THE UPDATE:

Stritch awards

Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine will present its two most prestigious awards at its annual dinner Nov. 14 at the Chicago Hilton & Towers, 720 S. Michigan Avenue.

John and Rosemary Croghan of Winnetka will receive the Sword of Loyola, which recognizes outstanding business executives for contributions in a field other than medicine. The Croghans are major benefactors of the Big Shoulders Fund, a not-for-profit that provides financial assistance to inner-city Catholic schools. Dr. John F. Shea will receive the Stritch Medal, which goes to a graduate or faculty member of the medical school. Shea has served the school in many capacities since 1982, winning the “Teacher of the Year” Award four times.

For information: (312) 915-6451.

Delaney honored

Doug Delaney, former executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, the public policy arm of the six Illinois Catholic dioceses, has received a papal honor, the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice for service to the church and pope. It is the highest church award for a layperson.

During his seven years as CCI director, he spearheaded many efforts to assist the church, such as the income tax credit to aid parents of children in non-public schools.

NEWS:

Catholic position on living wills ‘misunderstood’

Among Catholics, there is a common perception that living wills are frowned upon or prohibited by the church, said Father Michael Gutgsell, moderator of the curia for the Archdiocese of Omaha, Neb., and pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Fort Calhoun.

“That is not true,” he told The Catholic Voice, Omaha archdiocesan newspaper.

USCCB head warns: abuse survey may ‘startle’

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said the results of a clergy sex abuse survey going back more than 50 years could be “startling” to Catholics but should reassure them that church leaders are serious about solving the problem.

The survey, expected to be completed by the end of February, demonstrates that the church wants to be “totally honest” and make sure that children are truly protected, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., said in an interview with Catholic News Service in Rome Oct. 22.

Where faith and academics mingle

Campus ministry centers offer a ‘home away from home’

It’s a cool September evening, but Father Michael Yakaitis perspires in his vestments, celebrating Mass in a packed Calvert House chapel.

The congregation has overflowed the newly renovated space, spilling into the adjacent living room, across the hallway and down the stairs. The worshippers—mostly undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Chicago—have come to Sunday Mass the evening before the fall term begins, ready to start the academic year right.

Maybe it’s the free barbecue that will follow the liturgy. Maybe it’s start-of-school jitters. Maybe it’s the chance to greet old friends after a long summer.

Italian crucifix dispute sparks cross words about tolerance

A judge in central Italy set off a debate involving Catholics, Muslims and politicians after he ordered the removal of crucifixes from classrooms in an elementary school.

Mario Montanaro, a judge in the court at L’Aquila, ruled Oct. 25 that laws requiring schools to have a crucifix in every classroom showed preference for Catholicism and ignored the role of other religions in society. He gave the elementary school in the town of Ofena 30 days to remove the crucifixes.

Supreme Court won’t hear

Ten Commandments case

The U.S. Supreme Court Nov. 3 declined to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling that ordered removal of a Ten Commandments monument from an Alabama courthouse.

Suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who placed the 5,300-pound stone monument in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery two years ago, had appealed lower court findings that the monument was an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state.

From chalkboards to SMARTBoards:

Catholic schools combining power of technology with faith-based academics

Catholic schools are not your parents’ schools. Technology has changed the face of education

Students in many classrooms throughout the nation’s largest non-public school system are using the latest tools and techniques to:

Bring Greek classics alive in a digital video production;

Track the latest adventures of real explorers via the Internet;

Transmit class work to teachers via infrared beams;

Collaborate with museums, colleges and universities in interactive online projects.

SMARTBoards, eMacs, wireless laptops, QuickPads and high-speed Internet are among the many technology tools currently used in archdiocesan classrooms.

Drive launched to restore school ‘recognition’

The Catholic Conference of Illinois has launched a grassroots drive to reverse the decision announced in July by the Illinois State Board to Education which would eliminate recognition of non-public schools which meet certain academic, health and safety requirements.

Calling recognition of non-public schools “vitally important,” CCI’s Zachary Wichmann said the conference has worked with Downstate Effingham Democratic Rep. William Grunloh and other lawmakers to introduce bills to counter ISBE.

