Something old, something new, something sacred

By Michael D. Wamble
Staff Writer

Damian Gartia knew that he was being called to religious life.

What the resident of Huntington, Calif., didn’t know was that his spiritual sojourn would lead him to a North Side parish in Chicago.

Due primarily to the work of Resurrectionist Father C. Frank Phillips, pastor of St. John Cantius Church, 825 N. Carpenter St., and Cardinal George, Gartia discovered a new way to express his Catholic heritage.

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.

The establishment date also is the feast of St. John Cantius, a less-than-widely known 15th century Polish educator who figures prominently in the formation of the world’s most recognized Catholic.

With his primary shrine located at St. Anne Church in Krakow, Poland, St. John Cantius, said Phillips, is one of Pope John Paul II’s beloved patron saints.

“In many ways, he is an old saint that speaks to modern life,” said Phillips, of the saint.

“Many times we think that the problems we face today are new, but they’re not,” said Phillips. “Along with his work as an educator, St. John Cantius, was a defender of human life who spoke out against abortion in Poland.”

Following “the prompting of the Holy Spirit,” along with conversations with the cardinal, spiritual directors and parishioners, Phillips formed the society in 1998 to “promote the sacred within liturgical life based on the Rule of St. Augustine.”

The society’s priest members will become the canons regular and obtain “full faculties” to celebrate the Mass in Novus Ordo forms in English and Latin, as well as the Tridentine Mass. Seven brothers also are members of the society. The laity also can affiliate themselves with the society as associate members.

“We are also investigating the opportunity to offer the Byzantine-rite Masses for Eastern-rite Catholics united with Rome,” said Phillips.

Gartia said the more he learned about the society, the stronger his attraction became to it.

“What appealed to me was the diversity offered in the liturgy,” said Gartia, known at St. John’s as Brother Damian.

Before joining the new order, Gartia worked at his parish in California.

The previous vocations of his fellow brothers are almost as diverse as the society’s liturgical offerings. They include: an undergraduate student, a former Chicago Park District lifeguard and a former member of a Chicago-based foundation.

“We like to think of ourselves as a new grape blossom upon Jesus’ vine,” said Brother Brendan Givson.

According to Brother Dennis Ahearn, there were no “thunderbolt” events that brought the seven to the order. “For those of us who came to St. John as parishioners, we were all blessed to be in the right place at the right time.”

For Gartia, being in the right place meant making a little trip.

For more information on The Society of St. John Cantius, contact Father C. Frank Phillips at (312) 243-7373.

BACK