W E D N E S D A Y
September 2, 2026 Vol. 47, No. 10
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of Oak Park and River Forest
St. Giles marks 100 anniversary with Cardinal Cupich presiding th
Focus on looking forward while celebrating rich history By GREGG VOSS Staff Reporter
Sunday’s 100th anniversary mass at St. Giles Catholic Church was a celebration that viewed time in two directions. The mass, presided by Cardinal Blase Cupich, drew approximately 700 people, many who have attended the church for decades, but also younger people who have found a spiritual home there, many with children. One of the key points Cupich made, echoed by the Rev. Carl Morello, pastor of both Oak Park parishes, St. Catherine-St. Lucy and St. Giles Parish, and Ascension and St. Edmund Parish, is that it’s fun to look back, but it’s just as important, if not more so, to consider the future. Oak Park resident Peggy Plastina was a reader at the mass and said she can see in both directions. “You can’t deny the past,” she said at the fellowship gathering after the mass. See ST. GILES on page 18
Welcome toWorship 2026
YOUR LOCAL RELIGION GUIDE
Religion guide Page 19
Oak Park ramps up fee for single-use bags leading to full ban in 2030
Price for a plastic or paper bag goes up a nickel in January By SYDNEY LOVAN Reporting Intern
CREDIT: ED SIDEREWICZ/MYSTIC PHOTO
Cardinal Blase Cupich greets attendees at the centennial celebration of St. Giles Parish last Sunday.
The existing fee for single-use bags at retail stores is about to get higher after a 6-1 vote by the Oak Park village board to incrementally increase the cost before a total ban on the bags takes effect in 2030. At the village meeting on Aug. 25, Lindsey Roland Nieratka, Oak Park’s chief sustainability officer, presented the proposed change while acknowledging the current bag fees have not been effective in reducing the use of plastic bags. The vision of becoming a zero-waste community is just one piece of the larger effort for Oak Park to achieve sustainSee BAGS on page 16
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