, and the parish invites parishioners to sign up online for an hour of adoration. The devotion is described as a sign of devotion to and worship of Jesus Christ, who is present body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist.
Wednesday evenings are a focal point of Marian devotion at the parish. The 5:30 pm OLPH devotions at St. Philomena gather the faithful around the parish's patroness, and confessions are available in the same time slot. The parish also maintains devotion to Our Lady of Fátima, with a statue that honors the six apparitions reported near Fátima, Portugal, in 1917 and recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as worthy of belief in 1930.
Faith Formation for Children and Teens
Religious education at Our Lady of Perpetual Help is organized through the parish's CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) program. The program serves families at both St. Philomena and the affiliated St. Michael parish, and works to support parents in handing on the Catholic faith. Classes for grades one through five meet weekly at St. Philomena during the school year, with a Confirmation track added for older students. A Confirmation class gathers on Sunday mornings alongside the 10:00 am Mass, and both a CCD handbook and a separate Confirmation handbook are published each year to guide families through the year.
Adults preparing for full initiation into the Catholic Church are served through OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. Sessions meet on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm in the St. Philomena parish hall and run on a weekly rhythm outside of holiday breaks. The parish also runs a women's book study that meets on Thursday mornings and a grief support group that gathers Wednesday evenings.
Youth Group
The parish youth group is open to high school freshmen through seniors and focuses on teaching and fellowship. Core sessions are held once a month, and the group is led by a team of four adults: Matthew and Claire Bryant, Joey Wenke, and Tim Higgins. Registration for the upcoming program year is collected online, and inquiries go through the parish office. The youth group is one of several avenues through which the parish walks with its younger members, alongside Confirmation classes and sacramental preparation.
Women's and Men's Programs: SHE and TMIY
Two parish programs shape adult faith formation at Our Lady of Perpetual Help. She Shall Be Called Woman, often shortened to SHE, is a women's ministry built around honest discussion of the joys and challenges of modern womanhood. The program draws women into conversation about the feminine vocation, the depth of the feminine heart, and the ten virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with the goal of transforming ordinary life into a story of grace. Sessions meet on Tuesday evenings at 6:00 pm, with a women's book study complementing the larger gathering on Thursday mornings.
That Man Is You! (TMIY) is the parish's men's program and addresses the pressures and temptations men face in contemporary culture, especially as husbands and fathers. The content harmonizes current social and medical research with Church teaching and the wisdom of the saints, and it aims to help men encounter Jesus Christ and grow as leaders in their families. TMIY sessions meet Wednesday mornings at 6:00 am, and the program provides ongoing formation with more than a decade of material.
Knights of Columbus
The parish is home to St. Francis of Assisi Council #15584 of the Knights of Columbus. The council's stated goal is to help men, their families, and their parish grow closer to Christ through programs and resources that live and spread the Catholic faith. Activities include a regular Pancake and Sausage Breakfast hosted at St. Philomena, annual Tootsie Roll drives whose proceeds have gone to the Piatt County Mental Health Center, scholarships for graduating seniors, and donations such as $1,000 split among four local schools for Coats for Kids. The council meets on Monday evenings and welcomes new members through the parish office.
Parish Council and Grounds Committee
Governance and stewardship of the parish grounds are handled by two lay groups. The Parish Council advises the pastor on parish life, while the Grounds Committee maintains and improves the outdoor spaces around the church and welcomes help from anyone willing to join the published work days or reach out through the contact persons listed in the bulletin.
The St. Peregrine Shrine
A more recent addition to the parish campus is the Saint Peregrine Shrine, built through the generous contributions of donors and the sale of memorial bricks. The shrine features a statue of the patron saint of those who suffer from cancer and is intended as a place of prayer for cancer patients, their caregivers, and survivors. Parishioners and visitors can purchase a memorial brick to be set into the shrine, commemorating a loved one living or deceased and supporting the devotion at the same time.
Sister Parish in Haiti
Our Lady of Perpetual Help maintains a sister-parish relationship with Our Lady of the Assumption in Domond, Haiti, through the Parish Twinning Program of the Americas. The partnership links the two congregations for mutual spiritual and material support. Recent gifts from Our Lady of Perpetual Help have included $6,000 for additional materials and labor expenses for a classroom project and $2,500 for March expenses for the school lunch program. To keep the support flowing, the parish collects aluminum cans throughout Piatt County and beyond, with collection points at St. Philomena in Monticello and St. Michael in Bement. A donation of just twenty-seven cans, or seventy-seven cents, will feed one student at the school in Haiti.
Bulletins, Giving, and Online Tools
The parish keeps in touch with parishioners through a weekly bulletin published through Discover Mass. Online giving is offered through the parish's OSV Hub account, allowing families to submit weekly tithing and pay for parish-related activities from home. The parish also maintains a parish subscription to FORMED, the Catholic streaming and study platform produced by the Augustine Institute and Ignatius Press, which gives parishioners access to award-winning studies, audio content, movies, e-books, and family-friendly programming. Events and the parish calendar can be followed online or subscribed to through Google Calendar, Outlook, or a downloadable .ics file.
Becoming Part of the Parish Family
Newcomers are welcomed through a parish registration form. A current parish directory project is also underway, with photography dates offered following Mass at each of the regular weekend Masses so that families can sign up for a portrait time. The resulting directory will be an optional printed directory, intended to help the unified parish family become better acquainted with one another.
Getting Involved
From the CCD program and youth group to the SHE and TMIY adult ministries, the Knights of Columbus, the Grounds Committee, and the Haiti recycling drive, there is a wide range of ways to take part in the life of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Those interested in volunteering can call the parish office at (217) 762-2566 or email office@stphilomenaonline.org.