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This week, The Catholic New World reports on the Big Shoulder Fund’s “Lend A Shoulder Day” and takes note of the Jubilee for Artists.
News Priest AIDS stats questioned Independent experts have questioned the value of a survey and the validity of some statistical comparisons used by The Kansas City (Mo.) Star in a three-day series about Catholic priests with AIDS.
Honoring marriage on Valentine’s Day St. Valentine’s Day commemorates the death of a third-century martyr, beaten and beheaded by the Romans for refusing to forsake his Christian ideals—which had nothing to do with Cupid, flowers or candy hearts. Little did he know that his name would be invoked centuries afterward as part of a commercial orgy in the name of romantic love.While most nowadays drop the “Saint” from “Valentine’s Day,” some churches in the archdiocese are using the occasion to remind people of the sanctity of married love with special recognition of married couples, marriage and anniversary celebrations, and a Mass of support for widows and widowers. Full text available.
Something old, something new, something sacred On Dec. 23, a day before the start of the Jubilee year, Cardinal George established the Society of St. John Cantius. With the motto “Instaurare Sacra” (Latin for “Restoration of the Sacred”) and the mission to assist Catholics in rediscovering a profound sense of the sacred through solemn liturgies, devotions, art and music, the society is the first religious community of men founded by the decree of a Chicago Archbishop. Full text available.
Church must evangelize culture, says John Paul II’s biographer George Weigel, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, said the roots of the pope’s impact upon the world date to the winter of 1940, when Karol Wojtyla was working in a stone quarry while the Nazis occupied Poland.It was during that time, Weigel said, that the future pope “chose the path to resistance by preservation of culture.” The young Wojtyla wrote plays and acted with a small, underground theater troop.“Evangelization of culture,” Weigel said, “is the church’s priority.”
‘Prepared laity’ key to future of Catholic higher education The future of Catholic higher education will rest in the hands of “a prepared Catholic laity,’’ Archbishop Giuseppe Pittau told a national gathering of Catholic college and university presidents Feb. 1.
Features: Taking time to Lend a Shoulder When Sondra Healy showed up to “lend a shoulder” at Our Lady of Mercy School on Chicago’s North Side, school Principal Debra Sullivan was in the middle of another busy day. Never mind that a school principal’s days are always busy. On
this day, Feb. 3, Sullivan was teaching a second- and third-grade
class in addition to being principal, because the teacher had
quit to take a higher-paying job at a public school the week before. But Healy was not just any visitor. As a member of the board of the Big Shoulders Fund, she has taken on the job of mentoring four Gallagher Scholars from Our Lady of Mercy. That means she will meet with the fifth-graders several times a year to offer support and advice every year from now until they graduate from high school. Healy was one of 128 visitors to 114 inner city schools who get help from the Big Shoulders Fund on Lend a Shoulder Day. The visitors came during the annual celebration of Catholic Schools Week to show their support for the schools. Full text available.
The Interview: DePaul professor in search of the true MLK Jr. This week, Catholic New World staff writer Michael D. Wamble talks with DePaul University Professor Michael Eric Dyson, author of “I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King Jr.,” a controversial book that alternately critiques the practices of the King family guarding the slain activist’s legacy and makes connections between King’s iconography to that of murdered hip-hop artist, Tupac Shakur. Full text available
Commentary: Probe your heart in February’s quiet Augustinian Father John Paul Szura writes: It is February 2000, the second month of the new millennium. With the excitement of the New Year celebration in the past, we have an opportunity these quiet February days to think more clearly and deeply about what this year 2000 means for us. We have an opportunity to examine our priorities and ourselves on our Christian commitment.
Briefs: Grayslake teacher to travel to IraqDominican Sister Maira Barry, a second-grade teacher at St. Gilbert School in Grayslake, will travel to Iraq Feb. 19 with seven other Dominican men and women to draw attention to the effects of nine years of economic sanctions on the Iraqi people. The delegation, calling itself “Voices for Veritas,” will visit clinics, schools and hospitals, some staffed by Dominicans. The group will travel with Chicago-based Voices in the Wilderness. There will be a prayer service for Barry Feb. 18 at the Dominican Motherhouse in Springfield, Ill.
Parish Pride: Assumption Church Here is an oasis of prayer in a sea of commerce. This pale brick, Italian Renaissance Church, designed by parishioner Giuseppe Beretta and finished in 1886, stands today in the shadow of the Merchandise Mart. A small parish today, but one of the busiest, workers and businessmen from the garment industry and nearby offices hurry in for daily Mass; the glitterati from new trendy restaurants worship with the homeless. Saturdays are for brides and Sundays see an influx of “pilgrims” from as far away as Amsterdam or Arlington Heights.
Church Clips: Making no small plans — St. Gertrude Parish (W. Granville) up in Rogers Park, is launching something called Diversity Dinners, on the premise that there’s nothing like a good meal to generate fruitful conversation. Ten women and men of different races will grace a table at 10 different locations in the parish. Hot topics will range from race and prejudice to the power of diversity. Some folks will commit to host the dinners and others will be guests. Hmm, no mention about after-dinner cigars or Cointreau. |