Updates

Suburb abortion clinic shuts down
After two decades of vigils on the sidewalk outside the Concord West Clinic, Westmont, Ill., where abortions were performed, pro-life advocates in the Diocese of Joliet have reason to celebrate.

For the first time, on Aug. 15, the former protesters were invited onto the property to celebrate the success of their hard-fought battle. The clinic officially has closed its doors, and will be replaced with a new surgery center.

Approximately 80 people, representing a diverse mixture of ages, races and faiths, gathered on the feast of the Assumption for an ecumenical thanksgiving prayer vigil at the former clinic.

Ill. Pax Christi hits tax rebates
As rebate checks of up to $600 continue to go out to American taxpayers, some Catholics are calling the 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut unfair to the underprivileged.

Members of Pax Christi Servants, a DuPage County, Ill., group organized to promote equitable social justice programs, have decided to protest the tax cut by donating their refund checks to the charity of their choice.

The donation idea, which is growing in popularity among Pax Christi supporters nationwide, is seen as a positive response to a law that denies Catholic social teachings, said Evelyn Brown, spokeswoman for Pax Christi Servants.

News:

Pilots throw LifeLine to patients in need
There were the twin boys whose skulls had flattened and needed helmets to correct their head shape-but the clinic was two states away. There was the Canadian boy who needed physical therapy for his cerebral palsy, and got it at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital. And there were the children from Springfield who followed their doctor to Knoxville, Tenn., for cancer treatments.

Larry Nazimec and Jim Svec, pilots for AirLifeLine Midwest, seem to remember the kids the best.

Archbishop Milingo loves wife ‘as a sister’
Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo said he loves a Korean woman he married in May “as a sister” and plans to meet her to explain his decision to reconcile with the church.

Pope cautions against new forms of racial discrimination
Castel Gandolfo, Italy (CNS) - Pope John Paul II condemned racism as a sin against God and humanity and warned that new types of racial discrimination were emerging across the globe.

Labor Day, 2001
U.S. bishops link immigration, living wage
Washington - The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Domestic Policy Committee urged a legalization program for foreign workers and quicker action toward achieving a living wage in the bishops’ annual Labor Day message.

Organizers work Sunday to spread labor message
When Dan McMahon steps to the pulpit at the Church of the Annunciata to speak Sept. 2, he will be on familiar territory.

McMahon, an organizer for the District Council of Carpenters, serves as a lector in the parish and has served on the pastoral council. But rather than reading Scripture or prayers, McMahon will talk to the congregation about organized labor.

Leaving cathedral, nuns take happy memories
A 72-year tradition of service to Holy Name Cathedral will end Sept. 5 when the Little Sisters of the Holy Family now living there return to their motherhouse near Quebec, Canada.

The sisters have devoted their religious lives at the cathedral to cooking, cleaning and doing laundry for the priests living on site.

Teresa’s cause moves ahead
Calcutta, India (CNS) - Mother Teresa’s Aug. 26 birthday was marked by prayers for her speedy canonization and a continuous flow of visitors to the nun’s tomb in Calcutta.

The founder of the Missionaries of Charity, who died in 1997, 10 days after her 87th birthday, would have been 91. Outside the religious community’s motherhouse chapel, “Happy Birthday Dearest Mother” was written on a blackboard.

Pope sets sights on youth, Toronto
Pope John Paul II’s mind was on young people as he looked ahead to World Youth Day in Toronto next year and spoke of St. Francis as a model for contemporary youths.

The 81-year-old pope has been publicly anticipating next July’s World Youth Day celebration in Toronto; he began talking about it as soon as the last such gathering ended in Rome a year ago.

Veteran teachers ‘at home’ in Catholic schools
Every August, Sara Demma begins decorating her classroom to create a home-like atmosphere for her soon-to-be students. It is a task she has been doing for nearly four decades while serving as a teacher at several archdiocesan grammar schools.

Demma—like many Catholic school teachers—never expected her commitment to last so long. Also like her peers, she is happy it has. “I was a substitute teacher when asked to work full-time for only six months to replace a teacher on leave,” said Demma who this fall begins her 38th year of teaching when she greets students at the Children of Peace-Holy Family campus.

Robert E. Gallagher Sr. loves his newest vocation— helping inner city children succeed.
In addition to managing his global company, Arthur J. Gallagher & Company, the untiring insurance chairman oversees an innovative scholarship program he established, the Big Shoulders Gallagher Scholarship Fund.

The eight-year-old program currently provides tuition assistance to more than 350 students in 73 inner-city Catholic grammar and high schools. His commitment has earned him a national honor, the Elizabeth Ann Seton Award from the National Catholic Education Association.

She suffers in silence
Chicagoans, among others, visit Audrey
Worcester, Mass. (CNS) - Around suppertime on a day in mid-August, Elizabeth Lacza stood outside Christ the King Church, last in a very long line.

The slow-moving line wound from the back of the church parking lot, through the main doors, up the right-hand aisle and past the altar to open doors.

Seventeen-year-old Audrey Santo, unspeaking, unmoving, lay on a hospital bed beyond those doors. Transparent plastic strips separated her from the thousands of visitors coming to pay respects on her anniversary day, Aug. 12. One group of 42 visitors came from Chicago.

Jewish-born stem-cell ‘czar’ has Catholic, Chicago ties
Leon R. Kass, the University of Chicago professor chosen by President Bush to head his bioethics council, might be best known for his opposition to embryonic stem-cell research and human cloning, but he’s also developed other areas of expertise.

Kass and his wife of 40 years, Amy, have team-taught a seminar at the University of Chicago on the ethics of courtship and have edited a book together on courtship, marriage and the family.

Following is the upcoming schedule for the statue of Our Lady of the New Millennium, along with phone numbers for information:

• Sept. 2-9: Holy Ghost, 700 E. 170th St., South Holland, (708) 333-7011
• Sept. 9-16: St. Cajetan, 11234 S. Artesian, Chicago, (773) 238-4100
• Sept. 16-23: St. Catherine of Alexandria, 4100 W. 107th St.,Oak Lawn, (708) 425-2850
• Sept. 23-30: St. Fabian. 8300 S. Thomas, Bridgeview, (708) 599-1110
• Sept. 30-Oct. 7: St. Christina, 11005 S. Homan Ave., Chicago, (773) 779-7181