Saint Clement Church is a must-visit destination for anyone exploring Chicago, whether for spiritual reflection, architecture, or cultural appreciation. I happen to be able to visit last summer, as they were one of the churches that hosted a regional event for the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. And I can confidently say that this miniature version of the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis, Missouri - stands out for its breathtaking neo-Byzantine and Romanesque design, which combines intricate mosaics, soaring domes, and remarkable stained-glass windows. This is truly a place where faith and beauty is the perfect combination! The convenient mass times and devotional services are deeply uplifting, offering a sense of renewal and spiritual connection. The reverent yet welcoming atmosphere makes it accessible for both long-time parishioners and first-time visitors. The liturgy and sacred music, under the leadership and director of Mr. Jeremy Kiolbassa aka 'The Fabulous' truly elevates the worship experience, creating a serene environment for prayer or quiet contemplation. Beyond worship, the church itself is an architectural and artistic treasure. Every corner reveals exquisite artwork, from detailed marble carvings to vibrant mosaics depicting the life of the Virgin Mary. The quiet chapels throughout the basilica provide intimate spaces for reflection, and the outdoor gardens offer a peaceful retreat. For travelers, history enthusiasts, or anyone seeking a moment of peace in Lincoln Park, the church is a true gem. It is easy to access (with its own parking lot), very clean & well-maintained, and offers a welcoming experience for people of all ethnic backgrounds. Whether you're attending a Mass or simply admiring the incredible architecture, a visit here is both inspiring and rejuvenating. read more

I had a horrible experience as a 5 yr old trying to enroll to the Grammar School. My parents are Catholic but got married at Cook CountyCourt House right after World War II. My dad was in the Army Airforce fighting for his country at 18 yrs old They didn't have money for a Wedding. Then they bring me to St Clements Grammar school to sign me up at 5 yrs old. The Nun was so mean. Calling me horrible names. Saying I was born from parents not married. Also my dad after the War became a Chicago Police Officer. Continuing to protect our Country. I was so scared. I didn't want to go there anyway. Then I went to Louisa May Alcott grammar school. Got great grades. To this day I never smoked, no drugs, don't drink either. My friends that went to St Clements Grammar school drank, smoked, swore, and got pregnant as a teen. So the Church doesn't make better people. It's how you're brought up. I couldn't go to Waller High School because of gangs. I had to take a bus and the elevator to go out of district for 2 years. Get good grades and my last 2 years of HS at downtown Jones Commercial HS. Got a trophy for not missing 4 years of HS. Same in grammar school. So being Catholic and treated like garbage from them, really terrified me as a little child. It was a beautiful church inside. read more

An absolutely gorgeous place of worship. Vibrant young adult community and active community in general with lots of programs offered for Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Many mass times that fit any busy schedule! The liturgy is top-notch but most notably during the Paschal Triduum (pics are from Easter vigil 2022). Welcoming and lovely parish. read more

Saint Clement Church - Easter Vigil blazing fire (rogus ardens) 2022 - Churches Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Moved to the city over a year ago and began attending St. Clement due to proximity to my apartment. Found a great community with numerous program options during the week to help me explore and grow in my faith. Both pastors are friendly and take the time to get to know you despite the large parish size. read more

Saint Clement Church - Outside spring view - Churches Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I've been attending St. Clement for three years and have found many opportunities for faith and friendship. There are many Mass times to accommodate your schedule and frequent social events to make new friends while discussing matters of faith. The priests and parish staff are friendly, knowledgeable, and sincere in their outreach to the community. read more

We do go here for church, but we also got married here so my review will be heavily focused on that...from a day to day basis, we really love it. The fact that they have a 7pm Sunday Mass was really appealing since we don't always make it up on Sunday morning at 9AM! I like that the church takes a modern approach to religion and realizes that the old ways of Catholic churches in the past aren't going to attract the young crowd the city brings, they are fairly liberal in my opinion. As far as our wedding goes: We started going looking for a Church for both our wedding and to go to on a weekly basis. We wanted a modern Catholic Church. A place that was with the times and had a strong young adult community. Saint Clement is exactly that. It is an absolutely gorgeous Church (Which is probably an understatement if you have ever seen it). We went through the Pre-Cana program at Saint Clement and we both felt it was really great. We met 4 times (once a month for 2 hours) with 4 other couples and 2 host couples, one married for 5 years, one 15 years. We really got a lot out of the program and I think everyone should do something like this. It was much more effective compared to the Archdiocese one, from what I hear. Our Priest was Father Ramil and I cannot say enough about how great he was to work with. He is really down to earth and we enjoyed meeting with him to prepare for our wedding. The Church is also super organized, they give you a packet with all the info you will need and they have all the music online so you can listen to it. They have a well run operation and considering they do 4 weddings a Saturday, you can understand why:) read more

