Issue of December 18, 2005

UPDATE

Principal earns NCEA honor

Barbara Snopek, principal of St. Francis Xavier in LaGrange, has been named a distinguished principal by the National Catholic Education Association. The Robert J. Kealey Distinguished Principal Award is given annually to a principal in each of the 12 geographic regions of the country.

Snopek has served as a principal in the Archdiocese of Chicago for 32 years and has served at St. Francis Xavier since 1989. Previously, she was principal at St. Genevieve School (1977-89) and St. Suzanne School in Harvey (1973-76).

Snopek was instrumental in starting a resource program at St. Francis Xavier to help students who are struggling and to provide enrichment for accelerated students. Snopek also organized programs to aide in teacher development including catechist training, technology assistance, and differentiated instruction programs.

When Snopek began as principal at St. Francis Xavier, the enrollment was declining. Since then Snopek has implemented programs to help faculty develop professionally and students to develop academically. Now, enrollment at the school is over 700.



Loyola granted its biggest gift

Loyola University Chicago recently announced that Joan Los Hank, a Loyola alumna, and William Hank, a Loyola trustee, and the MacNeal Health Foundation will give the university a combined $20 million gift, the university’s largest to date. The $10 million grant from MacNeal, where William Hank is vice chairman of the board, will go to the School of Education and the School of Nursing. The $10 million gift from the Hanks will fund key university priorities.

William Hank is the chairman and CEO of Farnham Investment Group in Westmont. Joan Hank is a member of Loyola’s President’s Advisory Council for the College of Arts and Sciences. The Hanks also co-chaired the campaign for the construction of the Michael R. and Marilyn C. Quinlan Life Sciences Education and Research Center.







NEWS

‘Have you heard the news?’

Question is the core of evangelization:

he Fathers of Vatican II, Paul VI, and John Paul II, prompted a major development in the church’s understanding of itself when they placed evangelization at the very center of ecclesial concern. They taught us that everything in the church—preaching, liturgy, pastoral care, striving for social justice—has to do finally with announcing the Lordship of Jesus Christ and drawing people into a share in his life.



2nd Festival of Faith to be held Feb. 16-18

The archdiocese will hold its second Festival of Faith, “A Gathering to Reflect, Renew and Rejoice,” Feb. 16-18 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, with a schedule of speakers, workshops and liturgies.

The event is designed to offer a time of prayer, celebration and unity for Catholics from all corners of the archdiocese, bringing together information on topics from African-American spirituality to church and school building maintenance, the biblical roots of the call for social justice to the papacy of Benedict XVI. Workshops will be offered in Spanish and Polish as well as English.



End death penalty: St. Louis prelate

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond L. Burke is asking parishes in his archdiocese to join efforts to seek a moratorium on the death penalty in Missouri.



Pope: Bring Christmas home

Pope Benedict XVI said the contemporary Christmas season is being spoiled by “commercial pollution” that obscures the true meaning of Christ’s humble birth.

People need to remember that Christ was born in a manger, as a sign of poverty, the pope said Dec. 11 as he greeted pilgrims from his apartment window.



Clinic protest case argued for third time at high court

As the Supreme Court heard oral arguments Nov. 30 for the third time in a 20-year-old case over protests at abortion clinics, the justices’ questions suggested they still do not think anti-racketeering laws can be applied to protesters.

In an 8-1 ruling in 2003, the court said the National Organization for Women could not use provisions of the Hobbs Act, a 1948 law prohibiting interference with commerce by threats or violence, to seek damages from abortion protesters for lost business at abortion clinics.



Dominican class helps food pantry help others

A few months ago Emilio Scalzitti, vice president of Sheridan Carroll Charitable Works Funds, was banging his head against the wall, trying to figure out how to meet the growing demands on the organization’s food pantry. With Christmas approaching the organization, located at Harlem and Armitage, also needed to collect food for the gift baskets that they give needy families.



Century of service

Hundred-year-old nun says activism aids long life

After a century frolicking in “God’s playground,” as she calls the universe, School Sister of Notre Dame Anne Mayer has only one piece of advice: Get in the game!

