Pastor of Homer Glen church looks back on 15 productive years

HOMER GLEN – Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church in Homer Glen marked its 15th anniversary this month, on May 14.

The church shares a sentiment with Homer Glen – “Community and nature in harmony.” It’s a sacramental approach, said church pastor the Rev. Thomas J. Loya, consistent with Byzantine Catholic spirituality.

“We look out and ask, ‘What did God create here?’ ” Loya said. “Did he put palm trees here? Did he put turf grass here? No, he put in these flowers and prairie grasses in this region of the world. We’ll just try to do what God did.”

Landscaping with indigenous plants resulted in recognition from several environmental groups for Annunciation’s plan for managing its 10 acres, Loya said.

Other achievements during the past 15 years include the formation of a 20-member choir that recorded a CD, collaboration with area Catholic churches, the founding of an independent institute that addresses human life, and an outreach to the Middle East.

Juliana Taimoorazy, founder and president of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council – which Loya said Annunciation helps promote – recently spoke at the church.

“I was somewhat surprised at how many people were moved by her presentation about what’s going on with Christians in the Middle East,” Loya said. “It was really striking how naive and in the dark we are kept in America.”

Annunciation is open during the day for prayer. According to its website, byzantinecatholic.com, Annunciation offers tours for various groups, lectures on topics relating to the spirituality of the Byzantine Catholic Church and an annual prairie festival in August.

The principal force behind these accomplishments is Loya, an artist who painted all of the church’s icons and who engaged youth with an interest in art to act as his assistants.

An exception is the iconostasis (icon screen) in front of the altar. Nicholas Loya (deceased), Loya’s brother, had painted it through Eikona Studios, which he owned with his wife, Christine.

A homilist, Loya has a regular podcast, “Light of the East” and participates in a live weekly program, “Beyond the Veil,” for Radio Maria. Both can be accessed via the website. Loya said he is one of five pastors who rotate a pastor’s column for The Homer Horizon.

Loya also owns land adjacent to the church. He transformed it into a community garden, called Transfiguration Prairie, for the enjoyment of the 170 families that call Annunciation their church home, as well as residents of the surrounding neighborhoods.

“It’s a place for kids to do what kids don’t do enough today – catch frogs, chase butterflies and wonder at nature,” Loya said.

But getting there was quite a journey.

Merging churches,
combining resources

In the early 1990s, the Byzantine Catholic Diocese of Parma, Ohio, had three churches in the Chicago area: St. Mary’s in Chicago, its mission church in Oak Lawn and St. Mary Assumption in Joliet. For a short time, St. Mary’s in Joliet also had a mission in Lisle.

The three churches were in established neighborhoods that were changing, Loya said. Complicating the situation was that the pastor of the Chicago and Lisle church was preparing to retire, he added.

Although the original plan was to build two new churches, after assessing all resources, it was decided to create one centrally located church. But the 10 acres where Annunciation now sits had water flowing through the property, Loya said, and neighbors feared building on that site would aggravate the problem.

Loya didn’t see it that way.

“We told everybody the water was a gift,” Loya said. “Churches don’t come into community to make problems worse. We fix problems.”

Accommodating the waterway led to an interest in prairie restoration, Loya said.

Reaching beyond
its walls

The land behind the parish was a detention area that the development behind the church was supposed to maintain, Loya said. Over time, the area became neglected and eventually went to auction.

Two neighbors also were interested in the property, so Loya and they agreed to bid as a team. Loya used his portion to extend the church’s prairie and added a wrought iron fence and plaza. It was opened to the public.

To further its service to the community, Annunciation is part of group of local Catholic churches that present lecture series and events with a respect-life theme. Taimoorazy’s presentation was part of that series, Loya said.

Connected with – but not legally a part of – Annunciation is the Tabor Life Institute. Loya founded it 10 years ago, citing Pope John Paul II’s book, “The Theology of the Body,” as his inspiration.

With a core group of six people, the institute hosts workshops and participates in conferences, speaking about issues pertaining to human relationships, Loya said.

For the future, Loya hopes to expand the rectory and the institute, with the latter possibly to become a quasi-monastic entity that would serve the church. That’s in addition to adding icons here and there.

“It’s basically done, but it’s not really done,” Loya said. “There’s still nooks and crannies that need painting.”