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Issue of June
25
, 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
Ex-pastor guilty
Robert Wielosinski, the former pastor of Our Lady of Snows parish, pleaded guilty June 7 to theft of parish funds. He was placed on 30 months probation and ordered to provide $50,000 in restitution.
In his guilty plea, he acknowledged stealing to pay for personal expenses including a mortgage and credit card bills. The charges followed a parish audit conducted by archdiocesan financial staff in 2003 which showed money had been misappropriated. Wielosinski, 52, was reported to have repaid as much as $40,000. He has since resigned from the priesthood and now lives in Florida.
Abuse probe: bishop cleared
Spokane Bishop William S. Skylstad has said that an investigation he ordered produced no evidence to support an unnamed woman’s allegation that he sexually abused her 40 years ago when she was a minor.
Bishop Skylstad communicated the probe’s results June 8 at a news conference in answer to a reporter’s question but he did not elaborate.
News
U.S. bishops continue to press Congress on just immigration reform
U.S. bishops continued to press Congress to legislate comprehensive and humane immigration reform the day before their June meeting opened in Los Angeles.
“We urge congressional leaders and the president to seize this historic moment and enact a just and humane immigration measure,” said Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of San Bernardino at a June 14 press conference held at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, the site of the June 15-17 meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Cardinal McCarrick warns against partisan politics within church
Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick sharply warned the U.S. bishops June 15 that “the intense polarization and bitter battles of partisan politics may be seeping into (the) broader ecclesial life of our Catholic people and maybe even of our (bishops’) conference.”
The cardinal made his comment at the end of his final report on the work of the bishops’ Task Force on Catholic Bishops and Catholic Politicians, which he headed for the past three years.
Theology on Tap set to begin 26th season
Theology on Tap, the lecture and discussion series for young adults started by Young Adult Ministries of the Archdiocese of Chicago, gets set for its 26th season starting July 9.
The annual series will take place at 40 parishes in the archdiocese and in the dioceses of Joliet and Rockford.
Two Chicagoans to help form national mental health outreach
Two representatives from the Archdiocese of Chicago are among those spearheading the establishment of a national Catholic council to reach out to those with mental illness and their families.
The effort is the brainchild of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability.
Connie Rakitan, of Oak Park, chair of the archdiocesan Commission on Mental Illness, and commission member Deacon Tom Lambert are members of the new national council.
Eucharist draws people to Jesus: Pope Benedict
Jesus calls out and urges people to draw close to him through the Eucharist so he can transform them as he transformed simple bread and wine into his own body and blood, Pope Benedict XVI said.
Christ’s guidance and nourishment are urgently needed, the pope said, since so many people in the world are lost, confused or tormented by physical or spiritual hunger.
Conference puts focus on black
Catholic spirituality and ministry
To be sure, many of the participants in the July 6-9 Archbishop James P. Lyke Conference are black Catholics.
But the event, now in its third year, offers something for the whole church, said organizer Andrew Lyke, who also serves as marriage ministry coordinator for the Family Ministries Office of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Medjugorje at 25: Apparitions and questions
Twenty-five years after six children in Medjugorje, a village in what is now Bosnia-Herzegovina, began reporting apparitions of Mary, pilgrims are still flocking to the site and church officials are still cautious about the authenticity of the events.
Marian experts continue to debate the significance of Medjugorje, and several have published books—ranging from enthusiastically supportive to skeptical—to coincide with the anniversary.
Ministry network connects, educates, empowers seniors
So what does an organization affiliated with the United Church of Christ, working with congregations of various faiths, have to do with the Archdiocese of Chicago?
If it is fulfilling the mission of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development by attacking the causes of poverty, it has plenty to do with it.
Sharing suffering
Stauros Journal unites those in pain
Suffering, according to Scripture, literature and the wisdom of the ages, is universal. It doesn’t discriminate, as all people feel pain and grieve loss.
But in modern culture, suffering—and ways to cope with it—are nowhere to be found, said Amy Florian, executive director of Suffering: The Stauros Notebook.
The quarterly journal, available in print and on an audio CD, offers people who are suffering and those who care for them an opportunity to connect with others who reflect on suffering and offer help hoping and coping. Stauros USA, a non-profit organization founded by the Passionists to help people find meaning, help and peace in suffering, publishes it.
