Local

• Illinois pro-lifers came together at the 9th annual Speak Out Illinois Conference, Jan. 15. Cardinal George, who spoke at the event, urged the 600 people in attendance to combine truth and love in their efforts.
• Gov. George Ryan declared a moratorium on state sanctioned execution in Illinois Jan. 31. Since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1977, 13 death row prisoners have been exonerated. The governor’s decision was praised by Cardinal George and dozens of religious organizations.

• The Archdiocese of Chicago launched a series of “evangelical and Catholic” talks during Lent by Father Robert Barron. Six half-hour sermons were broadcast on local radio stations.

• Father Daniel Coughlin was appointed chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives March 23. Coughlin, 65, is the first Catholic priest to become House chaplain over the past 211 years.
• “My focus is to serve the members of the House. My challenge always is to serve them in the spirit of Christ Jesus,” Coughlin told The Catholic New World following his appointment.

• On behalf of the bishops of Illinois, Cardinal George addressed “the sin of racism” when he unveiled the pastoral, “Moving Beyond Racism: Learning to see with the eyes of Christ,” April 3.
• Further, Cardinal George spoke out on efforts to correct past injustices in Chicago.
• “The history of racism in some of the parishes in the city is not pretty to look upon. We acknowledge that. We are sorry for that,” said the cardinal.
• Cardinal George joined St. Sabina parishioners in door-to-door evangelization in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood, April 8. Though it could have been viewed as something new, St. Sabina pastor Father Michael Pfleger called it a return to the church of old.
• “The early church went out and founded Christian communities and preached the Gospel. So we’re really going back to what we used to do.”

• Eight cardinals assembled in Chicago for the 11th American Cardinals Dinner, May 5. “It is good to be with great friends when yoare missing a great friend,” said Cardinal George, en route to the event. Two days prior to the gathering New York Cardinal John J. O’Connor died after an eight-month bout with cancer.
• Thirteen new deacons were ordained for the Archdiocese of Chicago, May 7.
• Pope John Paul II appointed Oak Park native, Bishop Edward M. Egan of Bridgeport, Conn., archbishop of New York, succeeding the late Cardinal John J. O’Connor, May 11.
• “His mother and dad were outstanding people. And I’m sure St. Giles is as proud as can be, as are we all,” said Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Goedert, of the appointment of “Ed Egan,” the kid who lived a few blocks down the street from him on Euclid Avenue.
• Nine men are ordained priests for the Archdiocese of Chicago, May 21.
• Loyola University president, Jesuit Father John Piderit, announced his resignation. The resignation will be effective June 30, 2001, or upon the appointment of a new head for the Jesuit-run institution.
• The Catholic New World, and its sister publication, Chicago Catolico, were honored in 11 categories by the Catholic Press Association (CPA) at the group’s annual convention held in Baltimore, May 24-26. Liturgical Training Publications, also part of the Archdiocese of Chicago, received five awards from the CPA.

• Cardinal George, along with the Catholic Health Association, challenged a proposed American Medical Association (AMA) resolution intended to force Catholic hospitals to provide “a full range of reproductive services, including temporary or permanent birth control.”
• In his criticism of the resolution, the cardinal stated, “Effectively, the American Medical Association is being asked to help abolish Catholic health care.”
• The resolution was defeated June 15 by a vote of AMA delegates.
• Nearly 30,000 Catholics weathered heavy downpours to transform Soldier Field into a “Field of Faith,” June 24, the feast of Corpus Christi.
• “This has been the most effective sprinkling rite in the history of the Catholic Church,” Cardinal George quipped at the start of the Mass.
• At the center of this ambitious event—one of the largest outdoor ceremonies in archdiocesan history—was the Eucharist.
• “In this sacrament, bread and wine are truly and substantially changed and become the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the bread of angels, the bread of pilgrims,” the cardinal proclaimed.

