Home Page Home Page
Front Page News Digest Cardinal George Observations The Interview MarketPlace
Learn more about our publication and our policies
Send us your comments and requests
Subscribe to our print edition
Advertise in our print edition or on this site
Search past online issues
Site Map
New World Publications
Periódieo oficial en Español de la Arquidióesis de Chicago
Katolik
Archdiocesan Directory
Order Directory Online
Link to the Archdiocese of Chicago's official Web site.
The Catholic New World
News Digest: Week in Summary
Issue of October 29, 2006

The following items are condensed. For the complete article, please read the print edition of The Catholic New World. To subscribe, call (312) 655-7777.

NewsUpdate

Hospital fights for tax status

As a Catholic hospital in Illinois continued its fight to retain its tax-exempt status, other Catholic and nonprofit hospitals are working to find new ways to report what they give back to the community.

In an action that has nonprofits throughout the country watching closely, the head of the Illinois Department of Revenue recently ruled that, under Illinois law, Provena Covenant Medical Center in Urbana did not carry out enough charitable activity in 2002 to warrant its exemption from local property taxes.

But much of the problem with adding up what nonprofit hospitals provide to the community has been differing accounting methods, even in hospitals of the same chain, and not knowing what to include and what to exclude in a community benefit assessment, said Julie Trocchio, senior director for continuing care ministries at the Catholic Health Association.

Annual Stritch awards dinner

Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine’s Annual Award Dinner Nov. 10 will honor Dr. Edmund D. Pellegrino, a pioneer in medical ethics and current chairman of the President’s council on Bioethics; and Dr. Robert C. Flanigan, chairman of Loyola’s Department of Urology and recent surgeon to Cardinal George.

In addition, the Stritch Junior Service League will be recognized for their work in the community.

The event, Chicago’s oldest black-tie gala, is slated for the Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan. A reception begins at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7. Tickets are $500 per person. For more information, call Loyola’s office of alumni and special events at (312) 915-6653.

News

It’s in the bag

Procedures help safeguard parish Mass collections

By Michelle Martin, Staff writer

When it comes to catching church personnel or volunteers stealing money from the collection—or better yet, preventing such thefts—the Archdiocese of Chicago Finance Office encourages a simple solution: plastic bags that can’t be opened without tearing them.

The bags helped parish finance council members and archdiocesan officials determine that there was reason to believe Father Mark Sorvillo was skimming money from the collections at St. Margaret Mary Parish, where he was pastor.

Bankrupt tour guide leaves parishioners empty-handed

Forty-three members of a tour group sponsored by St. Symphorosa Parish learned Oct. 13 they they would not be leaving Oct. 17 on a spiritual pilgrimage following “The Footsteps of John Paul II” because John Baird of Christian Pilgrim Tours had gone bankrupt.

Each traveler had paid $3,200 for the 10-day trip to Krakow, other Polish cities and Rome. Baird had met Aug. 27 with the pilgrims and Father Marcel Pasciak, St. Symphorosa’s pastor, who was to have been the pilgrimage chaplain.

Archdiocese honors lay parishioners for service

Each year, the archdiocese honors lay parishioners with two prestigious awards.

The Christifideles Award is given to individuals or married couples who have demonstrated the personal and ministerial renewal calling of the laity to the vocation of responsibility for the church’s life by participation in parish life.

The Bishop Quarter Award, named after Bishop William Quarter, the first bishop of Chicago, is given in each vicariate to an individual lay Catholic who demonstrates consistent service to the ministries of the vicariates or Archdiocese of Chicago.

Waukegan pastor: Giving body and soul

Father Gary Graf donated part of liver to parishioner; would do it all over again

As Father Gary Graf is delivered his homily at the 9 a.m. Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church in north suburban Waukegan, 53-year-old Miguel Zavala sat in his usual pew, second row just off the center isle.

Zavala is married with five children and one grandchild. He has much to be thankful for, not the least of which is that he alive and doing well 4fi years after receiving a a liver transplant.

His pastor, Graf, is the donor.

Charities helps low-income people find legal assistance

Kate Woodward, Pete Harsy and Emily Dolan share a common routine. After a hard day in the legal profession, they enjoy heading out to dinner. But they’re not going to a favorite sushi bar or Bucktown bistro; they’re going to Catholic Charities dinners for the hungry.

Woodward, Harsy and Dolan are volunteers for Catholic Charities’ Legal Assistance Referral Center.

Man on a mission

By Michelle Martin, Staff writer

When Father Robert Barron finished a series of parish missions leading up to Easter last spring, he thought he was finished with his special assignment to jumpstart evangelization efforts in the archdiocese.

Cardinal George asked him to think again, and now he is in the midst of a fall schedule of 20 presentations—from revival-style sermons to academic lectures—aimed at taking the Gospel to the streets and boardrooms of the archdiocese.

The centerpiece of this fall’s efforts is a series of five invitation-only lunch talks at the Union League Club and University Club of Chicago, with topics from “The Catholic Church in the Context of American Culture,” “Evangelizing Through Beauty” and “Politics as a Moral Enterprise.”

Cameli calls for priests ‘of wisdom’

The church needs priests with “wisdom and intelligence” to preach the faith effectively amid the challenges of today’s culture, Father Louis Cameli told the National Catholic Educational Association’s annual seminary convocation in Schaumburg, a Chicago suburb.

Cameli, a pastor in Norridge and former Chicago archdiocesan director of ongoing formation for priests, suggested that the two main models of priesthood often discussed in U.S. church circles over the past four decades have not put enough emphasis on the intellectual demands of the priesthood.