I've been going to St Clement for 6 years and have found it to be a very welcoming and inclusive community. I first got involved in St Clement through the Young Adult Community retreats. Following St Clement YAC on Facebook is the easiest way to find out what they're up to! The 2nd Sunday Wine and Cheese socials are a blast after the 7pm mass! St Clement also has a ton of on going courses on a weekly basis from Alpha course to Following Jesus which offer dinner before the course and a natural way to build community. I'd encourage new parishioners to sign up for the weekly newsletter via the website. St Clement also has a new program called Clement Navigators which will pair you with an existing parishioner and help you get plugged in! Both Fr Matt and Fr Peter and very engaged and available. Couldn't recommend St Clement more highly! read more

I am so impressed with the amazing Saint Clement parish. It has always been a gem - and an amazing place to worship and to build your faith - but lately the energy and engagement is soaring. The worship and homilies are inspiring, the hospitality incredible, the inclusiveness of all is second to none, and the commitment of parishioners to being supportive, and caring for each other is inspiring. There are so many programs targeted at all groups, and each one seems to be thriving. The young adult community has been super strong and there are literally hundred of young adults at many events. I am in the more "mature" category and find there are many great opportunities to get involved and to build community so I guess it is safe to say, "it is for all." When you know about something good, it is fun to let others know about it - hence my review. read more

Church is good with youth, young adults and adults and is packed each week. Check out their faith hub mass at 4:30pm for something new. Church throws party's as well with good food! read more

Amazing place to worship with an incredible community and pastor. Encourage to check it out - in addition to mass many social events to check out. read more

I recently went to the 7pm mass. If you like masses akin to Sunday night masses at your college chapel/Newman center, this is place for you, complete with under-dressed patrons, young-adults (and not so young adults) talking through the entire mass, and over-the-top music and other things. What other things? The youngish priest gave a sermon that consisted of: the VW Beetle vs Chevy Nova, the high amount of "masculine language" in the new mass texts for 2012, how he wanted granite counter tops in his mother's new house, and how the cathedra (the priest's chair) at St. Clement's was too ornate. The opportunity to give a talk for 30 minutes that could have been inspiring and possibly set the congregation to put the Gospel into action had been wasted. Talk about losing sight of the forest for the trees. There are far more important things that a young priest could tell a young congregation other than complaints and granite counter tops. Lots of long, pregnant pauses during the consecration, coupled with the singing from the priest, which was a strange country-western (or Worship and Praise) twang. St. Clement's also uses soft, crumbly bread as the Host during communion. I haven't seen that in use in almost 10 years and most parishes are aware it's illicit. Apart from it's interior that make you feel like you're in Italy, you're pretty much walking into a Our Lady of Liturgical Abuses. There's no such thing as a "modern Catholic" parish like other reviewers have mentioned. A parish IS Catholic, or it isn't. There aren't varying degrees of modernity: "Well, this parish is kinda like 1967...and this one is like 1978...and this one is like 1991..." etc. Apart from the very small number that conduct almost all masses in Latin, Catholic parishes (should) be "catholic" (universal), something St. Clement fails to do. read more

It feels wrong to rate a church but if I had to... I am proud to be a parishioner of Saint Clement Church. It's most meaningful to me because of its liberal theology and its inclusiveness of gay and lesbian Catholics like myself. There are few Catholic parishes that dare to call itself a "Welcoming Community" as this church does, and it is! It has a wonderful, vibrant and intensely active gay and lesbian outreach that drives a church ministry to local persons with HIV/AIDS in homes and in the hospital. These are not repressed or oppressed gay Catholics. They've taken ownership of their faith in Christ and not let others dictate the direction of that faith. I love the church's commitment to community service. With millions of dollars in donations to the church, it has a nice track record of spending much of its income on neighborhood needs: the Lincoln Park homeless shelter, homebound persons, creation of youth programs, and much more, without regard for the faith traditions of those receiving these generous gifts from the parish. Young adults will enjoy the Sunday evening Mass at 7:00 pm. There's a wine and cheese gathering every month as a meet and greet. One Sunday evening Mass each month is a contemplative Mass, taking from the Taize traditions. I recommend that service for non-Catholics to enjoy, too! It is absolutely wonderful! read more

