The Catholic New World - News Digest & Church Clips

a column of benevolent gossip

‘Smokin’!’ — An outstanding 22-year decorated veteran of the Chicago Fire Department was inducted into Brother Rice High School’s Alumni Hall of Fame Nov. 15. Lt. Robert J. Martin of Queen of Martyrs Parish (W. 103rd St.) and another member of the Class of 1977, “Riverdance” star, Michael Flatley, both became hall-of-famers at a ceremony and reunion dinner. Flatley’s genius went on to create “Lord of the Dance” and “Feet of Flames.” Martin is most familiar with keeping people’s feet out of the flames. Flatley, who once mused, “Whenever someone says ‘It can’t be done,’ I know I’m close to success,” presented a check for $100,000 to his alma mater.

Idea exchange — St. Martha Parish (Morton Grove) has an alternative to dropping public school kids off at religious ed on Mondays at 6:45 p.m. and running back to pick them up an hour later. Parents are invited to “enjoy” themselves while the kids are in R.E. by starting with a prayer in church. Then the pastor, pastoral associate and a parent will entertain all the questions anyone has been afraid to ask. Guaranteed “straight answers” and something else: a chance to discuss and understand faith in the context of work and family life.

Choo-chooing at St. Theresa’s — They held a Harvestfest recently at St. Theresa Parish (Palatine) to support/celebrate their Millennium Campaign. On the right track to a stated goal of $3 million, pastor Father Richard Zborowski was eager to don his engineer’s hat and red scarf to drive the kiddy train around and around during the fun.

Educational TV — The recent bishops’ meeting in Washington was a great information tool. Observers at home appreciated that bishops can be civil to each other and yet disagree articulately. You can learn a new word every time Cardinal George is before a mike. Like, “high dudgeon” meaning “indignation.” (Among other splendid qualities, he is Merriam Webster’s best friend.) Clips learned some people within a 50-mile radius of Mokena, Ill., who don’t have cable TV can get EWTN on UHF Ch. 54 via a local CatholicViews outlet. Didja know Father James Gould, the knowledgeable commentator between conference sessions, with Ray Arroyo, is the nephew of Chicago’s own Father Dudley Day, OSA? Father Gould will be speaking about the USCCB meeting at Catholic Citizens of Illinois’ open luncheon Dec. 13 .

Before you know it — As we go to press Misericordia’s Christmas Sunday brunches have only limited seating available for Dec. 15 and 22 in its Courtyard Inn and Greenhouse, at 6300 N. Ridge. Tickets are $40; RSVP to Nancy Turry at (773) 273-4189.

Papal potpourri — Many earlier popes considered a walk through the Vatican gardens a way to relax. Then there was Leo XIII. An avid hunter before his papacy in 1878, he was known to shoot pigeons from windows of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican on his “day off.” Benedict XV, pope from 1914-22, played bocce ball with the Swiss Guards in a Vatican courtyard for recreation. The world is well aware that Pope John Paul II, before his hip and knee ailments, loved the mountains, backwoods and ski slopes, from the Italian Alps to Canada’s Jasper Park in 1994 and the Rocky Mountains in 1993. . . . The darker side of JPII’s life as a prelate in Poland, was disclosed in evidence just uncovered by Polish investigators. As Bishop Karol Wojtyla he was spied on regularly by a priest working for the communist secret police. “What’s more, [the priest] held a very important position not only in the Krakow curia but in the offices of the bishops’ conference,” according to a Krakow staffer of Poland’s National Remembrance Institute.

Thanks-giving — Charles Schlau and his brother attended St. Gregory High School. Their parents were orphans who had met at Angel Guardian Orphanage in the late 1920s and married. Charles went to college for a year but money was scarce so he joined the U.S. Air Force. Later he was able to return to DePaul University and earn his BS and an MBA. During the past year he called his alma mater and set up a scholarship endowment of $42,000 in memory of his parents. Recently he added another gift of $60,000 to the endowment, to honor his parent’s example “of hard work and determination.”

When the curtain was iron — A Cold War Jesuit hero will visit the arch from Dec. 8-15. Now Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius of Kaunas, Lithuania, he was a young priest in the late 1960s when the communists removed him from ministry for refusing to cozy up to the KGB. He was sent to work in a metal factory. The priest continued to defiantly hold secret retreats and meetings for youths, religious and intellectuals. From 1972-1983, he was editor and publisher of an underground magazine, “The Chronicle of the Catholic Church” that told accounts of religious persecution. It was smuggled out and circulated around the world, even to our own archdiocesan newspaper offices at the time. Sentenced in 1983 to six years of hard labor in Siberia, he was released in 1988.

Send your benevolent gossip to Church Clips, 721 N. LaSalle St., Chicago, IL 60610 or via e-mail to: [email protected]

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