St. Raphael the Archangel Catholic Church, is named for the travelers’ patron—a fitting name for a traveling church ready to settle down at last in Old Mill Creek, Illinois. But our new church represents more than just a change of location.

It represents renewal.

St. Raphael’s shows a way to preserve the vision of dreamers and builders who have come before us. This project is charged by faith, but we hope it also inspires beyond its religious scope. We believe St. Raphael’s can be a model of architectural preservation. There is wonder all around us, and there are ways to save it.

It represents optimism.

When a church closes its doors, you know a community’s at a crossroads. Once upon a time, the story of a closed building had only one possible ending: Destruction. Now it can be something else: A larger community using the inheritance left by another generation as a foundation for the future.

And it represents innovation.

This is an undertaking that could change the way we think about architectural preservation. We may be accustomed to visionary thinking coming from the world of business or the creative community, but sometimes it just comes from people whose hearts are in the right place. A familiar story—old meets new—but there’s nothing familiar about the ending. St. Raphael’s will be unlike anything that has come before it. What’s new is the idea.

In 2006, Cardinal Francis Eugene George appointed Fr. John Jamnicky to access the need for a new parish to be located in northern Lake County, Illinois. On April 30, 2007, Cardinal Francis canonically (according to church laws) declared St. Raphael a parish. The new parish, to be known as St. Raphael the Archangel, was established in an old barn (a remodeled machine shed) on the Alfred and Florence Pederson farm in Antioch. This temporary church was furnished with liturgical artifacts and furnishings salvaged from various shuttered Chicago Catholic churches and recycled in the temporary church. The first mass was held in this church on September 1, 2007.  On September 9, 2007, Bishop George J. Rassas installed Fr. John Jamnicky as the pastor of St. Raphael. The Dedication and Blessing of the church by Cardinal Francis was held on September 29, 2007. During the Dedication ceremony, after looking around at the tasteful arrangement of the salvaged art and furnishings, Cardinal Francis stated: “the best scavengers in the archdiocese.”  This new parish included parts of Antioch, Lindenhurst, Lake Villa, Wadsworth and Gurnee. However, in just under six (6) years, the parish had grown, and the temporary church in the barn was no longer adequate. 
 
In 2008, the planning and design of a new St. Raphael the Archangel Church began and continued throughout the year. Then in 2009, the Archdiocese granted permission to Fr. Jamnicky to proceed with the construction of a new church.  The 23-acre site for this new church is located on the west side of Route 45 just south of Kelly Rd. in Old Mill Creek. The property for this new church was purchased from Mr. and Mrs. Robert Eberhardt.  Preliminary drawings were completed during the year, and the First Capital Campaign “Build Our House of God” raised 2.3 million dollars. 
 
The “new” church integrates portions of two closed and deteriorating Chicago Catholic churches of classical and sacred architecture, St. John of God (a Renaissance-styled church) and St. Peter Canisius.  St. John of God church, designed by renowned Chicago church architect, Henry J. Schlacks, had become a Chicago landmark.   The “new” church reclaims the limestone exterior of St. John of God, , and the interior of St. Peter Canisius – solid oak pews with graceful Romanesque tops, wall scones, Italian marble statuary and altars, and museum-quality Tyrolean stained-glass windows, imported from Innsbruck, Austria, which are being restored and paired with new creations from Savoy Studios.  St John’s huge cornerstone was cut in half to provide St. Raphael’s with two cornerstones.   One bears the date 1918 in Roman numerals and an inscription in Latin meaning: “Built for the greater honor and glory of God.” The other is inscribed for the new church.   When fully completed, St. Raphael will be an example of an artistic renaissance of unique dimensions.  St. Raphael, stands as a testament to the faith of a united Catholic people, those who built the churches originally and those who have built and are completing the construction of the new church. Finally, St. Raphael’s serves as a model of architectural preservation, all as seen and designed by the church’s architects, N. Bastitich Architects. 
 
A ground-breaking service for the new church was held on June 27, 2010, at the site of the new church, and was presided over by Bishop George J. Rassas. On September 29 ^thCardinal Francis laid the cornerstone for the new church. The new sand-colored church is punctuated by a 60-foot tall arched ceiling and was built to seat 900, with room for expansion to 1,600. June 3, 2012, saw the kick off of the Second Capital Campaign “Building Our Home”.  On July 19, 2014, Cardinal Francis performed the blessing of the new church.  June 21, 2015, was the start of the Third Capital Campaign “Building Our Legacy of Faith”.
 

Fr. John Jamnicky retired as pastor of St. Raphael the Archangel on June 30, 2016. Appointed by Archbishop Cupich, Fr. Michael Mc Govern spent his first day as pastor of St. Raphael on July 1, 2016.  On October 9, 2016, Bishop George J. Rassas formally installed Fr. Michael McGovern as the new pastor of St. Raphael.  On April 3, 2020, Fr. McGovern was appointed to be the Bishop of Belleville, IL. He was officially ordained Bishop on July 22, 2020.  Fr. Matthew Kowalski was appointed as Bishop McGovern's replacement. He was officially installed as the third Pastor for St. Raphael the Archangel on October 4, 2020.