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Church Clips by Dolores Madlener

Dolores Madlenera column of benevolent gossip

  • Start your engines —

    Belmont Abbey College is small and unabashedly Catholic in the heart of Protestant NASCAR -land, 10 miles from Charlotte, N.C. An article in Our Sunday Visitor tells how Belmont is competing against larger schools. In 2006 it started offering a unique academic program focusing on the marketing and business sides of motor sports. It’s a nutsand- bolts idea from board member H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler . (His father was the school’s athletic director for 40 years.) Wheeler happens to be the recently retired president of Lowe’s Motor Speedway — home base of NASCAR. While other area schools and programs concentrate on mechanics and engineering, Belmont’s 20 Benedictine monks and innovative staff have closed the gap on the business side of motor sports. Each class is taught by someone teaching what they do for a living, and students do internships in the racing industry. They’re writing their own text books — there are none for “Racing 101.”

  • Parish potpourri —

    The Sanctuary Choir and Jubilation Ringers of St. Marcelline Parish (Schaumburg) are off on another European junket. This year they’ll perform at St. Nicholas in Prague, St. Stephen Cathedral in Vienna, and at an 11:30 a.m. Mass in Salzburg Cathedral right out of “ Sound of Music ,” amid Alps and the Danube. . . . St. Michael SummerFest (Orland Park) will have professional dance instructor Danielle Latorre available at 3:45 p.m. Aug. 23, so all ages can learn to dance and learn the moves to “ High School Musical .” Then the newbies will perform at 5 p.m. on stage for an audience, at 14327 S. Highland, Orland Park, (708) 349- 0903. . . . St. Dorothy Parish (S. Eberhart) has just gone cyber — it’s new Web address is www.stdorothyparish.net. . . . Mae Downes of St. Viator Parish (W. Addison) celebrated her 90th birthday May 1. . . . Historic St. Michael Church in Old Town (N. Cleveland) is forming a 60-voice concert chorale (high school age and up) for its Dec. 13 Christmas presentation of Handel’s “Messiah.” Rehearsals are Thursdays in October, 7-9 p.m. Call Judith Trosen at (312) 642-2498, Ext. 221 for more info.

  • On the road again —

    St. Alexander Parish (Palos Heights) takes care of body and soul with its “ Walk-in-Faith ” program Thursdays, 6:30-7:30 p.m. (weather permitting). The group meets at its outdoor shrine, starting with a reading from Scripture. This year’s theme is a look at Jesus’ disciples and how to relate to them. After a minute of reflection, they walk in the area for an hour. If you need more info, call Diane Ostrowski , RN , at (708) 448-4861, Ext. 229. . . . Father Tom McCarthy , who heads St. Rita of Cascia High School (S. Western) is packing light. He’ll be stepping off Aug. 1 on a three-day, 60-mile walk to raise money for breast cancer research. He’s on a team with his niece, brother, sister and a fellow Augustinian and needs to raise funds to participate. Anyone can donate by sending a check payable to “ The 3-Day ” and mail to Father Tom McCarthy at 7740 S. Western Ave., Chicago, IL 60620. He lost his mom to the disease in 2001. . . . Six teens from Transfiguration Parish (Wauconda) have a binder in the church vestibule for intentions parishioners want them to take to World Youth Day when they leave for Sydney, Australia, July 12.

  • Prada? Nada —

    Who knows how fashion rumors get started, but there’s been hearsay that Pope Benedict’s red leather loafers (aka The Ruby Slippers ) were Prada-designed footwear. Last year Esquire magazine named the pope, “accessorizer of the year.” Hmmm, says the Vatican . It called the commentaries “frivolity much characterized by an age that tends to trivialize what it doesn’t understand.” While the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano declared the Prada prattle “naturally false,” it pointed out the pope is a “simple and unpretentious man.” His comfy old black sweater could be seen under his new vestments when he greeted the faithful from the balcony minutes after his 2005 election. In the spirit of St. Paul’s advice to “clothe ourselves with Christ,” the article ended with “The pope, in short, does not wear Prada, but Christ.”

  • Way gets ‘OK’ —

    On June 13, Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko , president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity , announced the church’s approval of the statutes of the Neo-Catechumenal Way . As one of the church’s new ecclesial movements, the Way began in Spain in 1964 and has spread to more than 100 countries. In the aftermath of the renewal of Vatican II , the Way put itself at the service of diocesan bishops and parish priests to help deepen the laity’s faith through evangelization. It’s missionary in character, and also works to renew parishes. Happily the Way has enjoyed the support of popes from Paul VI to Benedict XVI . Pope John Paul II encouraged its members to seek “formal legal recognition” so it could be part of the “universal patrimony of the church.”

  • Recyling, not retiring —

    Father William T. Cullen of the Diocese of Joliet , who grew up in St. Brendan’s Parish in Englewood and said his first Mass at Christ the King in Beverly, celebrated his 60th anniversary June 24. He helps out at St. Daniel the Prophet (Wheaton) and is a “life-time subscriber” to the Catholic New World (in its many varieties). . . . School Sister of Notre Dame Claire Marie Czerwiec , a recent 50- year jubilarian, was on Relevant Radio June 26. As a spiritual director and counsellor at St. Alexander Parish (Palos Heights) Father Greg Sakowicz inteviewed her with her pastor, Father Edward Cronin.