• Following internal restructuring, Jimmy M. Lago is named as the first lay chancellor of the Archdiocese of Chicago, effective July 1.
• Other changes included: Father John Pollard named director of the Department of Evangelization and Catechesis; Daughter of the Heart of Mary Sister Anita Baird named director of the Office for Racial Justice; Father John Smyth named as special assistant for grant schools; Father R. Peter Bowman named as interim director of the Department of Specialized Ministries.
• After a 10 year absence from the archdiocese, the Poor Clares, returned to Chicago to reside at St. Symphorosa Parish on Chicago’s Southwest Side. The order plans to build a new monastery in Lemont as soon as possible.

• Elaine Schuster, archdiocesan superintendent of schools, announced her resignation effective Dec. 1
• Msgr. George Higgins, “the parish priest of the labor movement,” received the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Aug. 9.
• Upon his reception of the medal, Higgins said, “What I’ve tried to do is be the presence of the church in the labor movement, especially for the poor people. I don’t see it in terms of accomplishments. It’s a ministry of presence.”
• The Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Elementary School opened in Orland Hills Aug. 29. The school is the first completely new educational structure built in the Chicago Archdiocese in more than three decades.

• The Catholic New World begins a six-part series, “Black and Catholic in Chicago,” Sept. 3. The series started in advance of an historic meeting of black Catholics throughout the archdiocese convened by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph N. Perry.
• Black Catholics in Chicago breathed new life into a forgotten tradition: the revival. Three parishes—Holy Name Cathedral, St. Sabina and St. Angela—hosted one evening of the three-day event held Sept. 14-16.
• Over 4,500 Catholics took a three-mile walk back in time for the archdiocesan “Way of Faith” celebration at University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Sept. 16-17. Thirteen tableaux served as reminders of pivotal
• moments in Chicago church history.
• Seven hundred delegates traveled to the archdiocese to participate in Mission Congress 2000 Sept. 28-29. Speakers at the event called upon American Catholics to overcome the tendency to reluctantly declare their faith.

• Cardinal Joseph Glemp of Warsaw visited Chicago Oct. 6-10. During his stay, Cardinal Glemp celebrated a memorial Mass for the late Auxiliary Bishop Alfred Abramowicz.

• More than 1,600 parishioners and pastoral ministers attended the first-ever Black Catholic Convocation at DeLaSalle Institute, Nov. 3-4.
• During the two-day meeting, delegates from over 43 archdiocesan parishes and institutions discussed proposals concerning the future of Catholic parishes and schools in the African American community and the lack of local black vocations.
• “We shall take your recommendations to the table in hopes that some plan for the future can be etched to the benefit of the entire church and the glory of God,” said Bishop Perry to all participants.
• Less than two weeks after Father Jerome Listecki’s installation as St. Ignatius pastor,
• Cardinal George joined the Chicago priest at a press conference to announce his appointment
• as the archdiocese’s latest bishop, Nov. 7.
• Bishop-designate Listecki will be ordained to the episcopacy on Jan. 8.
• Cardinal George joined members of the Southwest Organizing Project’s Ceasefire initiative in commissioning 10 youth outreach workers to end gang violence at St. Clare of Montefalco Church, Nov. 27.
• “Today we gather as brothers and sisters to acknowledge our common call to action against any kind of violence in our streets,” said the cardinal.

• Over 200 Chicago-area Catholics, led by Cardinal George, embarked on a four-day pilgrimage to Mexico City Dec. 9-12 to cement links between the Archdioceses of Chicago and Mexico City.
• At the close of the sojourn, Cardinal George celebrated Mass with Cardinal Norberto Rivera, Archbishop of Mexico City at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the feast day of the patroness of America.
• Chicago native and priest, Auxiliary Bishop Edward K. Braxton of St. Louis, was named bishop of Lake Charles, La. Ordained for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1970, he will be the seventh black bishop to head a U.S. diocese.

By Michael D. Wamble
STAFF WRITER

National & International

The Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 dominated religious news over the past year, and at its center was the aging but still remarkably active Pope John Paul II.