> Front Page
Church Clips by Dolores Madlener
    
Dolores Madlener
a column of benevolent
gossip

Taking it on the road — And now, back by popular demand: St. Catherine of Siena! Actor/comedian Bill Murray’s Adrian Dominican sister, Nancy Murray, OP, is on the Chicago circuit with her one-woman enactment of the 14th century saint’s life story. Now don’t expect her to open with: “A funny thing happened to me on the way to Avignon.” It’s an entertaining and inspirational look at a remarkable personality. Sister Nancy will appear “with a few simple props,” at St. Bonaventure’s Nov. 11, St. Symphorosa’s Nov. 13 and at St. Linus, Oak Lawn, Nov. 16. See p. 25 this issue for more info.

Hearing the Word — Father James Taylor, OMI celebrated his 50th jubilee Oct. 22 at St. Cajetan Church (S. Artesian). A talk by an Oblate of Mary Immaculate when Taylor was a grade school student at Cajetan’s shaped his life. He offered his first Mass there in 1956. Taylor’s worked at the Oblate General House in Rome. Then in 1960 he was assigned to Belleville’s busy Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. He taught high school at Cathedral in Duluth, Minn., and St. Benedict’s (W. Irving Park). He’s led lots of pilgrimages. Today Taylor is superior at St. Henry’s Residence in Belleville and serves as chaplain at Scott Air Force Base when needed. There should be a bumper sticker: Join the OMIs and see the world. Just ask Cardinal George!

Junior Clips — St. Rita High School (S. Western) hosted the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe Oct. 2-10. There was a welcoming prayer service by its young men numbering nearly 800. Each theology class was taught how to pray the Rosary and recited it in front of the image throughout the week. Students led their classmates in each decade.

Parish potpourri — St. Norbert (Northbrook) was host to Father Johannes Arntz of St. Martin Parish in Raesfeld, Germany, for over a month this fall. He wanted to get a view of ecclesial life in a Catholic parish in America. St. Norbert’s was founded in 1899 by German immigrants. . . . Bob and Rose Kinzle, parishioners of St. Juliana (N. Oketo), recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. . . . One of Father Flanagan’s Girls and Boys Town homes is going up behind Holy Cross Church (S. Hermitage). As a temporary residential center it will serve 16 at-risk youngsters at a time. Holy Cross/IHM Parish serves 300 kids a week through other programs. The new home will focus on special needs. Last summer the parish saw funerals for two 14-year-olds killed in shootings.

Needed bonanza — Catholic Charities here netted $300,000 for its emergency services programs by way of its September gala and art auction at Soldier Field’s Cadillac Club.

Can you ‘Walk the line’? — The former editor of The Chicago Catholic, A.E.P. (Ed) Wall, has completed another book. His latest, “The Dizzy Disease: When Your World Starts to Spin,” is a tell-all book on a form of Parkinsonism that Wall began to experience during retirement. “OPCA” serves as an acronym for a disease that’s not easy to pronounce or describe. Wall does a good job at the latter, from various perspectives: a patient undergoing testing to solve the mystery, a believer who hopes to pray it into remission, and a realist who learns all he can about it, then starts a Web site for others who are afflicted. Having done all of the above, Wall took it a step further and has written this book for the curious, for family members, care givers and fellow-sufferers. Still a wordsman, Wall occasionally has op-ed pieces published in the Orlando Sentinel. He hasn’t let the book get boring. He also reminds readers of the interesting life he’s led, and tosses in tidbits of humor: “If OPCA were a television show it would be cancelled after the first week. There are only three to five OPCA victims per 100,000 Americans.” In paperback it’s $12.95; as an electronic book, $3.95. Go to www.authorhouse.com and click on non-fiction/health books, or call them at (888) 510-5121.

Sad farewell — St. Elizabeth’s (E. 41st St.) recently honored 94-years of ministry by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to the parish. Founded by St. Katharine Drexel, a young Philadelphia heiress who wanted to serve African-American and Native American peoples, this order has been a part of black Catholic history in the arch since the days of Father Augustus Tolton. Due to a declining number of sisters, they had to end their mission here at the close of summer.

Conversion pass or fail? — There’s a little friendly rivalry brewing at St. Edward Parish (W. Sunnyside). It might heat up come Dec. 3 when Da Bears meet the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field. Brad Childress, new Vikings coach, is the sticking point. He’s a first cousin to Dominican Sister Maira, who taught at St. Edward’s. On top of that, St. Edward’s current 7th grade religion teacher, Sister Virginia, had Childress in her classroom in Aurora. Let’s hear it for the “Hail Mary pass”!

Cheers — Our Lady of Solace Old Timers Club from Englewood no longer meet, but some of the guys who graduated in the mid-1940s continue to gather. In the summer there’s a golf outing and at 7 p.m. Nov. 11, they’ll get together at Fox’s-Pub-on-Cicero. They are joined by some of the “boys” who graduated from Kershaw Public School on 65th and Union. Call Chuck Dietz at (708) 952-4576 if you’d like to talk about “da old neighborhood.”

Why I’m a believer — (in Eucharistic adoration), from campus minister Bob Kloska: “It’s a great place to read the Bible. If I have any questions, I can just ask!”

Send your benevolent gossip to:
Church Clips
721 N. LaSalle St.,
Chicago, IL 60610
or via e-mail.

top

Movies at a Glance
Capsule reviews of movies from the U.S. Catholic Conference's Office for Film and Broadcasting, judged according to artistic merit and moral suitability.