Cardinal George has declared Sept. 28 Inclusion Awareness Day to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities in parishes. Pathways Awareness Foundation, in partnership with the archdiocese, honors parishes for taking steps to welcome persons with disabilities.

Open Hearts Awards are granted to congregations for expanding their inclusion efforts. The 2003 Open Hearts Award winners are: Our Lady of Fatima (Chicago), St. Joseph (Libertyville), Seven Holy Founders (Calumet Park) and St. Paul of the Cross (Park Ridge), and St. Thomas Becket (Mount Prospect). Honorable mentions went to St. Ferdinand (Chicago), St. Eulalia (Maywood) and St. Felicitas (Chicago).

The 2003 Junior Open Hearts Awards—for projects involving children and youths—went to St. Thaddeus (Chicago), St. Bede the Venerable (Chicago) and St. Alphonsus (Lemont).

For more information on Pathways Awareness Foundation, call (800) 955-2445.

Mundelein enrolls

more than 200

Mundelein Seminary has 203 students enrolled this fall, including 23 new seminarians for the Archdiocese of Chicago.

“We’ve been blessed with another year of very good enrollment, said Father John Canary, rector. “Our 45 contributing dioceses have been successful at raising awareness about the viability of serving the church in the priesthood.

The seminary’s 74 students for Chicago reflect the makeup of the archdiocese, with 33 of Eastern European heritage, 25 percent of Western European heritage, 24 percent Hispanic, 10 percent African American and 8 percent Asian.

NEWS:

Annual Catholic Appeal gains momentum; 2003 goal in sight

The good financial news for the Archdiocese of Chicago is that the Annual Catholic Appeal is about a half-million dollars ahead of where it was at this point last year, with about $5.23 million pledged and more than $5 million collected.

That puts the fund drive within an outside shot of making this year’s goal of $7.5 million, said Tim Dockery, director of development services. The appeal missed that goal by about 10 percent last year.

But Dockery and other archdiocesan officials are concerned that while the amount donated has risen slightly, the number of donors continues to fall off.

Winnetka couple keeps promise for prisoners

Spiritual books cheer inmates

When Jim Carney retired, he made two promises—one to his wife Lucy, who wanted to go on an Alaskan cruise—and the other to Jesus Christ. But it wasn’t until Jim fulfilled the first that the second was put into action.

On the icy, Alaskan waters, Jim sat on the cruise ship’s deck delving into a spiritual book when Father George Yany, chaplain at the Rhode Island state prison, casually approached him and asked what he was reading. “We started talking, and Lucy and I got to know Father George very well,” said Jim. So well that the couple sent the prison chaplain 100 spiritual books when they returned home.

Despite ill health, pope looks ahead

As aides prepared 25th anniversary celebrations for mid-October, Pope John Paul II was already looking ahead to year 26 and its inevitable round of meetings, liturgies and documents.

The pace of the pontificate has clearly slowed, and the pope’s fragility—which became even more apparent during his recent trip to Slovakia—means that fewer big projects are on the calendar. But there’s enough in the pipeline to keep the 83-year-old pontiff busier than many men half his age.

Pope, physically fading, crisscrosses Slovakia with message of hope

On a trip that taxed his fading physical powers, Pope John Paul II crisscrossed Slovakia to celebrate liturgies, beatify two 20th-century martyrs and offer people inside and outside the church a message of hope.

He had trouble delivering that message personally, however. Weakened by infirmity, he had to let others read long sections of his prepared speeches and homilies during the Sept. 11-14 visit.

Bishops urge amendment to protect marriage

The Administrative Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has called for a constitutional amendment to protect the unique social and legal status of marriage.

In Catholic belief, “marriage is a faithful, exclusive and lifelong union between one man and one woman, joined as husband and wife in an intimate partnership of life and love,” the 47-bishop committee said in a statement released Sept. 10.

CCHD celebrates anti-poverty work

Gathering against a backdrop of rising unemployment and increasing poverty across the United States, nearly 300 people celebrated the efforts of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to change the conditions that cause people to become and remain poor.

Twenty organizations from Cook and Lake counties will share $462,000 in grants. Half the projects focus on organizing communities around issues to improve and strengthen neighborhoods, eliminate violence and ensure access to affordable housing. Others focus on creating opportunities for economic development, ensuring the rights of disabled residents and developing youth leadership.

Saintly celebration in Techny

Divine Word’s HQ to honor founder’s canonization

The Oct. 5 canonization in the Vatican of Blessed Arnold Janssen and Blessed Joseph Frienademetz will have a very large echo in the northern Chicago suburb of Techny.

Techny is the North American base for the Society of the Divine Word, the Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters and the Holy Spirit Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. Janssen founded the three religious congregations more than 100 years ago.

Pope John Paul II also will canonize Blessed Joseph Frienademetz, the first Divine Word missionary to China.

Catholic because ‘we like it’

Greeley kicks off Loyola series, pushes popular devotions

Catholics remain Catholic not because of anything the bishops do, but simply because they like being Catholic—despite the best efforts of some “intellectuals” to destroy “the sense of story and mystery” that has always made the church the church, said priest/writer/sociologist Father Andrew Greeley, opening a lecture series at Loyola University.

It also doesn’t help that so many church leaders have been downplaying the role of Mary, said Greeley, blaming the shift in attitude at least partly, he said, because “I don’t think the church as an institution or most of us who are priests respect and reverence women the way we ought to.”

Of course, “it takes a real effort” to develop a mindset of revering Mary on one hand while dismissing women in general, Greeley said.

Young adults hit the road with St. Ignatius

Charis Ministries group works, prays and learns together

Take eight young adults who barely know one another. Put them together in a car for 14 hours, and give them sleeping bags and a church hall floor to sleep on for the next week.

Make them do manual labor—a far cry from their normal work in offices and as students—in 120-degree heat.

Then ask what they thought of the experience.

“We were all there for the same reason, to help out,” said organizer Dave Wampach, 28, who is studying for his master’s degree in education. “Not for glory, not for resume-builders.”