St. Clement's is far and away the best church I have ever attended. Several things that commend it: First, the community is welcoming. The parishioners are generally kind and inviting, the church has a wide range of programs from book clubs, prayer meetings, small groups, service opportunities, and ministry options that enable diverse forms of participation in the community. When I wanted to start a CS Lewis book club, I got complete support as well as space from the church to do so, and it was a great success. Furthermore, the priests were very good homilists, particularly Fr. Eddie de Leon, and I always felt they did a good job of striking a balance between conservative/liberal and traditional/progressive views in the Church. As a result I felt both challenged and supported in my faith. Secondly, in an artistic sense, the church is a masterpiece. The choirs are excellent, and the music is thus a real treat. Once a month, the 7pm Sunday mass has a Taize service, which was a particular favorite of mine. Architecturally, the church is beautiful, and the sanctuary itself is used as an extended canvas for religious and spiritual art. Each of the arches in the center has the faces of saints; in the back of the sanctuary there are seven stained glass windows of the seven sacraments interspersed with six mosaics of some of the major saints in the church. It's impossible to describe in a review the beauty inside, so I recommend seeing it yourself. All in all, one of the things I miss most about Chicago is this church and its community, and I always make a point to go there whenever I visit Chicago now. If you're in Chicago and looking for a parish, especially if you're between the ages of 22 and 35, I can't recommend St. Clement's highly enough. read more

It's a little weird to review a church, but here goes. St. Clement's is a beautiful church, and I've been coming here for mass fairly regularly since February. The homilies are often what makes or breaks a mass for me as the rest of mass is largely comforting ritual. Fr. Manny and Fr. Ken both usually do a very good job at taking the readings and translating them into a useful message. The 7PM mass sunday nights is a lifesaver, and unlike my parents' church in the suburbs, actually has young people (18-35) at it! If I have one complaint, it's that the music director seems to have a larger opinion of the department than is necessary. Songs are regularly one to two verses longer than they need to be. Opportunities to squeeze another song in, or to take a speaking part of the Mass and turn it into a song are never missed. They probably think this makes it more "vibrant" or "youthful," but in reality, it's just fluff, and detracts from the substance of the Mass, and frequently leads to masses that go over an hour. Likewise, sometimes the Prayers of the Faithful seem a little too political, i.e. "For our leaders, that they may enact eco-friendly policies for the betterment of our earth," etc. That's not the idea of Mass. read more

First of all, let me preface my review by saying that I was raised in a very liberal, anti-organized religion household. Fast forward to about two years ago (when I was 30) and I started attending mass here once in a while because a) my then-boyfriend/now-husband wanted to and b) it was about 5 doors down from our condo. About a year ago I decided to join the RCIA program at St. Clement after registering as a parishioner and meeting some of the staff at a new parishioner dinner. Everyone was so friendly and non-creepy. I had always equated religious people with condescencion, pressure and, most of all, weird creepiness (I had tried out a number of other religions and churches before finding St. Clement). Christina Bax, who is the director of the program, is wonderful and makes everyone feel welcome. It has been a very enlightening and positive experience for me so far. About a month ago my husband and I got married at St. Clement. Not only is it a fabulously beautiful church, but the whole process was very meaningful and helped us to grow as a couple. We went through pre-cana with other parishioners, led and hosted by two couples who also attend the church. It felt like becoming part of a community- it is nice to see familiar faces at church every week and to really get to know people in such a welcoming environment. Father Ken was the presider at our wedding and throughout the ceremony he looked right at us and spoke directly to us, about things we had spoken to him about on prior occasions. He is awesome and our wedding day was so special. St. Clement IS very welcoming- to everyone. My mom is gay and I struggled with finding a religion when I was younger because I wouldn't and won't accept that being gay is wrong. I have actually sat in mass at St. Clement and heard the priest say that there is nothing in the bible that says that being gay is wrong (human interpretation is another story). THAT is the kind of tolerace and acceptance that you'll find in general at St. Clement. You will always be asked to help out or volunteer (which we've done) and we always meet great people and learn something new while helping the church. There are a lot of charity/volunteer opportunities. We really enjoyed the "theology on tap" series over the summer. I recommend checking it out this summer. read more

The place is amazing, even for a staunch agnostic like me. St. C. is architecturally fabulous. Although a Roman Catholic church, the architectural style is heavily Byzantine. But wait, there's more: the exterior is a combination style - Greek, Byzantine and Roman. The interior was painted by a Russian priest, again in Byzantine style - so many iconographic images. They do great community work. Their projects include HIV/AIDS outreach, affordable housing, and sponsorship of international families displaced by war. I have to dock a star for the extremely bossy wedding coordinator who told me I was not permitted to pee ten minutes before my sister's wedding ceremony was set to begin. Ready to box, I ignored her scolding and found the bathroom. Fortunately, we both walked out of church that evening. And wouldn't you know it...the nuptials began on time and I didn't "christen" their marble floor. read more

