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News Digest

Issue of October 12 – October 25, 2008
The following items are condensed. For the complete articles, please read the print edition of The Catholic New World. To subscribe, call (312) 534-7777.

News Update

Man of the Year

The "Men of Tolentine" will honor Cardinal George as their "Man of the Year" at a banquet Oct. 30.

The banquet celebrates the 50th anniversary of the "Men of Tolentine" by the Midwest Province of the Order of St. Augustine. The group fosters vocations to the Augustinian province.

The dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Lexington House, 7717 W. 95th St., Hickory Hills. Minimum contribution is $50 per attendee. Call (708) 283- 6696 to make a reservation.

Weekly suppers

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago will begin offering weekly suppers for the hungry and homeless each Tuesday evening at St. Christopher Parish, 14641 S. Keeler Ave., Midlothian, on Oct. 21.

The free suppers will be served in the St. Christopher School cafeteria, which can be entered from the parish parking lot on 147th Street between Kostner and Pulaski/Crawford avenues. Doors will open at 5:45 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6 p.m.

The meals are intended for families and individuals who are facing financial pressure or homelessness and who may be in need of an additional hot meal each week. Guests need not be Catholic.

Catholic Charities also sponsors meals each week at St. Blasé Parish in Summit and St. Anne in Hazel Crest and twice a week at the Catholic Charities office at 1717 Rand Road in Des Plaines. It sponsors or hosts meals five days a week at the St. Vincent Center, 721 N. LaSalle.

Charities is still looking for volunteers, donors and sponsors to make the meals possible. For information, call the Southwest Suburban Regional Office, (708) 430- 0428.

News Digest

Pope: Economic crisis shows why life isn't all about money

The current global financial crisis illustrates why it is a mistake to build a life on passing realities like money and success, Pope Benedict XVI said. "We see this today in the collapse of the great banks: This money disappears, it's nothing. And so all these things we thought were real and were counting on are in fact realities of a second order," he said Oct. 6, the day European stock markets plummeted following news of government bailouts for two more mortgage and banking companies.

Too early to see effects of financial crisis on faith lives, some say

Although spiritual directors are not seeing much effect on their work from the nationwide economic crisis thus far, many predict that financial burdens facing the people they counsel will eventually affect their spiritual lives as well.

That was the consensus from Catholic News Service interviews with Catholic spiritual directors chosen at random from the Web site of Spiritual Directors International.

'Catedral Café' nourishes faith

It's a place where you can have a cup of coffee under the gaze of Our Lady of Guadalupe, try your luck with St. Anthony in the Singles Corner and, by glancing up at the ceiling, be transported to the Vatican's Sistine Chapel. Although there are no crucifixes in plain sight, you can find a reference to the Via Crucis (The Living Way of the Cross) in small frames placed in front of three computers that have Internet access. You may also find rarities like the image of the patron of the old Czechoslovakia on the "Wall of the Virgins." Catedral Café (Cathedral Café), as Abraham Dueńas named his business when he opened his doors three years ago at 2500 S. Christiana Ave, in Little Village, looks like a small Catholic art gallery in the heart of a community that, overwhelmingly, embraces the same faith as its owner.

EWTN comes to the Midwest for family conference

Eternal Word Television Network brought its show on the road to northern Illinois Oct. 4-5 and more than 3,000 people turned out to see them, many from the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Several of the Catholic network's program hosts turned out for EWTN's Family Conference, including Marcus Grodi of the Journey Home, Deacon Bill Steltemeier, Sister Rosalind Moss, Jesuit Father Mitch Pacwa and Franciscan Father Benedict Groeschel.

A Saturday special of the young-adult show "Life on the Rock" filled with students from the NIU Newman Center and Sunday's special children's concert with The Donut Man and his puppet, Duncan, rounded out the weekend.

From Hollywood to the convent

Fifty years ago, as John F. Kennedy readied his "New Frontier," Hollywood star Dolores Hart was beginning her own meteoric rise, with everyone speculating she was the next Grace Kelly. In five years, she made 10 films, including 1960's teenage cult classic, "Where the Boys Are."

But, in 1963, Hart left glittering Hollywood, seeking instead spiritual gold at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Conn.

Wiesel shares story of faith, but not yet forgiveness

"I am not here for myself; I am here because you are here." This was the greeting by holocaust survivor, Nobel laureate and author Elie Wiesel as more than 3,200 people packed the seats of the Shannon Center at St. Xavier University in Chicago.

Curious or in awe, from youths in school buses, to white or balding heads, academicians to just neighbors, the crowd greeted him with a standing ovation.

University President Judith Dwyer, bestowed an honorary doctorate of humanities upon Wiesel for his "lifetime dedicated to peace and human dignity." Mayor Richard M. Daley named the date of his appearance, Sept. 25, "Elie Wiesel Day" in the City of Chicago.

Yes, St. Paul was a ladies' man

Early Christians would be mystified by the reputation St. Paul has in some contemporary circles as being a bit of a misogynist. Modern readers may chafe at passages in Paul's letters that seem to threaten hardwon benefits for women in society, but early Christian sources presented Paul and his teaching as especially welcome to women. Paul was a popular character in early Christian literature and popularized works of faith. For most of the Church's history, people took these works at face value and blended them into the typically accepted biography of Paul. Some of these books may even have been written primarily for a feminine audience.