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Church Clips by Dolores Madlener

Dolores Madlenera column of benevolent gossip

  • ‘Who do you say that I am?’ —

    When Father John Sanaghan became pastor of St. Matthias (W. Ainslie) and Transfiguration of Our Lord (W. Carmen) churches a few months ago, he broke new ground in the bulletin. “A Letter from Father John” is his breezy column. For weeks he ran it with a different photo at the top of the page. One week “Father John” was William Holden, in his movie role as a missionary in China; once it was Reverend Lovejoy from “The Simpsons”: another week he was actor “Father” Pat O’Brien in “Angels with Dirty Faces,” or Gregory Peck in “Keys of the Kingdom.” Clips checked, Father John is not in the witness protection program. It was just a clever way to engage parishioners and get them to notice the bulletin. The real photo of “Father John” now appears each week.

  • Parish Potpourri —

    Mercy Sister Regine Fanning, an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion at St. Linus Parish (Oak Lawn), recently won first prize in a competition arranged by the California State Poetry Society. Sister also wrote a delightful children’s book about Sisters of Mercy foundress, Mother Catherine McAuley, “Kitty’s Tea Party.”. . . When Queen of the Rosary School (Elk Grove Village) celebrates Halloween at a Mass Oct. 30, eighth-grade students will traditionally be dressing like their confirmation patron saint. Afterwards in the gym visitors will hear each saint’s resume, prepared by the confirmandi. . . . As St. Martha Parish (Morton Grove) celebrates its 90th anniversary Nov. 13 at the White Eagle, parishioners will be entertained by the music and comedy of performer Chuck Salvo. . . . Our Lady of Lourdes Church (N. Ashland) was looking for talent, and chose their pastor, Father Mike Shanahan. His rendition of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” on the keyboard was followed by jazz guitarist Father John Moulder and several other well-known Chicago musicians on Sept. 20. The benefit raised funds to repair the church’s twin bell towers.... Because parishioners at St. Joseph’s (Libertyville) have a hands-on relationship with the people of Moshi, Tanzania, they are learning Swahili and more about African culture on Sunday. Their teacher, Father Val Laini, an associate pastor at St. Joe’s, is from Moshi.

  • People and places —

    St. Scholastica Monastery (N. Ridge) was where Benedictine Sister Belinda Monahan made her first monastic profession on Sep. 20. Sister Belinda, from Three Bridges, N.J., earned a doctorate in anthropology from Northwestern University in 2000, and has spent the last two years in community life at St. Scholastica’s.

  • Rally ’round the rosary —

    There were gatherings throughout the United States to mark the anniversary of Fatima’s “miracle of the sun” on Oct. 13, 1917. The outdoor holy hour in Evergreen Park on Oct. 10, an unseasonably brisk, sunny Saturday, was just one of more than 4,000 rosary rallies countrywide this year. They prayed “for protection of our country and families in the challenging times we face as a nation, including a secular attempt to remove God from society.”