Well, I didn't burst into flames when I walked in, so that's got to be worth a couple stars right there.... In all seriousness though, this is a gorgeous church. I live a couple blocks away and have walked by it a million times, but had never been inside until one of my dear friends was married here yesterday. When my friend had gotten engaged she was adamant about getting married here, and looking around I could see why. When you walk in and look around and up, it's truly breathtaking. The outside is nothing to sneeze at either. Father Ramil Fajardo officiated the service, and he was quite entertaining. I've been to weddings where the officiants try to be funny and fail miserably, but he pulled it off and also said a lot of things that just made sense. He did a great job with the service, and it was a truly lovely wedding. Minus one star because the acoustics weren't great - we were seated towards the back, but perhaps they are better up front. read more

I was surprised to see that Churches are rated on this website, but I'm happy to spread the good news about St. Clement Church. I'm involved in the choir and the parish respect life committee here, and I love it. This parish is doing a great job of addressing key issues like post-abortion healing, ethical stem cell research, end-of-life care... A lot of real issues that people are facing but that a lot of Churches in this area don't discuss. The respect life group is very young and vibrant with a lot of members. The Church itself is very beautiful, and I think the music is awesome, if I say so myself! We visited many Catholic parishes in the area and chose this one because of the beautiful music, the respect life presence, and the great priests - Fr. Ramil, Fr. Vince and Fr. Ken! Those guys are awesome! read more

Although it's weird to review a church.. I must confess I looked on yelp when I was researching churches after moving to the city, so here's the run down on St Clements. I really like this church, its welcoming community, vast array of outreach programs, and thoughtful sermons. It also happens to be one of the most beautiful Catholic churches in the city . I'm so glad I joined, I have encouraged a number of my friends to start coming here as well. I I like St Clement's because I think they have something to offer everyone. They have more traditional masses in the morning and a mass at 7 pm on Sunday evenings geared towards young adults. They have choirs that sing at the 9 am, 11:45 am and 7:00pm masses. I also was really drawn to the fact that they have a huge young adult program that offers volunteer opportunities, a volleyball league, retreats, bible study groups and monthly gatherings. I initially joined St Clement's late last year because I really wanted to join one of their choirs. They have very professional choirs run by highly skilled musicians, but they are still really fun! read more

Wow me and my wife picked this church because everything is perfect about this church. Father Rex was simply amazing. Wow !! I cannot not say enough good things about him. Father Rex married us on July 15th 2017 and throughout the process he gathered so much information about us to tell our story during our wedding ceremony. In the weeks leading up the the wedding we visited him and he guided us through the entire process. He gave us such great advice. We are forever grateful and imbedded to Father Rex. Father Rex if this message gets to you we just want to thank you for everything. Your are an amazing person. read more

Saint Clement Church - Thank you Father Rex - Churches Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I went to see Handel's Messiah at St. Clement a few weeks ago. The performance was outstanding, but the ushers kept chatting up, which I thought was very unprofessional. However, the church itself is very impressive. Was told that the inside was decorated by some Russian priest in the early 20C. I have been to many Catholic churches all around the world, and this neighborhood church is doesn't look shabby at all in comparison. read more

The 7pm service on Sundays makes it easy to get to Mass each week. The priests are generally down-to-earth and seem to be well in touch with the typical liftestyles of their parish community and Lincoln Park. The services are traditional Catholic Masses. At times, they fall on the more liberal side in some of their teachings. However, I am a more conservative Catholic, and usually get a great deal out of the Homilies. read more

Beautiful Catholic church. I always feel welcome when I am there! the services are nice b/c if you are unable to go to early sunday morning mass they have sunday evening masses as well! read more

I really should have done this a long time ago. Ive gone to many churches, and I left the church at one point. The music program brought be back to church. I was just in need of a place to sing, and then I listened to what was being said and I found out that the Pastor must have been spying on me because felt like his homily was so relatable to what I was going through. I have the same, amazing experience every week with every priest. St. Clement is a gift and it gave me spirituality I never had before. I am so thankful for this place. It is open, warm, and welcoming to all people. read more

Saint Clement Church is awesome. As an active parishioner, I am glad to be part of this community.

So I lived about 6 doors down from this church for my last 2 years in Chicago. My apartment was a pit, but this church is wonderful. And I'm not talking about the church services, I'm talking about the church bells. They're beautiful, they're loud, and they made living in the area special. Besides that, it's a beautiful church. I did go to one service just because I sometimes go to random churches, and I felt like a fish out of water because it was some Catholic Holiday and I know nothing about Catholicism (or any other religion). It was constant kneeling and standing, patting ourselves down, eating whatever, so I left confused, feeling dumb, and with a few bruises and sprained knees. So I can't speak of the actual church services, other than the place was packed. But the church bells rock, they're special, they chime wonderful music every hour, and they make living nearby enjoyable (it's a great area to live anyways, but the church helps a lot). read more

I live across the street from this church! It's beautfiul...there are always weddings here. I've been to one service and although I am not Catholic I enjoyed it. I have heard they have a large youth group at this church for anyone looking to join that type of organization. read more