When Fr. Moses Mesh, CSV, arrived in Bourbonnais in 2021, Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church parishioners were excited to get to know their new parochial vicar and learn his hobbies and interests.
At Camp MOSH last summer, Fr. Moses had tools and materials at a table where he helped teens learn and practice basic crochet skills during social time and breaks.
“I told a few of them that I liked to do crochet and embroidery. They said, ‘Why don’t we start a class?’” Fr. Moses said. “We started as a group of five. They spread the word, and it grew to 12 and then 16.”
The group encouraged Fr. Moses to do an open house, show some of his projects and materials, and demonstrate the craft – around 100 people came through to check it out. Now, the Knitting Club meets most Mondays. The growing turnout of two dozen people or more each week has relocated them from the cozy library table out into the bigger space in the parish hall. There, they can welcome experienced crafters as well as curious newbies.
“This is not only a group for people who already know – it’s also for people who want to learn. Every week, there’s someone new or a new project to try, and we want people to learn,” Fr. Moses said. “We have young people coming, too, who are stressed or tired, and want to enjoy this with us. Even though we’re not all from the same age group, the young people enjoy talking to the older ladies.”
A closer look at a set of dolls that Amanda’s group brought to Ronald McDonald House on one of their service trips.
Over the years, they have worked together on many service projects, including prayer shawls and afghans for local senior center residents, hats and scarves for people in need of winter gear, knit roses for Mothers’ Day, and amigurumi, a Japanese form of knitted or crocheted stuffed dolls and animals for kids facing illnesses.
The group passed these items on to Coordinator of Viatorian Youth Ministry Amanda Fierce and her youth volunteers for their monthly trips to the Ronald McDonald House at Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago. As Amanda and the young people cook and serve dinner, they offer the items as gifts, including various animals and dolls with custom features such as sewn-on glasses.
“Taking handmade items to the Ronald McDonald House on our monthly cooking dates is magical,” Amanda said. “This is such a basic gift to give, but every single time, it brings such joy to the kids! Each stuffed animal is unique, just like the kids we’re serving.”
A close-up of some of the materials and handiwork from a meeting in May.
The MBVM bulletin and newsletter have the open invitation for new participants!
The club is wholly committed to service, relying on generous donations of yarn and materials from parishioners and friends – often by the boxful! – and creating all their items to give away. What’s the next project? “In the fall, we’ll come up with another idea. Who knows what!?” Fr. Moses said. “But our group makes great decisions.”
And it bears mentioning that Fr. Moses loving cooking, too, and often, he even prepares lunch and dessert for his knitters. For him, this group is a wonderful mix of service, community, and faith-sharing. “People share, pray, ask questions, and work together. We have faith-sharing and camaraderie,” he said.
Fr. Moses and these knitters are another expression of the Viatorian common thread of raising communities of faith.