Religion in Chicagoland (safe, estate, metropolitan area)

[prairiestate]

Let me put it this way, Will and DuPage Counties (among others) are in the Joliet Diocese, not the Chicago Archdiocese. The Joliet Diocese has more members then some large cities elsewhere in the country, like Denver. So, you will absolutely be surrounded by Catholics almost anywhere in Chicago. Chicago is also a very diverse and fairly open minded area in regards to religion. Cardinal Francis George went to an Iftar at a suburban mosque Tuesday night (a Muslim dinner at the end of the day, during Rammadan).

[trailerguy]

The town of Mundelein was named after the first Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago. It is home to the St. Mary by the Lake Seminary and the beautiful Marytown shrine. St. Peter's in Volo has a regular Latin Tridentine mass (with diocesan approval), in a lovely old German Gothic building. There are large beautiful Catholic churches all over Chicagoland.

[RonPrice]

I live in Tasmania and I am the person who posted the item about the Baha'i temple nearly five months ago. As far as the suburb of Chicago in which the Baha'i temple is found--I leave that to locals. I have always been impressed with its beauty and, although I'd like to get the suburb right(I'll check it out on the www), I have become increasingly amazed as I've got older(and been associated with this new world Faith for 53 years now) with the diversity of architecture in the international Baha'i community.

[bearkat]

I would agree with everyone that you won't feel out of place being Catholic in this area. I'm a professional singer and have sung at many Catholic Churches and they are all over the place - the poor neighborhoods and in the upper crust neighborhoods.

There's even an enormous Catholic Church (St. Mary's I believe) in downtown Wheaton, which seems like a very evangelical town to me.

[trailerguy]

Wheaton College is Billy Graham's alma mater. There is a large evangelical presence in DuPage county along with everything else. I'm an Episcopalian. The Diocese of Chicago is one of the biggest in the country. The Willowbrook Church started the megachurch movement; I believe it's still the largest in the country. You can find pretty much whatever you are looking for here.

[toonces93]

Hello,
I'm one of those Evangelicals living in Wheaton (gasp!) and my Catholic neighbors and friends and I get along just fine. We even let our kids play together! Just chill, my friend! You're going to be just fine here!

There are at least two very active parishes in Wheaton, St. Michael's (very active parish with a school) in the downtown area with a beautiful new building. It was built to replace one that was sadly destroyed by arson a few years back. On the south end of town there is St. Daniel's. All of the neighboring towns have parishes as well. The Chicago area in general has a large catholic presence...I was in the minority growing up.

[WildWestDude]

If there is a predominant branch of christianity in the Chicagoland area, I wonder which one it would be.

[prairiestate]

Originally Posted by WildWestDude

If there is a predominant branch of christianity in the Chicagoland area, I wonder which one it would be.

It's been well established by now that it's Roman Catholicism.

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

Let me put it this way, Will and DuPage Counties (among others) are in the Joliet Diocese, not the Chicago Archdiocese. The Joliet Diocese has more members then some large cities elsewhere in the country, like Denver. So, you will absolutely be surrounded by Catholics almost anywhere in Chicago. Chicago is also a very diverse and fairly open minded area in regards to religion. Cardinal Francis George went to an Iftar at a suburban mosque Tuesday night (a Muslim dinner at the end of the day, during Rammadan).

Did the Cardinal spend the night in another diocese?

I always thought it was interesting that Chicagoland was split up. One Sunday, I went with my uncle to church in Aurora. During the homily, the priest was talking about the Archdiocese and some charitable partnership from his church. So I thought we were in the Archdiocese of Chicago. Later I found out that I was in the Diocese of Rockford that day. After digging some around the net, I realized Naperville (across the county line) is in the Joliet Diocese. Wow it's so confusing compared back to Houston (now the recently elevated Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston).

[Lookout Kid]

In Chicago you hear two people mentioned in the local newscasts more frequently than any others: The first is Mayor Daley. The second is Cardinal Francis George. It's amazing to me, as a non-Catholic, how much I know about the life of this man.

Anwway, there are certainly people in Chicago who do look down on others for being religious, but I think you find this to some degree pretty much anywhere that isn't the Bible Belt. Most people live and let live when it comes to religion. But I'd say that the climate for Catholics is much better than for Evangelicals in Chicago... People discuss religion publicly quite a bit less in the north than they do down south, so just be ready for that. It's more taboo up here to go around proselytizing and "witnessing", and that's just fine with me.