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Our Lady of Hope Church’s is relatively small geographically, but because of its proximity to O’Hare International Airport and Rosemont’s thriving hotels and convention business, it frequently has worshipping guests from around the world. 

In its early days, Our Lady of Hope Church focused on getting established with Rosemont, southern Des Plaines and southwestern Park Ridge within its boundaries. From 1957, through the mid-1970s, its parochial grammar school was a draw as well. The construction of a new Rosemont Elementary School in 1960 by Dist. 78, along with an improving local tax base, made local families reconsider the public school nearby.

Eventually, in 1982, with less than 100 students to pay tuition, the parish closed the school. Sister Phyllis Smith, O.P., the principal, stayed on as part of the parish staff for a few years. While many of the remaining families seeking a parochial education shifted to St. Stephen’s, that parish would merge its school with St. Mary’s, also in Des Plaines, a few years later.

The brick school building was 20 years old, and its basement was still being used as a temporary church sanctuary. Rev. Buck, the founding pastor, had always hoped to build a church on the western point of the land at Devon and Higgins. The school was on the far eastern edge of the site, next to a small park playground and the Executive Estates condominiums, with the Tri-State Tollway just beyond. The large brick rectory stood in the middle of the property.

Schwab said at the time that they had tried to redistribute parish activities within the school but it just wasn’t working. After 18 months of brainstorming, the leadership met with the 400-family membership.

“We got to the point where we can’t adequately use the facility in the right way,” Schwab said in 1983. There were estimated repair costs of $250,000 plus another $1.5 million for renovations if they kept the building.

The alternative was to build a new church, a plan they pitched to the Archdiocese of Chicago.

“It will recognize that our ministry is different from the normal suburban parish,” Schwab said. “We need to be geared for the changing community in Rosemont, Orchard Place and the sections of Park Ridge which we serve.”

An office and hotel building boom in Rosemont in the early 1980s brought an offer the church leaders decided to accept. Opus Developers from Minnesota wanted to build a tall office building close to the Tri-State Tollway. If the parish would basically trade them the land where the school was, about 5.5 acres, and move the rectory across Devon to Stillwell and Sunset, Opus would build the new church at Devon and Higgins. A parking lot in between would be shared by the church and the offices. The parish members at a church meeting approved the plan 174-1.

The process began with an Aug. 15, 1985 groundbreaking ceremony. Placed on big rollers and pulled by a huge truck, the rectory was inched across Devon as utility crews raised electric wires out of the way.

After a farewell reunion in June 1986 for the school’s graduates, the parish gathered for one last time in the basement on July 13, 1986. Midway through the mass, William Crowley raised the cross and led a procession of choir and parishioners down the block to the new church.

The new church was very different and modern without some of the traditional symbolism. Some parishioners missed the single center aisle from the old sanctuary that was so appropriate for wedding processions. It took time for Schwab to convince them to take a second look. The new building featured rounded and cylindrical lines inside and out, a forward-facing altar, and a circular fountain and courtyard at the entrance. Sunlight streamed through the stained glass windows in bright and beautiful colors. 

The new three-sided bell tower was made to represent the parish’s three communities.

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin attended the formal dedication in August 1986.

“Things like this don’t just happen,” Bernardin told the congregation. “I’ve been told Our Lady of Hope is a small church with a very big heart. I urge you to continue that tradition, excluding no one.”

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As part of the 2021 Renew My Church initiative of the Archdioceses of Chicago, Our Lady of Hope was re-established as a quasi-parish, a territorial mission dependent upon and associated with Mary, Seat of Wisdom Parish, Park Ridge. Read more about the Renew My Church initiative at Our Lady of Hope here.

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Our Lady of Hope continues to serve those in surrounding neighborhoods of Rosemont, Park Ridge, and Des Plaines; however, has a renewed commitment to the travelers associated with O'Hare International Airport, and the hospitality and convention industry located in Rosemont. 

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