Issue of May 28, 2006

The following items are condensed. For the complete article, please read the print edition of The Catholic New World. To subscribe, call (312) 655-7777.

NewsUpdate

Knights bringing relics to Chicago



Chicago will be a stop in mid-July for relics of Mexican martyrs canonized in 2000 by Pope John Paul II. The journey began last year in Mexico and will end in Orlando, Fla., in August.

The silver cross containing relics of six of the 25 Mexican martyrs has been traveling under the auspices of the Knights of Columbus. Each of the six—Sts. Pedro de Jesus Maldonado, Luis Batis Sainz, Jose Maria Robles Hurtado, Mateo Correa Megallanes, Miguel de la Mora de la Mora and Rodrigo Aguilar Aleman—was a priest and a member of the Knights of Columbus.

All 25 were martyred during the persecution of the church in Mexico in the 1920s and 1930s. The tour aims to build awareness of all those who sacrificed their lives for the Catholic faith during the Mexican persecution. The relics will be on view at Holy Name Cathedral the weekend of July 21-23. Cardinal George is planning to celebrate Mass during the relics’ visit.



Lay groups meet

Cardinal George will celebrate Pentecost June 4 with members of lay ecclesial movements in the archdiocese.

The public celebration will begin with vespers at 7 p.m. at St. Vincent Ferrer Church, 1530 Jackson Ave., River Forest. A reception will follow. The event is being held in conjunction with a similar gathering of lay movements June 3 at the Vatican with Pope Benedict XVI. For information, call (312) 751-5272.





News

Holy Name Cathedral Mass of ordination for 12 new priests

As family and friends looked on, Cardinal George ordained 12 men as priests for the Archdiocese of Chicago in ceremonies May 20 at Holy Name Cathedral.

The cardinal was assisted by Father Dennis Lyle, rector of the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary. Several auxiliary bishops also participated.



Bishop, others give lawmakers immigration plea

Bishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, Catholic Conference of Illinois executive director Robert Gilligan and others were scheduled to meet in Washington May 24 with leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives to discuss pending immigration reform legislation.

The meeting, which took place after this issue of The Catholic New World went to press, was to include House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.; Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill.; Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.; and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. Also scheduled to attend were Elena Segura of the archdiocesan Office for Peace and Justice, Father Larry Dowling and Father Marco Mercado, both involved in the archdiocesan Priests for Justice for Immigrants initiative.

The meeting grew out of an effort in April to deliver to Hastert’s Batavia office thousands of petitions seeking fair immigration reform legislation. Instead, Gilligan said, Hastert invited the group to his Washington office to discuss pending immigration bills.



Cyber-Providence?

Chance e-mail brings help, rosaries for troops

Mary Zilligan Becker of Infant Jesus of Prague Parish, Flossmoor, has a motto: “Everything is possible with God.”

Mary and her husband run Seat of Wisdom Book and Gifts, a little on-line business offering religious items, Bibles, etc.

In January, a computer-less acquaintance asked Becker if she’d e-mail a priest friend for her—a U.S. Marine Corps chaplain. Becker found herself in touch with Father John T. Hannigan, former assistant pastor of St. James in Sauk Village and St. Jude the Apostle in South Holland.

God found the right computer-pal for Hannigan, a priest out to save souls. And she felt drawn to help.



Women Domers build on ‘legacy’

Megan McGuire is the kind of legacy story Holy Cross Father Theodore Hesburgh loves.

The Arlington Heights political science major is a double-legacy at the University of Notre Dame, which Hesburgh made coeducational in the early 1970s. Both her parents are Domers, as was her mother’s father. And McGuire, 21, knew from the time she was in elementary school where she wanted to attend college.

“It’s always been a big part of our family,” she said in a telephone interview from the Notre Dame, Ind., campus. “I think the first time they brought me here I was younger than 5.”

That’s just one of the reasons Hesburgh says admitting women—and seeing to it they make up roughly half the student and faculty population—was one of the two best moves he made during his 35-year tenure as university president.



Religious leaders back living wage ordinance

Religious leaders of all stripes converged on City Hall Thursday, May 18, to pray the “Big Box Living Wage” ordinance into law.

“It’s insane to think of people working 40 hours a week—and overtime—still living in poverty,” but that’s what’s happening to many Chicago area retail employees, Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Parish told more than 60 people who gathered outside the City Council chambers before the measure’s opponents testified at a Revenue Committee hearing.



Pope names new Joliet bishop

Bishop Wuerl to replace retiring Cardinal McCarrick

Bishop J. Peter Sartain, named May 16 as the fourth bishop of the Joliet Diocese, said that in his “heart of hearts” he is and “always will be a parish priest.”

Earlier that day Pope Benedict XVI accepted the retirement of Bishop Joseph Imesch and named Bishop Sartain, currently head of the Diocese of Little Rock, Ark., to succeed him.

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States, announced in Washington that the pope also accepted the retirement of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick May 16 and named Bishop Donald W. Wuerl of Pittsburgh to succeed him as archbishop of Washington.



Vatican disciplines Legionaries’ founder

In a decision approved by Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican has said the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, accused of sexually abusing minors, should not exercise his priestly ministry publicly.

The Vatican also said May 19 it would not begin a canonical process against the founder, 86-year-old Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, because of his advanced age and poor health.



Not giving up, giving back

Maybe it’s because he grew up during hard times in a hard neighborhood, when money was always scarce and a birthday party was a luxury beyond the means of his family.

Maybe it’s because he gives God credit for his good fortune, and he feels responsible for spreading that good fortune to others.

Whatever the reason, Tony DeSantis, theater owner, restaurateur and land developer, is not about to give up giving back.

DeSantis, 92, who owns the Drury Lane Oak Brook and the Drury Lane Theatre at Water Tower Place, has a 60-year land lease with the Marriott Hotel, Lincolnshire, and has a 50 percent stake in the two Hilton hotels in Oakbrook Terrace.



‘Writing’ icons an experience of faith and art

For the six St. Gregory High School students who participated in an intensive iconography workshop, the two days were an experience of faith.

Beginning and ending with formal prayers, the students were encouraged to think of their work as a prayer, too.

“It was more than an art class,” said Prince Prempeh, a 15-year-old sophomore. “It was a religious experience through art. When I first saw it, I was thinking, did I do that?”

The project was an icon of Christ, presented to the students by iconographer Joseph Malham, who serves as an artist-in residence at St. Gregory the Great Parish. Malham and Father Brian Fischer, a resident at the parish, used grant money to fund the project, which included using the same materials as professional iconographers, including poplar panels, egg tempera and real gold leaf.