Catholics encouraged to savor the flavor of Scripture

Jesus is no longer with us in person. But he left his through the teachings of Scripture.

After many years of estrangement from Bible study, many Catholics are taking part in a great renewal of the study of scripture, supported by new scholarly research and “user friendly” guides.

One example of this renewed interest is the first annual “Bible Sunday” in the archdiocese Nov. 9. This celebration can include a blessing of family Bibles that will be brought to church on this weekend. Each household is encouraged to have a Bible and to learn how to read it and to understand the richness of its meaning.

Healing words break bullying cycle

Rick Guerin is out to prove that some “conventional wisdom” is all wet: Sticks and stones may still break bones, but names, it seems, indeed do hurt.

Guerin, principal at St. Bede the Venerable School, is the local force behind Words Can Heal, a national campaign designed to create an awareness of the power of words to hurt or heal someone.

Plugged in and turned on

Technology works at Incarnation grade school

Incarnation grade school, Palos Heights, takes a back seat to no others when it comes to having cutting-edge technology in its classrooms and teachers who know how to use it.

Incarnation boasts new computers in its computer lab; computers in every classroom with internet service through a high-speed T1; a technology coordinator who instructs students and teachers how to use them; and the school’s latest pride, Activboards.

These devices are among the latest interactive learning technology available and Incarnation has one in each classroom.

Pope, church strong backers of human rights for all people

The Catholic Church has a centuries-long tradition of supporting and defending human rights, Cardinal George said, a tradition Pope John Paul II has sought to extend as he implements the documents of the Second Vatican Council.

The cardinal used his Oct. 28 talk at the John Paul II Newman Center of the University of Illinois at Chicago to offer an explanation of why the pope’s use of “rights vocabulary” has both supporters and opponents believing the pope has broken from the Catholic tradition—and why they are wrong.

Weigel presents pope as model for evangelization

How many of us Catholics in the United States think of ourselves as agents of what the Holy Father has called the ‘new evangelization’?” author and theologian George Weigel asked listeners to his talk Nov. 2 at the Catholic Festival of Faith’s final breakout session. “We Catholics aren’t used to thinking of ourselves as evangelists, but that’s what we are,” he said.

Culture under examination Chicagoans all, cardinal, Greeley, Barron ‘debate’

Put Cardinal George, sociologist and novelist Father Andrew Greeley and theology professor Father Robert Barron on one panel on “Being Catholic in Chicago” and expect a crowd.

A standing-room-only audience of more than 200 shouldered their way into the room, only to be taken on a metaphorical trip through the church’s “rainforest” of images and stories and the spiritual desert of modern secular culture.

Reaching out to touch and build a united world

The Gospel reading for Oct. 12 indicated one should go beyond the Commandments to shed attachments and “give all” to the poor. That’s a mission Youth for a United World (YUW) is already doing. That very Sunday they worked even harder at it.

To hear the voices and learn what initiatives others a world away have been taking to combat materialism and discrimination through faith, love and unity, a telephone conference call had been arranged for 7 a.m. Chicago time Oct. 12.

‘Feed my lambs’: Battling hunger here, across U.S.

Hunger is real and it is all around us. Those who suffer from it have names and faces and human dignity, and all Catholics have a responsibility to do something about it, from supporting legislation that will channel food aid to poor people to holding food drives and serving in soup kitchens.

That was the message Cardinal George and Father Michael M. Boland, administrator of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, gave at the Catholic Charities 86th Annual Meeting Oct. 23 at the Union League Club. The event included the release of “What’s for Dinner? Food Insecurity and Hunger in a Nation of Plenty,” a position paper about the issue.

Review board head involves parishioners in ending scandal

Priority One of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Lay Review Board is “no more victims,’’ said Illinois Appeals Court Judge Anne Burke who heads the panel—and it will be up to ordinary parishioners to make it stick.

That’s an almost unheard of amount of power in the pews, Burke reminded a parishioners of St. Alphonsus Church on the North Side Oct. 28.