“A lot of good stuff fell on each of us,” she said. “Some others may have missed out. Look around and see if someone doesn’t have enough and share with them,” the veteran civil rights activist, teacher, and tireless letter-writer told well-wishers at her recent 100th birthday party at Laboure House, an intergenerational facility in the former St. Benedict Parish Convent .



Sisters start ‘affordable’ project

Construction has begun in south suburban Crete on the first affordable senior housing community built by the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago Service Corp.



Healing a hurting continent with prayer, aid

When Kimberly Mazyck asks her fellow Americans to forgive their debtors, she means it big time.

Mustering public support for a write-off of the billions Africa owes the West is part of her job, according to the Washington D.C.-based Catholic Relief Services project director. Mazyck spoke at the annual Africa Summit sponsored by the Office for Peace and Justice Dec. 3 at St. Dorothy Church, 450 E. 78th St.

Unfortunately, even Mazyck has no idea just how deeply in hock Africa is today.

The problem, she explained, is that each of the continent’s 54 very different nations owe money to everyone including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and a number of countries.



Devastation and anguish

Huge quake, bitter winter bring CRS response

When the ground shook Oct. 8, the world came crashing down for people in a remote Himalayan region between Pakistan and India. But other people around the globe seemed oblivious to the catastrophe, which was not recorded on vacationers’ videocameras or broadcast continually for days on every major news channel.

Nevertheless, the 7.6-magnitude earthquake is believe to have killed 77,000 people, disproportionately women and children, and left more than 3 million homeless and vulnerable to bitter winter weather.

Kevin Hartigan, Catholic Relief Services’ South Asia director, and his staff moved into some of the most remote area devastates by the quake in the days following the disaster to assess needs and provide food, emergency shelter and other resources.



Works of mercy

Workers come to aid of hurricane-stricken cemetery

When Rich Chorba arrived at St. Paul Cemetery in Pass Christian, Miss., Nov. 5, he had no words for the level of destruction he saw.

Chorba, manager of Chicago’s St. Casimir Cemetery, said the damage left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina two months earlier was not what he expected. “It was much worse,” he said.

That observation was echoed by the other 11 staff members from Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Chicago who volunteered a week of their time to travel to Pass Christian, a community of about 6,000 people on the Gulf Coast. The men, who include managers and maintenance workers, construction specialists and custodians, contended with biting bugs, cockroaches and snakes as they worked to clear the cemetery.

Chorba arrived with the second group of six from Chicago; the first group followed workers from the cemeteries in the dioceses of Albany, Newark and Rockford, who worked on the site for a week at the end of October.



Vampire’ writer Rice finds a new direction: Jesus

Even before “Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt” had made its appearance on The New York Times’ hardcover fiction best-seller list, its author, Anne Rice, had come a long way toward completing a follow-up novel.

She envisions four books in all, telling the story of Jesus all the way through to his ascension into heaven. “It’s becoming my life’s work,” said Rice, 64, best known for her “Vampire Chronicle” novels, including “Interview With the Vampire.”

Quigley forms law group to connect school, alums

Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary alumni who have entered the legal profession have formed an association of attorneys to develop personal camaraderie and professional development with alumni, faculty, students and other friends of the school who are active or interested in the legal professions.

The group, called the Quigley Law Association, was announced as part of the school’s centennial which is being celebrated in 2005-06.



A ‘note’-worthy effort

Music is the common denominator

One Sunday in October, the Old St. Pat’s choir in Chicago underwent a transformation. Mixed in with its predominantly white, more affluent regulars were the browner, “unmonied” members of Harmony, Hope and Healing.

The transformed choir sported an Irish tenor and an African-American mezzo soprano; songs in high, medium and low register; blues and music of a more European flavor. Overall, they sounded comfortable together. After Mass, the choir members, regular and visiting, sat down to eat and talk with their newfound lovers of music.

“It’s all about the beauty,” said HHH director Marge Nykasa. “If we are willing to learn, listen and not be afraid to join into song, we can learn more about one another.”