Highlights from the January 9, 2000 issue of The Catholic New World newspaper. THE BISHOP'S COLUMN Signposts in a Field of Time: listing great events Volunteers spend year on a mission of Mercy Guns, grit, grace:the life of one missioner Deacon answers call to transform lives behind bars International debt relief possible This week, The Catholic New World reads signs for the times that lead to vocations within the Catholic Church. Update Cardinal, bishop meet with Muslims Cardinal George, Joliet Bishop Joseph Imesch and more than 70 Catholics from the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Diocese of Joliet joined with members of the local Islamic community in Villa Park Jan. 4 for an iftar, the breaking of the fast after sunset during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.The Catholic New World will introduce readers to Chicago-area Muslims in its Jan. 16-22 issue in the next installment of “Neighbors in Faith,” an occasional series about the many faith traditions in the Chicago area. Catholics ready their marching shoes Cardinal George will join Catholics from Chicago and around the country at the March for Life in Washington D.C. Jan. 23-25. The cardinal also will participate in the Speak Out Illinois 2000 conference Jan. 15 at the O’Hare Holiday Inn. The conference starts at 9:30 a.m. and includes dozens of groups and speakers addressing life issues. Cardinal George will preside at the 2 p.m. memorial service. The Jan. 23-30 issue of The Catholic New World will feature local coverage of this national event. People in the news Father John Pollard, archdiocesan director of education, has been named to a three-year term on the U.S. Catholic Conference’s committee on education...Archdiocesan Chancellor Father Thomas Paprocki ran in the Rome marathon Jan. 1...Redemptorist Father Richard Welch has been unanimously re-elected president of Human Life International for a third term by its board of directors...Raymond Coughlin has been appointed archdiocesan director of stewardship and development. Feature “A villager warned us to ‘Go!’ I didn’t ask questions, but went in and told our four other sisters. We had 10 minutes to throw what belongings we thought important into a bag and begin our exodus from East Timor,” said Maryknoll Sister Susan Gubbins. “I drove the jeep. We had the nerve to ask for a police escort, and were allowed into an Indonesian police convoy. There were barricades set up in every town and no Timorese was allowed to leave. “The next hour we alternated between a sense of peace and fear as we drove down out of the hills toward the capital city of Dili. Villagers were crying and being lined up along the road. We saw hills and houses burning as the army’s ‘scorched earth’ policy escalated. It was almost like a holocaust experience because none of the people knew what was going to happen to them.” Full text available News Vatican asks overhaul of English liturgy body The commission which translates liturgical texts into English will be completely overhauled, said Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments. Cardinal George, the U.S. representative on the commission, said he believes one of the Vatican’s concerns stemmed over the International Commission on English in the Liturgy’s perceived role as an agent of change, instead of an agent of text translation. Volunteers spend year on a mission of Mercy Maria Luisa Rodriguez thought she would be getting ready for medical school now.Instead, the 25-year-old St. Xavier University graduate is working 40 hours a week at the Don Miller House, a residence for people with end-stage AIDS in Baltimore.Last summer Rodriguez joined the Mercy Corps, a 21-year-old program sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy that allows adults to spend a year volunteering to help those in need. Full text available Loyola gets grant to help students think about religious, lay vocations “We want them [students] to think about their lives in a sense of calling, and not just what am I going to do for a living,” said James Damron, the director of corporate and foundation relations at Loyola University. The university was recently among about 30 colleges and universities to receive a Lilly Endowment grant to plan “Programs for Theological Exploration of Vocation.” Chicago Clergy: Different Duties, One Vocation Priestly duty in parish life once meant being on call 24-7. Today, it might include riding along in the squad car or atop the fire truck. It may require accepting leadership roles in social organizations. These varied paths--from pre-ordination prep to parish life and beyond--are chronicled in the colorful exhibit, “Answering the Call: Catholic Clergy in Changing Chicago,” currently on display at the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Archives and Records Center, 711 W. Monroe St. Parish Pride St. Mary Church 75 N. Buffalo Grove Road, Buffalo Grove St. Mary combines tradition and vision. Here are two churches joined in one--the early Gothic edifice designed by William J. Brinkman, begun in 1898, and its semicircular modern addition by Hundrieser-Gutowsky & Associates dedicated in 1980. As one of the designated millennium churches of the archdiocese, the parish invites pilgrims to visit and pray here during this jubilee year and even take a stroll in its quiet parish cemetery. Church Clips Just deserts-- Sheila Adams, good-humored people-person who heads the arch’s African American Ministries just picked up St. Ignatius College Prep’s highest honor: the Dei Gloriam Award. The prize deservedly hails Adams as embracing the advancement of education and “truly a woman for others.” Adams, an alum of Corpus Christi Grade School (S. King) and DePaul University, has also been music minister at her parish, Our Lady Gate of Heaven (E. 99th St.) since 1977. TOP
|