Blessed Sacrament Parish — the only parish in the Rockford Diocese under that title — was dedicated in North Aurora by Bishop Arthur J. O’Neill on Oct. 18, 1975.

 

The parish actually began five years earlier, on Oct. 4, 1970, with Father Edward Wright as its first pastor. The congregation met initially in the Mercyville Auditorium for Sunday liturgies and religious education classes. Weekday Masses and meetings were held in the parish rectory on Chantilly Lane. 

 

Right at that time, the United States began more than 10 years of severe financial problems — the worst financial decade of the century aside from the Great Depression of the 1930s. It impacted the parish’s ability to build a church right away.

 

In 1972, the parish purchased eight acres of land and built a multipurpose building, which was completed June 1, 1975. That served as the parish church, as an auditorium and religious education classrooms. In 1981, a combination rectory and parish center was completed. It included living quarters and  rooms for counseling and meeting. The parish became debt free after a 15-month “House-Give-Away” program — with the former rectory on Chantilly Lane as the prize.

 

Bishop O’Neill dedicated the finally-built Blessed Sacrament Church on Sept. 16, 1984. On Jan. 31, 2001, Bishop Thomas G. Doran dedicated the parish religious education center — a two-story, 16-room structure connected to the rectory and parish hall.

 

Blessed Sacrament Parish is somewhat unusual in having had only three pastors in its first 50 years, plus the steady presence of pastoral associate, Sister Rose Marie Weber, who served from 1973 until 2015.

 

Father and then-Msgr. Edward Wright served as parish pastor from 1970 until 2004. Father John Slampak served as pastor from 2004 until 2014. Father Max Lasrado, has served as the third pastor at Blessed Sacrament since 2014.