Issue of June 26, 2005

UPDATE

Knights, others, honor Eucharist

The Knights of Columbus and the Archdiocese of Chicago will hold a public Eucharistic procession and Cardinal George will celebrate benediction Aug. 5 at the Petrillo Band Shell in Grant Park.

Knights, members of lay ecclesial movements, parishioners and others are being invited to participate
.
Supreme Chaplain Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., will lead the procession from the Hilton Chicago through Grant Park, ending at the band shell on Columbus Drive and Jackson Blvd. The benediction service will begin at the band shell at 3 p.m.

This event is part of the Knights of Columbus Eucharistic Congress and will be following the adjournment of the 123rd annual Supreme Council meeting of the Knights of Columbus, which will be held in Chicago, Aug. 2-4.
For information call (773) 486-5153 or (708) 339-2474.

CFM event set for Inverness

The triennial National Marriage and Family Conference will be held in the Chicago area July 15 and 16. The event, “Fanning the Fire of Faith,” will be at Holy Family Parish in Inverness.
Catholic Family Movement (CFM) members from across the country will attend. The keynote addresses will be by Holy Family pastor Father Pat Brennan. Other presentations will include Andrew and Terri Lykes and comedian and storyteller Doug Brummel.
For information, call (812) 962-5508 or visit www.cfm.org.



NEWS

How did the least among us fare in Springfield?

At the beginning of the year, I described the legislative agenda of the Catholic Conference of Illinois as pro-family, pro-life and pro-community. Through that agenda, CCI wanted to focus attention on the common good and on the needs of those people described by Scripture as “the least among us.”

Of seven CCI priorities, four were passed by the legislature and are reflected in this year’s budget.

Time of sorrow, hope and expectation
As schools close, students finding new Catholic education opportunities

When Ellen and Kent Taylor of Chicago learned in February that the Catholic school their three children attended would close in June, Ellen Taylor started looking.
She visited five Catholic elementary schools, talked to other parents, listened to her older children’s opinions.
By the time their old school, Resurrection Catholic Academy, closed its doors, the family had settled on St. Bartholomew School for next year.

The Taylor children—who will be in kindergarten, third grade and fifth grade next year—are among more than 3,000 attending the 18 archdiocesan elementary schools that closed.

When Office for Catholic Schools officials announced Feb. 24 that 23 schools would close this year, they also announced unprecedented efforts to keep those students in Catholic education, providing them with lists of schools within three miles of their old schools, maps and even a DVD featuring the cardinal, school officials and families encouraging them to choose another Catholic school.

To encourage generosity, the ‘task is to ask’
Father Greg Sakowicz, pastor of St. Mary of the Woods on Chicago’s North Side, never thought he was very good at asking for money to support his parish and the church’s broader mission.

But you wouldn’t know it from the results of this year’s Annual Catholic Appeal. Nearly 350 parishioners pledged a total of more than $74,000 to support archdiocesan services. The 2005 appeal, which has a goal of $8 million, funds many vital ministries as well as poor parishes and schools.

Last year, St. Mary of the Woods parishioners, in Chicago’s Edgebrook neighborhood, donated $46,874 to the campaign.


Two priests removed following allegations

Pastors of two parishes have been removed from ministry by archdiocesan officials following allegations of inappropriate behavior or sexual abuse. Announcements were made to parishioners at liturgies on the weekend of June 4-5.

Father William O’Brien, pastor of Queen of Angels Parish, “has been temporarily withdrawn as pastor … pending further inquiry” following an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor about 25 years ago when he was associate pastor at St. Cajetan Parish, Bishop Frank Kane, vicar for Vicariate II, told parishioners at weekend Masses.

Retired Auxiliary Bishop Thad Jakubowski, representing Vicariate V vicar Bishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, met with parishioners at St. Fabian in Bridgeview. He told them that Father Walter Turlo “has resigned as pastor … following an allegation that he engaged in highly inappropriate behavior with a minor about 30 years ago while he served as an associate pastor of St. William Parish, Chicago.”

Cardinal George approved the actions against both priests. Archdiocesan officials said the two priests have been placed in restricted settings and are being monitored.

Archdiocesan officials reported both allegations to the Cook County State’s Attorney and continues to work with civil authorities.

To report allegations of sexual misconduct, contact the archdiocesan Office of Professional Responsibility, (800) 994-6200, (312) 751-5205 or by fax at (312) 751-5279. Civil authorities should also be contacted.

Making disciples
First evangelization institute teaches skills
More than 70 pastors, deacons, religious, parish staff and parishioners attended the first-ever “Chicago Institute of Evangelization” June 2-4 at the Cenacle Retreat and Conference Center.
The goal of the intensive institute was “to train pastoral agents in evangelization,” said Conventual Franciscan Father Joseph Kruszynski, director of the archdiocesan Office for Evangelization, which sponsored the event.


Rx rule battled

The Catholic Conference of Illinois (CCI) has joined the fight to turn back proposed changes to the Illinois Pharmacy Practice Act, which would require pharmacists to fill contraceptive prescriptions despite their moral objections.

The rule change, sought by Gov. Blagojevich, would ignore the Illinois Health Care Conscience Act, which CCI executive director Robert Gilligan said is supposed to supercede all state law and rules. Supporters claim pharmacists are not covered by the act.

At 25, ‘Tap’ flowing strong

In 1981, Father Jack Wall, then associate pastor at St. James Parish in Arlington Heights, worked with several young adult parishioners to start a summer program to help people in their 20s and 30s connect to their faith.

Twenty-five years later, the program is still going strong and has involved almost 200 parishes in the archdiocese, in addition to parishes in 48 states and six countries.

Theology on Tap will celebrate its silver anniversary with a kick-off Mass July 6 at 7:30 p.m. at St. James. Wall will preside, and all past and present participants and organizers of Theology on Tap are invited to help celebrate the program’s success. Father John Cusick is now the director of Young Adult Ministry.

For information about Theology on Tap events, visit www.yamchicago.org, call (312) 466-9473 or e-mail [email protected].

TV condom ads spreading; church officials protest

Two more commercial broadcast networks, the WB and NBC, have agreed to run advertising for condoms during prime time, joining Fox and CBS.
“We don’t like it,” said Msgr. Francis Maniscalco, a spokesman for the U.S. bishops. “In the past, when the networks have run commercials for other forms of birth control, we have written letters to them. We haven’t done so in this case, but we may.”

God’s justice requires care for hungry

Preaching in Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta challenged listeners on National Hunger Awareness Day to respond to God’s call for justice and to work to feed the poor and address root causes of poverty as an essential part of fidelity to God.
“When we as religious ministers invite people to see our response to the hungers of people as an acceptance of the divine command for justice, then will our hearts be changed and God’s providence made clearer in all of our hearts,” Archbishop Gregory said, speaking in the home church of late civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Archbishop Gregory made his remarks at a time when 35 million Americans aren’t sure where they will get their next meal. In Illinois, one in six children in Illinois go to bed hungry.

In Chicago, Catholic Charities invited Pro Football Hall of Fame player and coach Mike Ditka and current Bears Marcus Reese and Dustin Lyman and three of Chicago’s finest chefs to serve the weekly Tuesday Night Supper at St. Vincent Center, 721 N. LaSalle Street as a part of Hunger Awareness Day. Chefs John Hogan, of Keefer’s Restaurant; Heather Terhune, of Atwood Café; and Dean Zanella, of 312 Chicago are regular contributors to the supper program.

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