> Front Page
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a column of benevolent
gossip
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There’s a ‘10’ in Extension — It was once a 60-page monthly. It’s still a monthly and “Extension” is still its name. It was once sold by “Doorbell Apostles”—kind of the Catholic equivalent to Jehovah Witnesses. They came in, sat down, jaw-boned and evangelized and sold you a low- cost subscription to a high-class magazine like “Life.” “Extension” marks its 100th birthday this year, slimmed to 20+ pages as of 1968, but still packed with mission adventures that stir the heart. That’s because it’s the voice of the Catholic Church Extension Society, builder/sustainer of our American home missions. Its recent issues have relived a remarkable history: Mary Higgins Clark, a best-selling author, for instance, got her first byline in “Extension.” Each cover has been a keeper, from the Norman Rockwell-style of Thornton Utz, to the artwork of our own Franklin McMahon of St. Patrick Parish (Lake Forest), who began illustrating stories in the magazine in 1941, two years out of high school! In today’s iPod world, where else can you find an article about a priest from Malta who ministers to farmers in Oregon, knows how to use a shotgun and ride a horse? He covers over 100 miles weekly, without a traffic jam, “with Beethoven, Fats Domino and the Beach Boys” on tape for company. Call (312) 236-7240 for six free issues; an offering for the work is never refused.
Screwtape? — Archbishop Timothy Dolan and 750 worshippers gathered recently in the main church at Wisconsin’s 150-year old Holy Hill for a special Mass to “reclaim” the shrine. Vandals had spray-painted the site with red satanic symbols on 06-06-06. The clean-up is now completed, spiritually and physically.
Summertime and the livin’s easy — Misericordia’s Greenhouse Inn Restaurant (6300 N. Ridge) has al fresco dining in their lovely outdoor garden this year. It’s open for lunch Tuesday-Friday; there’s a Sunday summer brunch at $10.95 until August. You might bump into da Coach or some other VIP. The Inn will be closed July 2 and 4; August 1-6, and Sept. 3 and 10. (773) 273-4182.
Over here, over there — Barbie Galassi, senior at Resurrection High School (W. Talcott), got help from her fellow students as well as parishioners of St. John Brebeuf (Niles) on her Girl Scout Gold Award. Parishioner Dan Wiechec, a Boy Scout aiming for his Eagle Scout award, worked with her. They sent 25 care packages to soldiers in Iraq, containing items like toothpaste, toothbrushes and combs. The shipment weighed 400 pounds and cost nearly $600. The community also helped with postage expenses. Galassi and Wiechec have received word from an officer that the American soldiers also shared their gifts with Iraqi kids.
‘The few. The proud.’ — The Marine Corps Air Station at Beaufort, S.C., reports on Chicago native Conrad Targonski. He was a Catholic pastor in Milwaukee’s inner city for 12 years before becoming a Navy chaplain in 1987. “Chaplain ‘Ski,’” as he’s called, has been stationed from Okinawa to Iraq. He was in the Fallujah offensive with the 7th Marine Regiment, the only Catholic chaplain on the front lines. Having tracers whizzing overhead has been “life-changing,” and made them “a band of brothers.” At 58 he’s a “gym rat,” believing in a strong mind and a strong body. Now closing his Navy career, he says, “I want to go back to Iraq; for me that’s where it’s at.”
Fan-tastic — Father Frank Cassidy has taken about 50 altar servers of St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church (W. 62nd St.) and some of their parents, to Notre Dame’s spring football game in South Bend, Ind. for the past 15 years. Cassidy’s a fan. It must have been shamrock luck that Charlie Weiss, ND’s coach, came to nearby Hubbard High School to spot recruits recently. Cassidy wasn’t shy and Weiss obliged.
Junior Clips — Speaking of Father Daniel Lord, SJ, he’s not forgotten at Ignatius College Prep (W. Roosevelt). A Daniel A. Lord, SJ Campus Ministry Award is presented each year to a graduate doing superior work in ministry. . . . Trinity High School (W. Division) can boast a published author on its teaching staff. English teacher Julia Buckley is selling and signing her first novel, “The Dark Backward.” It’s about a police officer who takes on corrupt politicians. . . . The Poor Clare nuns in Lemont want as many children as possible to read the vocation story of Cardinal George. They found out the book by Father Eugene Keusal, “The Boy Who Wanted to be a Priest,” is available from DooleyBooks.com for $5, or call (312) 939-4713. . . . Eighth-grader John Ilagan and seventh-grader Sabel Micor at St. Mary of the Angels School (N. Hermitage) are first place winners in the Patriot Pen contest. Awards came from the Ladies Auxiliary VFW #3579, in Park Ridge, known as “the friendliest Post in Illinois.”
‘Happy Birthday’ to Mary — Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" was wowing Broadway, a guy named Hitler began writing "Mein Kampf" in his prison cell in Germany, and just before President Harding tightened up our immigration laws, Mary Cottini (Nicolini) arrived in America from Italy. It must have been exciting to be 17 in 1923 and see Chicago for the first time. She will turn 100 on July 7 in St. Hilary Parish (N. California).
It's where she still reads each issue of The Catholic New World from cover to cover without glasses. “Buon compleanno, Mary!”
Send your benevolent gossip to:
Church Clips
721 N. LaSalle St.,
Chicago, IL 60610
or via e-mail.
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Movies at a Glance
Capsule reviews of movies from the U.S. Catholic Conference's Office for Film and Broadcasting, judged according to artistic merit and moral suitability.
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