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Issue of April 27, 2003
Update
Easter’s peace prayers
Pope signs encyclical during ceremonies
Proclaiming hope in the risen Christ, Pope John Paul II prayed for peace in Iraq and the Holy Land, for understanding among believers of different faiths and for a renewed awareness among Catholics of the gift of the Eucharist.
In the April 17-20 liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter vigil and Easter morning, the 82-year-old pope repeatedly referred to his concerns about Iraq and to his new encyclical letter, “Ecclesia de Eucharistia,” on the importance of the Eucharist.
Easter is muted in Holy Land
The smell of incense and burning candles wafted through the cavernous Church of the Holy Sepulcher as at least four denominations celebrated Easter or Palm Sunday.
The Latin-rite Catholic Easter Mass was celebrated in front of the tomb of Jesus, while at the other end of the tomb a group of Coptic Orthodox clergy and faithful chanted atonal Palm Sunday prayers. The Syrian, Greek and Armenian Orthodox processed separately into the church to mark Orthodox Palm Sunday—in the Holy Land, Orthodox Easter falls one week after Latin Catholics celebrate Easter.
This Easter, only a few hundred worshippers gathered around the tomb, a far cry from the crowds of years past. Few local Christians attended Easter Mass, as did even fewer pilgrims.
Holy Name seeks aid for mothers
Holy Name Societies across the archdiocese are sponsoring an “adoptive godparent” program May 3-4 in an effort to support women who have made a choice of life, but are under financial strains.
HNS president Louis Rexing, said Catholics often “talk about how we would like abortions to end, but how do we support those who have gone beyond words, and chosen to have their babies under adverse conditions?”
The societies are asking parishes to hold “baby showers” and collect money and baby items to help mothers who need assistance. “We are asking everyone in the congregation to be an adoptive godparent for a minimum of one day a year,” said Rexing. Proceeds will be donated to local area support groups that help women.
For more information, call (773) 582-4515 or visit www.chicagoholyname.org.
News
Clergy sex abuse scandal takes new legal turns
The church’s sexual abuse scandal took a new twist in early April when the Los Angeles Times reported that a Midwest province of Conventual Franciscans has filed a cross-complaint against the Los Angeles Archdiocese in a clergy sexual abuse case.
Extension Society, domestic missionaries, greet new head
Chicago welcomed its newest resident bishop during Holy Week, when Bishop William Houck, president of the Catholic Extension Society, moved in to devote his full-time efforts to the society’s domestic missionary efforts.
Bishop Houck was named president of the Chicago-based organization in the fall of 2001. For the past two years, he has led the society from the Diocese of Jackson, Miss., where he served as ordinary since 1984.
Leaders look to Iraq’s future
As the Ba’ath Party regime crumbled and the main fighting ended in Iraq, Catholic and Christian leaders thoughts turned to the future of the country—and the role the United States will play there and in other international affairs.
Among Christians, the fall of Saddam Hussein came with worries that a new government could be influenced by extremist Islamic groups, said Archbishop Jean Sleiman of Baghdad.
Encyclical: Eucharist Christ’s greatest gift
The Eucharist is the greatest gift Christ left his church, a gift that makes the sacrifice of his life present for all time and gives strength and hope to the world, Pope John Paul II wrote in a new encyclical letter.
The pope said he issued the letter, his 14th encyclical, in the 25th year of his papacy as a sign of his gratitude and with the desire to share his faith in the sacrament.
Ignatian lay volunteers giving back
Last summer, Joseph O’Connor was at loose ends.
Retired five years after a career in the reinsurance business, he was restless and wanted to do something—preferably something that would help others.
That was when he found the Ignatian Lay Volunteer Corps—or maybe the Jesuit-sponsored service program for retirees found him.
Since September, O’Connor has spent two days of every school week at St. Margaret of Scotland Parish on the South Side, tutoring junior high students in reading, math and life. The school isn’t so far from his Orland Park home, but it’s a world away in class, race and culture.
Catholic institutions prodded to take lead in bioethics field
Catholic health care and research institutions should take the lead in discussions about how human genomics can benefit people without infringing on basic human dignity, said Father Michael D. Place, president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association.
Place, speaking at an April 11 bioethics conference at Loyola University Chicago, said that only by engaging the scientific and medical communities can Catholics help ensure that goal while avoiding some of the perils.
Movies at a Glance
Capsule reviews of movies from the U.S. Catholic Conference's Office for Film and Broadcasting, judged according to artistic merit and moral suitability. Go to reviews
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a column of benevolent gossip
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Not just ‘Puppy Love’ — Paul Anka, the legendary singer/songwriter, will perform a 90-minute stage show at Alexian Brothers  Hospital Network’s fab gala at Drury Lane Oakbrook, May 10. With a musical career that began as an international teen idol at age 16 with his hit, “Diana,” Anka has continued to thrill fans over five consecutive decades. The artist was a steady on Billboard’s Top 50 charts with signature ballads like “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” and “You Are My Destiny.” Proceeds from this year’s benefit are earmarked for expansion of Alexian Brothers Elk Grove Village/Hoffman Estates facilities across the Northwest suburbs, with the latest medical capabilities. Tickets are $300 per person, by calling (847) 981-6081.
