December 18, 2005

Barking up the right tree
“Do you want to go out to Marmion Abbey and cut down your Christmas tree?” my editor asked me. “It will be fun. It’ll make a great story.”

December 4, 2005

November 20, 2005

November 6, 2005

A Catholic majority?
Alito confirmation would set record

If Judge Samuel Alito Jr. is confirmed as a U.S. Supreme Court justice, it would be the first time in history that the majority of justices on the nation’s highest court are Catholic.

Alito is a former U.S. attorney in New Jersey and for the past 15 years a judge on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He is widely regarded as a strong conservative on an appellate court that is considered among the most liberal in the country. President Bush nominated him Oct. 31.


Bells rang and rang
for Sox victory

The legend back in 1959, said Father Dan Brandt, pastor of Nativity Parish in Bridgeport, was that the pastor rang the church bells with every White Sox playoff victory. Naturally, in 2005, the ante had to be raised.

“I rang the bells with every home run during the playoffs and the World Series,” crowed Brandt, whose Bridgeport church is the “unofficial” White Sox parish. During the final series game, he said, “those bells rang until 2:30 in the morning!”

Cardinal George
Church Clips
Interview
Michelle Martin
News & Updates
Obituaries
Observations
Parish Pride

October 23, 2005

Synod seeks celibacy,
vocations

In a draft list of propositions, the Synod of Bishops recommended no relaxation of church rules on priestly celibacy and instead proposed greater vocations efforts as the answer to the shortage of priests.

The idea of ordaining married men in the Western church is “a road not to follow,” said Proposition 11, one of 50 propositions presented to the synod Oct. 18. After possible amendments, the propositions were to be voted on later in the week after The Catholic New World went to press.

The propositions, which were read in Latin on the synod floor, contained proposals on several other topics the bishops discussed during the Oct. 2-23 synod on the Eucharist.

Cardinal George
Church Clips
Interview
Michelle Martin
News & Updates
Obituaries
Observations
Parish Pride

ISSUE October 9, 2005

Cardinal bans mission

When Bishop Thomas Paprocki was pastor of St. Constance Parish on the Northwest Side, the Love Holy Trinity Blessed Mission was using parish facilities for prayer meetings and other events.

Now, following an investigation conducted by Bishop Paprocki, the mission has been banned from using Catholic facilities and portraying itself as Catholic by Cardinal George; Archbishop Jerome Hanus of Dubuque, Iowa; Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison, Wis.; and Bishop Thomas G. Doran of Rockford.

The decisions, all announced in September, come amid complaints by the loved ones of mission members, saying the mission has isolated their family members and convinced them that they will be condemned by God if they leave.

Our Lady of Guadalupe’s mission, message growing

ISSUE September 25, 2005

Schools open hearts, wallets

Cash, goods will aid Katrina victims
On Aug. 28, Jeaneria Petty was on the phone with her son, Baque, in St. Bernard Parish, La. Petty, a volunteer at St. Ailbe School on the South Side, urged her son to leave with his fiancée, Grace Herbert, and her 14-year-old son, Joshua.

Now Joshua is one of seven students from the hurricane-affected area enrolled at St. Ailbe. So far, he seems to be adjusting well, Petty said.

Some of the other students are having a harder time, said Stephanie Clausell, the site administrator at St. Ailbe. One preschool student had never attended school before—he was scheduled to start preschool in New Orleans this fall—and separating from his family after leaving his home has been hard, Clausell said. Older students have expressed concerns about the friends they left behind.

“They say they don’t know where their friends are,” she said.


Louisiana teacher brings music to St. Ferdinand

St. Ferdinand principal Lucine Mastalerz needed a part-time music teacher. Her search led unexpectedly to Susan Wieneke, a teacher in the New Orleans Catholic school system for 25 years, who ended up in the Chicago area after the hurricane.

Wieneke said had gone to an outlying area when the hurricane was forecast, but when it became apparent residents would not be returning immediately to New Orleans, she joined her daughter in north suburban Wilmette.

Stories of help, hope in Houston

Passionist Father Alex Steinmiller normally spends his days running a retreat house in Houston. But in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, his ministry took him to the Astrodome and the Reliant Center, offering everything from his help serving breakfast to his pastoral care for people who stopped there after the storm, on their way to wherever they would go next.

Archdiocesan priest offers aid

Father Joseph Allen, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Round Lake, took time Sept. 19 to visit a hardware store in Hattiesburg, Miss. He went to pick up a handful of 6-cent screws to make some repairs to Sacred Heart Parish’s school in Hattiesburg, and as he walked the aisles, he reflected on what he had found in Mississippi in the 10 days he’d been there.

“Singing God’s praises

Stephen Lee has not stopped counting his blessings since Aug. 28.
That was the day he left his New Orleans home—a wood frame house in the Mid-City neighborhood—with his mother, his wife and their three children.

Parishes, others sponsor relief efforts

Catholic churches across the Archdiocese of Chicago continued to take up special collections for Hurricane Katrina throughout September, and several parishes and other organizations planned special relief efforts.

Cardinal George
Church Clips
Interview
Michelle Martin
News & Updates
Obituaries
Observations
Parish Pride

ISSUE September 11, 2005

Archdiocese aids
Katrina refugees

Hurricane Katrina focused her devastation on the Gulf coast, but the effects are being felt all over the country, including in Chicago.
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago joined the city, not-for-profit agencies and other faith-based groups in opening up space for people fleeing the floods and offering whatever services they could.

“It’s a great impact and it’s getting more and more,” said Joan McConnell, who coordinates emergency assistance for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

By the end of the day Sept. 2, 40 people had called or shown up at Catholic Charities offices looking for assistance, she said, including both refugees and Chicago-area residents who were expecting large groups of relatives to arrive any time.

Archdiocesan Catholics
offer prayers, money

Issue of August 14, 2005