The pope, who turned 80 in May, made a memorable jubilee-year pilgrimage to the Holy Land in March. Images of him praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem and placing a message there with a trembling hand moved Catholic-Jewish relations to a new level worldwide.

In Rome he hosted almost innumerable special jubilee days—for families, the elderly, teachers, health workers, priests, bishops, religious, journalists and many others.

But two such days stood out especially: World Youth Day in August, for which an estimated 2 million people gathered in Rome for Mass with the pope, and the Day of Forgiveness in March, when the pope led a reconciliation service asking forgiveness of those harmed in the name of the church.

Besides his March 20-26 visit to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Pope John Paul made two other foreign trips in 2000, visiting Egypt Feb. 24-26, where he met for the first time with Pope Shenoudah III, patriarch of the world’s Coptic Orthodox Christians, and Fatima, Portugal, May 12-13 to beatify Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the three shepherd children who saw visions of Mary there in 1917.

At the end of the beatification Mass the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, revealed the contents of the third secret of Fatima. He said part of it described the gunning down of a “bishop clothed in white,” which the pope interprets as a reference to the 1981 attempt on his life.

The jubilee year made a major mark in the secular world as well, as the international movement to relieve the external debt of the world’s most heavily indebted poor countries made 2000 the target year to achieve its goal.

Near year’s end a long-recalcitrant U.S. Congress made a major contribution to the effort by appropriating $435 million to fully fund the U.S. share of the multilateral debt relief package in 2001.

Religious leaders—especially the pope, who began to call for jubilee-year debt relief for poor countries in 1994—were widely credited as a major force behind the success of that campaign.

The Archdiocese of Chicago and many other U.S. dioceses and religious orders took the jubilee concept of debt forgiveness to heart for themselves as well, writing off part or all of many of their loans to poor parishes and charitable agencies.

America got a new saint Oct. 1: St. Katharine Drexel, the Philadelphia heiress who founded the Blessed Sacrament Sisters. St. Katharine, who died in 1955, used her $20 million inheritance to found schools and missions for African-Americans and Native Americans.

Pope John Paul also canonized St. Mary Faustina Kowalska, originator of Divine Mercy devotion, 27 Mexican martyrs and 120 Chinese martyrs, many of whom were killed in the Boxer Rebellion. The Chinese canonizations drew sharp criticism from China’s communist government.

Among those he beatified during the year were two of his predecessors, Popes John XXIII and Pius IX.

One unofficial jubilee-year event that did not please Pope John Paul was the July 1-9 celebration in Rome of World Gay Pride 2000. The pope called the holding of the observance in Rome an “affront” to the church and the jubilee year.

In October the pope condemned legislation by the Dutch Parliament allowing homosexual partners to marry. In November the Pontifical Council for the Family warned against legal recognition of non-marital unions as a threat to marriage and family. In December Germany gave legal recognition to same-sex unions.

In the United States, the Vermont Legislature made same-sex civil unions legally equivalent to marriage. Voters in Nevada and Nebraska overwhelmingly approved measures banning same-sex marriages.

Rapid developments in genetics also posed new challenges for church teachings in 2000.

Completion of the Human Genome Project, a computerized mapping of the entire human genetic structure, gave rise to new hopes of cures for genetic diseases. But it also sparked new interest in moral questions posed by genetic coding and manipulation—questions ranging from the morality of human cloning and genetic selection to issues of privacy and the dangers of employment and health insurance discrimination against those with higher genetic risks for certain diseases.

The pope and Catholic moral theologians condemned British and U.S. decisions to allow therapeutic procedures using embryonic stem cells, which involves destruction of embryos, instead of adult stem cells.

Catholic missionaries were among victims of numerous anti-Christian attacks in parts of India and Indonesia, especially in Indonesia’s Molucca Islands, where Islamic paramilitary groups were reportedly holding hundreds of Christians hostage, trying to force them to convert under threat of death.

In the Philippines, Muslim rebels on the island of Mindanao continued to kidnap and kill Christians in their fight for independence. Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila was among bishops and priests who called for the resignation of President Joseph Estrada as he faced impeachment on corruption charges.

