Update

Ukrainian rite gets new bishop

As The Catholic New World went to press, Ukrainian Catholics in Chicago were preparing to celebrate the June 4 installation of a new bishop at St. Nicholas Cathedral. Bishop-designate Richard Seminack, who has ministered both in his native Pennsylvania and Florida, comes to Chicago after almost two decades as pastor at Holy Trinity Church, Carnegie, Pa.

Bishop Seminack’s consecration was scheduled to be celebrated by Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, patriarch of Ukrainian Catholics, Archbishop Stefan Soroka of Philadelphia and Bishop Robert Moskal of St. Josaphat Eparchy of Parma, Ohio. Papal Nuncio Msgr. Gabriel Montalvo was to attend. More than 30 Western and Eastern Catholic Bishops were to participate in the liturgy, and more than 1,000 lay people were expected. Services were to be celebrated bilingually.

Mideast peace plan backed

Religious extremists must not be allowed to derail the U.S.-backed peace plan in the Holy Land, the president of the U.S. bishops’ conference told U.S. President George W. Bush.

In a letter dated May 30, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., told Bush that church leaders were “concerned that every effort is made to resist extremists on both sides who use religion to justify violence and terrorism or to justify opposition to negotiation and compromise, especially over territory.”

He said, “Those involved in the process cannot permit extremists in either community to undermine or destroy prospects for a just peace through unjustified terrorist violence or the denial of legitimate aspirations to live in their own homeland in dignity and peace.”

News

Privacy law impact weighed

Despite a flurry of concern that new federal regulations regarding privacy implemented this spring would hamper pastoral visits with hospitalized parishioners, hospital chaplains and clergy are saying—so far, at least—that impact is minimal.

Still, ill parishioners might have to work a little harder to get a pastoral visit.

USCCB clergy sexual abuse ‘audits’ to begin
Indian priest wanted in Chicago arrested

An Indian priest wanted for allegedly sexually assaulting a teen-age girl in Chicago was arrested in his native India.

Father Sleeva Policetti was arrested in the southern city of Hyderabad May 23 after Indian police were sent an anonymous mobile phone text message, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand.

Pope encourages global evangelization efforts

Pope John Paul II encouraged the church’s evangelization officials to spread the Gospel in every country, breaking down every cultural, racial and ethnic barrier.

For an effective evangelization in the 21st century, the pope said, the church needs to make sure its work force is well-educated in the faith.

On a mission: San Juan Diego parish welcomes Hispanic Catholics to Northwest suburban home

Just like a growing family, the congregation of Mission San Juan Diego found that it was too big for its house.

And like many families, it saved, found a larger home nearby, then moved. In early April, the congregation, with Cardinal George presiding, dedicated the mission’s new church and offices after members renovated the former Scandinavian Club in Arlington Heights.

Ordained to serve
Week of ordination rites sees

20 new priests created in Chicago

The Archdiocese of Chicago became home to 20 new priests in May, including four Bosnian Franciscans, one new priest of the Society of St. John Cantius and 15 archdiocesan clerics.

The class of 15, ordained May 24 by Cardinal George at Holy Name Cathedral, is the archdiocese’s largest class since 1986 and also the largest group to be ordained for any of the 195 Catholic dioceses and archdioceses in the United States. The diverse group includes natives of Poland, Kenya, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, the Philippines, and, yes, the archdiocese of Chicago. The men all have been assigned to area parishes, where they will begin their ministries July 1.

After supper:
Charities’ clients document their ‘Life on the Street’

For Kimberlee Kahl, 25, being handed a camera and told to go take some pictures sparked memories of photography projects she had completed in elementary and high school.

It also gave her something to work on with her fiancé, Darnell Jackson, she said.

It wasn’t until May that she and Jackson learned it would give them something else: at least $700 from the sale of their photographs, money Kahl said will go towards an apartment.

“We won’t have to spend another winter in a tent,” said Kahl, who works as an assistant baker at a Loop Au Bon Pain and starts a culinary education program this summer. “We’ll sleep in a tent when we go camping, but not to live in.”

That tent—pitched on the banks of the Chicago River south of the Loop—figures prominently in the photos the couple has on display in “After Supper: Visions of My Life,” Catholic Charities’ first photography exhibit and sale.

Pope: Media can urge respect, peace

Pope John Paul II, marking World Communications Day, said the mass media can serve the cause of peace by favoring reconciliation, understanding and mutual respect.

Speaking at a noon blessing from his Vatican apartment window, the pope invoked a special blessing on journalists, especially those working in Catholic media.

Teachable moments
Sister looks back at career educating women, others about women’s roles

When Ann Ida Gannon joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary at age 17, freshly graduated from Immaculata High School, she couldn’t conceive that 71 years later, she would still be showing up for work every day at Loyola University, near her childhood Rogers Park home.

Gannon volunteers as Mundelein College archivist, working in her namesake organization, the Gannon Center for Women and Leadership at Loyola University Chicago.

“I couldn’t imagine that I would have a Ph.D. in philosophy or would have been president of a college,” said Gannon, now 88, who served as president of Mundelein College from 1957 to 1975. “I just wanted to serve.”