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Church Clips by Dolores Madlener

Dolores Madlenera column of benevolent gossip

  • They called her ‘Holy Rosary Irish’ —

    Their first church was built for Catholics (mainly poor Irish) employed at the Pullman Works. George Pullman refused to sell them land in his “model town” on the East Side, so the founding pastor bought property in 1882 in nearby Roseland. That winter day the church was dedicated, parishioners shoveled snow drifts from the Illinois Central station so they could pull Archbishop Feehan’s sled. The next edifice served the parish for 118 years withstanding a fire and calamities of a depression and world wars. Generations of children were educated in its school as the community grew. In the mid-1980s a young Barack Obama worked out of an office in Holy Rosary’s rectory as a community organizer. Then in the last 26 years a shift in the Catholic population forced several Roseland parishes to close. Last year on June 29 the parish’s remaining flock marched proudly in procession down King Drive and 115th Street to St. Anthony Church for a first Mass of a new combined parish at that site. There is now a beautiful hardcover memory book telling the heroic story of Holy Rosary by former pastors and parishioners, with photos of its stained-glass windows punctuating pages of the-way-it-was data and art work. The book is well worth the $50 requested, which includes two DVDs with additional information as well. Proceeds will help fund installation of the Queen of the Holy Rosary stainedglass window in a new shrine at St. Anthony’s . Call (773) 468-1200.

  • It’s art —

    Baseball’s Bill Veeck once said, “There are only two seasons — winter and baseball.” But art has no seasonal boundaries. The Mary-Frances and Bill Veeck Gallery is anticipating its third exhibit of 2009, “Invisible Threads: The Fragile Inter-connection of All That Is.” It features the works of Ruby Barnes , Sonata Kazimieraitiene and Peggy Macnamara , at Catholic Theological Union Academic & Conference Center , 5416 S. Cornell. It’s free and open to the public. For more info and gallery hours, call (773) 371- 5415. The exhibit runs through Aug. 27.

  • ‘Perspicacity’ —

    And other tonguetwisters like that probably made up the 27th annual spelling bee sponsored by the Knights of Columbus at St. John Brebeuf Parish School (Niles) last month. Eighth-grader Ralph Joseph and seventh-grader Andrew Cichon went on to regionals at St. Catherine Laboure Parish (Glenview).

  • Heavenly weather —

    Vatican watchers can now see the weather forecast on the Holy See’s Web site, with current temperature, wind speed, air pressure and quantity of rain fall. There’s also a service so users can access graphs showing meteorological changes taking place within a day, month or year. Go to www.vaticanstate.va and check it out. Future plans include extending the Vatican live images service already partially offered via six webcams.

  • Party time —

    The United States province of the School Sisters of St. Francis of Christ the King is celebrating its centennial. News flash: Cog Hill’s “ Beat the Nun ” nun, Sister Mary Ann Dosen , a South Chicago native, will mark her 50th anniversary at Mount Assisi Academy in Lemont. (Her dad starting coaching her at age 4, and she could to hit the ball 100 yards off the tee consistently by age 11.) Dosen still has the power in her swing to raise funds for charity in competition against most odds. Her friend, Sister Jude Marie Naiden , who hails from Joliet, is celebrating her 50th jubilee at MAA as well. The oldest and only girl of seven children, Naiden graduated in one of Mount Assisi’s first graduation classes and has taught a variety of courses there for 41 years.

  • ‘Sham-ROCK’ —

    Have a budding amateur Irish music star under your roof? There’s two divisions, ages 13-18 and children 12 and under who will compete during Irish Fest , July 10-12, at the Irish American Heritage Center . Contestants perform for the judges at 2 p.m. July 11 at 4626 N. Knox. Advance registration is required. Call (773) 282-7035 for all the details.