Issue of November 22th – December 5th
Preparing happy people to welcome Catholics home
Evangelization initiative begins Dec. 16
There were chocolate kisses for the ways they show love to others. A rubber band to represent the flexibility they demonstrate in their jobs. A puzzle piece for the important role they play in the parish. And a paper clip because they keep everyone together.
Will of the people ‘thwarted again’
Catholic activists dismayed by delay of parental notice law implementation
Catholic and pro-life activists reacted with dismay Nov. 4 when a Cook County judge again delayed implementation of an Illinois law that would require at least one parent to be notified when a girl 17 or under intends to have an abortion.
Remembering loved ones lost to violence
Midway through the Memorial Mass for Victims of Violence Nov. 12, a group of more than a dozen mothers who lost a son or daughter to violence walked in procession up the center aisle of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church at Ashland Avenue and 45th Street.
Advent: Make room in homes, hearts during busy time
This season is for hope, not anxiety
How are you?” “Busy.” That response cloaks a low spirit, beaten down by many responsibilities, opportunities and longings.
Volunteers lend their ‘Shoulders’
The 250 students at St. Elizabeth School on Chicago’s South Side might be economically disadvantaged, but don’t tell them they don’t deserve a good education — including a nice playground for recess.
Cultivating stewards: St. Stephen Deacon and Martyr grows with 45 ministries and counting
Stewardship can start with a cup of coffee, a warm greeting or a heart-to-heart conversation at St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr Parish in Tinley Park.
Electronic giving gives donors another option
Parishes and schools across the archdiocese are starting to use a new electronic giving tool – GiveCentral.org – in an effort to both simplify everything from Monday morning donations to tuition payments and to open the giving process to more people.
Program lets parishes learn from one another
About two years ago, Bishop Francis Kane was looking at one of the parishes in his vicariate and wondering what the reason was behind its financial difficulties.
Fatima message gets new life in film
The 13th Day” is a triumph of a film. Created to spread the message of Fatima, it was going to be a 10- minute informational short, but it grew into a feature film.
Claver Knights turn 100
On Nov. 7, Chicago’s newest Knights of Peter Claver were initiated in a special ceremony at Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica exactly 100 years to the day since America’s first fraternal organization for black Catholics was founded in Mobile, Ala., by four Josephite priests and three laymen. It had 40 initial members.
Saints in the air — November is almost gone, but saints are everywhere all the time. They inspire — light our lives. What about our youngsters? Outside of the name they choose for confirmation, (“No, you can’t pick ‘Ashlee’”), do they come home in those primary grades breathless about the Lily of the Mohawks or Peter Claver? There are at least four “Little Books of Saints” each 20 pages — each story one page with a side-by picture page. They are perfect for 8- or 9-year-olds, or to be read to younger kids. Price: $4.95 each.
My kids don’t have a whole lot of experience with death.
There was One Fish, of course — the bowl-mate of Two Fish, who eventually morphed into Three Fish and Four Fish without any undue attention being drawn to the fact.
A little more than a year ago, our dog Kirby died. We made the decision to have him put down as cancer robbed him of his appetite, his mobility and finally his joy in life. Frank has memorialized him with a drawing taped on to his bedroom door, marked with a sign that clearly directs, “Don’t take this down.”
When John David Mooney was fresh out of college at the University of Notre Dame, he headed to Rome as an artist-in-residence with the Second Vatican Council.
It was the best education he had, Mooney said. And it ended with Christmas Mass with Pope Paul VI and a private audience. The young artist had met the then- Cardinal Giovanni Montini a few years before at Notre Dame and the pope recalled the meeting and asked Mooney a question.
“It was the nicest thing. He said, ‘What can the pope do for you?’ And I simply said ‘Take my hands, your holiness. Bless them that I can do the Lord’s work.”
Mooney has been working and creating ever since (his work includes a sculpture on the southwest lawn of the Adler Planetarium and a set of hand-sewn vestments for Old St. Patrick Parish), most often in a secular environment but always with his heart tuned to the Lord.
