Sherry Murillo tries to attend as many St. Julie Billiart driveway Masses as she can.
The Tinley Park resident was proud that she had perfect attendance in 2025.
This year, however, she missed the first two Masses for a valid reason. She has been tending to her mother, 92-year-old Betty Boone, who suffered a stroke and is in hospice.
“Six months ago, she was driving, she was cooking and she was doing her bills,” Murillo said of Boone. “Now she can’t even smile.”
Murillo, however, was able to attend St. Julie’s third driveway Mass of the year Saturday morning. It was held a few houses away at the home of parishioner Ron Daly.
She arrived on a colorful Margaritaville bike, a vehicle that she uses quite a bit and St. Julie parishioners know her as she bikes to meetings and Masses at the Tinley Park church.
When St. Julie’s pastor, the Rev. Tirso Villaverde, asked the 50 members in attendance Saturday who needed prayers, there was no doubt who was on Murillo’s mind.
“I’m praying for my mom today because she is dying,” Murillo said. “God have mercy.”
This is the fifth year the parish is hosting driveway Masses. Villaverde said he came up with the idea in 2021, after a large group of parishioners joined him in a Stations of the Cross walk through the neighborhood of the Catholic church.
He was stunned by the response.
“I didn’t think that would attract too many people,” he said. “By the time we got done with the outdoor stations, there were at least 200 people who joined us.”
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He said during the walk, several people saw the group on the streets and that gave him the idea. He experimented with driveway Masses in 2022. It has become a success and a summer staple ever since.
The setup is simple.
Villaverde usually celebrates the Mass in the front area of a garage while attendees gather on the driveway in lawn chairs.
A table serves as the altar, which includes a cross, candles, Communion wafers and wine and a statue of the Virgin Mary.
As a bonus Saturday, Daly provided a tent plus post-Mass snacks.
Villaverde requested driveway Mass hosts to visit their neighbors before the Mass this year to find out if there are any prayer intentions they want to include in the liturgy.
Daly said this is the third Mass he has hosted and they prayed for some of the neighbors who didn’t make it.
“The whole purpose of it is to get the neighbors involved,” Daly said. “It’s something that everybody sees and it’s out of the ordinary. Maybe some people will come who don’t normally go to church.”
To add to the Saturday morning festivities, Villaverde blessed the cars of those who requested it. He was also blessing cars at all of the regular weekend Masses.
The pastor even blessed Murillo’s bike.
Murillo said she enjoys coming to the driveway Masses.
“It’s different,” she said. “You get to meet people that you don’t know. We get to pray as a community.”
Orland Park’s Jim and Liz Wagner are big fans of the concept.
“It invites other people to join the church, and St. Julie is a very nice parish,” Jim said. “We have a lot more contact with the parishioners with the driveway Masses.
“At church on Sunday, it’s get in, go to Mass and everybody exits.”
Liz said she enjoys the conversations that take place after Mass.
Driveway Masses will continue to take place at 9 a.m. each Saturday throughout August. Locations will be announced on the parish’s Facebook page or at stjulie.org.
Villaverde said he hopes the outdoor masses will benefit those who attend as well as those who pass by.
“We have become public with our faith,” he said. “We don’t shy from it. Someone driving by or walking by might see us and it might light a spark in them with ‘hey, I haven’t been to church in a while,’ whether they are Catholic or not.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.