‘TV or Not TV’ — That’s the name of the 20th comedy revue at St. William Parish, 2559 N. Sayre. While performers/parishioners have come and gone through the years, they can still brag it’s one of the longest running comedy groups in the city, except Second City. Show dates are May 2-3, with spoofs of “The Sopranos,” “Joe Millionaire,” and others. It is part of “A Night of Komedy and Karaoki” with food and beverages. The $5 admission ticket will benefit the parish’s Millennium Campaign. If you need a laugh, this could be a keeper. Call their hotline at (773) 637-6565, Ext. 24.
Faces and places — Notre Dame High School (Niles) presented its Sancta Crux Award to Father Don McNeill on April 12. This son of the late Don McNeill, pioneer radio talk show personality, host of “The Breakfast Club,” is also a pioneer of sorts. After studying at the Gregorian University in Rome he was ordained a Holy Cross priest in 1965 and returned to the University of Notre Dame, his alma mater, in the theology department. After Princeton and time spent in Latin America, he founded the Center for Social Concerns.
Music in the air — Polish communities everywhere are marking the 750th anniversary of the canonization of St. Stanislaus, bishop and martyr. As a symbol of Polish nationhood, St. Stanislaus will be honored in the Midwest by a world premiere performance of an oratorio composed in his honor by Franz Liszt. Pre-eminent American maestro James Conlon will conduct the May Festival Chorus (the oldest continuous choral festival in the Western Hemisphere) at Cincinnati’s historic Music Hall. The box office phone number is (513) 381-3300. Stanislaus, sometimes called an inspiration of JPII, was an 11th century bishop of Krakow, who excommunicated a political VIP—the King of Poland. The king retaliated by killing Stanislaus while he was saying Mass.
Over here/over there — More parishes in the arch are making space in their bulletins for remembrance of service men and women in harm’s way. They include, St. Ferdinand (W. Barry), St. Athanasius (Evanston), SS. Peter and Paul (S. Paulina), St. Celestine (Elmwood Park), St. Isidore (Blue Island), St. Linus (Oak Lawn), St. Matthew (Schaumburg) and St. Juliana (N. Osceola). St. Catherine/St. Lucy (Oak Park) rings its church bells each day at noon and 6 p.m. as a reminder to pray for peace. When St. Bruno’s (S. Harding) pastor Father Waldemar Kilian asks parishioners to drop the name of their family members on active duty into the collection basket, he can say, “Personally, as a chaplain of the Armed Forces, I would like to offer my assistance during this time of separation and need.” Kilian is in the U.S. Navy Reserves.
That pistol-packin’ saint — There’s a new book out on the life of the patron saint of handgunners or of marksmen, St. Gabriel Possenti. He was a young seminarian in Italy when he had a “High Noon” kind of confrontation with a band of marauding soldiers in 1860. Not only did he take two of their pistols, but he showed his marksmanship with them by killing a lizard with one shot and ordering the soldiers out of town. Grateful villagers never forgot his bravery. For more info on the 150-page book, call author John Michael Snyder at (708) 418-0849 or see www.gunsaint.com.
People potpourri — Mother Angelica marked her 80th birthday April 20, Easter Sunday this year. There was a Mass in her honor. . . . Three Chicago priests just got back from visits to Lithuania and Latvia. Msgr. George Sarauskas, Father Clete Kiley and Father Lou Cameli met with seminary faculties in both countries on matters of formation, and on an episcopal level, exchanged ideas on the American and Baltic experience of clergy misconduct issues. . . . Birdie and Arthur Kimber, Sr. just celebrated 60 years of “heavenly bliss” April 7. They were married only three months before WWII separated them by 8,000 miles for the duration of the conflict with Japan. They had hoped to be able to renew their vows at their parish church, but Assumption/St. Catherine of Genoa (W. 118th St.) closed last year. This resilient couple is enjoying a new adventure of “shopping” for another parish. . . . St. Gregory the Great Parish (W. Bryn Mawr) feted its former pastor, Father John Clemens, April 12 with an evening reminiscent of something Ralph Edwards would do. The Consul General of Luxembourg made an appearance as alumni, family and parishioners got together.
Crusade continues — The Crusade to End Abortion, from May 10, 2003-May 7, 2004, includes the Rosaries Across America prayer event May 10. Parishes and individuals are invited to pray the rosary that day especially for an end to surgical and non-surgical abortion. For a booklet on the crusade, write Rosaries for Life, P.O. Box 41831, Memphis, TN 38174, or go to www.rosariesforlife.org.
Oops — In the Clips item about Robert Martin, the lucky Campbell Soup kid (April 13), his dad was described as a member of the CPD. Robert J. Martin is actually a decorated lieutenant in the Chicago Fire Department.
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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