For Americans, Florida was constantly in the news from January to June with the protracted case of Elian Gonzalez, the 6-year-old Cuban boy involved in a politics-laden custody battle between his Miami relatives and his father in Cuba. Cuban expatriates used the conflict to highlight evils of the Castro regime, but some religious leaders, including Catholic bishops, used the occasion to restate their opposition to the continuing U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, which they argue hurts the people there, not the government.

In late October Congress approved limited food and medicine sales to Cuba for the first time in 40 years and sharply curtailed a president’s ability to impose or continue trade embargoes without congressional approval. Cardinal Bernard F. Law of Boston, long a leading opponent of the embargo, praised the action.

Public policy issues of concern to the U.S. bishops in 2000 included the death penalty, partial-birth abortion, the introduction of the RU-486 abortion pill, crime and criminal justice, assisted suicide and the treatment of immigrants.

In a major statement on the criminal justice system, bishops criticized the nation’s growing reliance on incarceration and rigid sentencing rules, arguing that a greater focus on education, prevention and treatment could do more to reduce crime and rehabilitate criminals. The bishops reiterated their strong opposition to the use of capital punishment in the United States.

Congress again passed a Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and President Clinton again vetoed it. Opponents were dealt a major blow in June when the U.S. Supreme Court declared a Nebraska law against partial-birth abortion unconstitutional. That decision provoked a brief but strongly worded statement by the bishops in November saying the high court has brought the nation’s legal system “to the brink of endorsing infanticide.”

In a ruling important for Catholic schools, the high court in June upheld the constitutionality of distributing federal funds evenhandedly to private schools, including religiously run schools, for computer and media resources. In November, however, voters in California and Michigan rejected proposals to offer school vouchers to parents of children in private schools. And in December, a federal appeals court ruled against an experimental school voucher program in Cleveland.

In the fall elections Maine voters narrowly rejected a proposal to legalize physician-assisted suicide, again leaving Oregon as the only U.S. state accepting the practice. The federal Pain Relief Promotion Act, designed to improve end-of-life care and thwart legalized assisted suicide, remained blocked in the Senate more than a year after the House passed it.

Other major church events emerging from Rome in 2000 included publication of a declaration on Christ and the church, “Dominus Iesus,” by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and issuance of a new General Instruction of the Roman Missal, by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

“Dominus Iesus” emphasized the unique role of Jesus Christ and the church he founded for the salvation of all humanity. While it repeated standard church teachings found in Vatican II, its negative treatment of other religions and lack of reference to advances in ecumenical and interreligious understanding since then provoked criticism from a number of Catholic leaders as well as other Christian and non-Christian leaders.

The new instruction on the missal, the first revision in 25 years, set new rules or revised or clarified existing rules for priests, ministers and people celebrating Mass. It replaced a controversial strict rule on placement of tabernacles with more flexible regulations, but in other areas it established stricter rules than those in force since 1975. Many church officials were upset about a lack of clarity as to when or how the changes were to take effect.

The worship congregation also made news when it called on the International Commission on English in the Liturgy to do all it could to halt further publication or distribution of its “doctrinally flawed” 1994 English version of the Psalms.

Despite negative reaction to “Dominus Iesus,” Catholic ecumenical and interreligious dialogue generally advanced in 2000.

One notable advance was in Catholic-Jewish relations. A first international Catholic-Jewish theological dialogue was held in June. In September a group of prominent Jewish leaders issued a major statement urging Jews to reevaluate their attitudes towards Christians in light of significant changes in Christian attitudes toward Jews and Judaism.

A team of Catholic and Jewish historians jointly studied published Vatican records on the Vatican, Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust during World War II and issued its first report on the study.

In May the Vatican approved the U.S. bishops’ U.S. application of general church norms for Catholic higher education and Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati headed a committee formed in June to work out final details on how bishops would grant, withhold or withdraw the ecclesiastical “mandatum,” or mandate, for Catholic theologians to teach.

By Catholic News Service