Issue of August 17th – August 30th
Archdiocese settles sexual 16 abuse cases, releases deposition
The Archdiocese of Chicago announced Aug. 12 that it had reached settlements totaling $12.7 million with 16 people who said they were sexually abused by 11 different priests.
The archdiocese and the attorneys for the plaintiffs also released the transcript of Cardinal George’s Jan. 30 deposition in the cases of several victims.
Lourdes, sweet Lourdes
While 190 Chicago pilgrims journeyed to France with Cardinal George, thousands more participated “at home”
Jeffrey Novak went to Lourdes hoping for a miracle. Novak, 44, had been diabetic for 30 years and has suffered a litany of complications: kidney and pancreas transplants, amputated toes, triple heart bypass surgery. Now his kidney is failing again, he’s having heart trouble and he suffers from neuropathy, causing pain and swelling in his legs.
When he signed up to join the Archdiocese of Chicago’s pilgrimage to Lourdes for the site’s 150th anniversary he was hoping “more for a physical cure,” said the St. Juliana parishioner.
Maryville Academy celebrates 125 years
One hundred twenty-five years ago, Archbishop Patrick Feehan founded St. Mary’s Training School for Boys in what was then a rural area near the Des Plaines River.
The school was intended to offer a home to the boys roaming the city in the wake of the Great Chicago Fire, some homeless, some parentless, all at loose ends.
I remember when Caroline was a baby who awakened at the crack of dawn — or earlier — every day. I’d stumble into her room, gather her up, settle in on the couch and doze off while I fed her. In the background, PBS kids shows would play. This was at the height of the Teletubbies; I defy any adult not to at least zone out, if not fall dead asleep, when the Teletubbies are on.
Fast forward 10 years, and Caroline has become (gasp!) a late riser. There have been days I have had to wake her up just so I could get to work on time. And while she is 10, and approaching the teen years, when body clocks seem pre-set to prefer late nights and late mornings, it’s rubbed off on Frank, who is only 7. Yesterday, he proudly announced that he slept until 10 a.m.
Molly Heineman, 22, is a recent graduate of the University of Dayton who set off from her Skokie home July 27 for a two-year volunteer commitment with a Marianist congregation in Malawi. She is one of hundreds of young people to devote a year or two of their lives to service; what’s more unusual is that this is her third journey to Africa, and she has already founded a not-for-profit organization to provide assistance to the people she met on her first two trips.
She first went as a student studying nonprofit work in Uganda, and interned with Child Restoration Outreach, an organization that provides food, education, recreation and other services to street children. Now her organization — Child Restoration Outreach Support Organization — is paying for four young people who were served by CRO to attend post-secondary school in Uganda.
