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Church Clips by Dolores Madlener

Dolores Madlenera column of benevolent gossip

  • Mass made easier —

    “Don’t Drink the Holy Water!” a book by Father Joe Kempf, a priest in Missouri, is apropos for kids before or after the introduction of the revised Roman Missal in 2011!
    Page 20 of “Don’t Drink the Holy Water,” helping kids get a sense of what happens at Mass.
    It’s a helpful guide for various ages to learn what goes on at Mass. The drawings by Chris Sharp can be walked through by adults using their own simple explanations for children who are 4 or 5. Each drawing also has a rhyming description that children a little older can read or that can be read to them by an adult. There is a section at the back of Kempf’s book that is ideal for fifth- or sixth-graders, giving a deeper dimension to each part of the Mass. There are also ideas “To think about or talk about” for this age group. For instance, the section on “The Sign of Peace,” explains it is “more than hello.” That the sign “helps the Eucharist become such a powerful source of grace in our lives that people will say of us — as was said of the first Christians — ‘See how they love one another!...’” “Don’t Drink the Holy Water,” at $19.99+ shipping, with a whopping 64 colorful pages, also includes a 50-minute DVD that could be used in a classroom setting. Call Liguori Publications at (800) 325-9521 or bookstores.

  • Nativity news —

    Hurry to Bethlehem, I mean Daley Plaza, between the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas. The creche has to come down on Dec. 26 this year. Normally it stays until the Saturday after Christmas. . . . There’s “lively” word from Franciscan Village in the nearby hamlet of Lemont: “Our Nativity Scene, complete with live Mary and Joseph, the three kings, camels, a miniature donkey, sheep, lambs and goats, takes place on our grounds from Dec. 17 through Dec. 19, 5-9 p.m.” The continuing care retirement community at 1270 Village Drive, is sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago. “We ask that you enter our village at the west entrance on Main Street. You will be guided through the grounds past the beautiful Live Nativity Scene. You will exit right, via the east entrance onto Main Street.” The event is free. For more info, call (630) 243-3500.

  • Flicks check list —

    This is so neat. Go to USCCB.org (that’s right, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website) and go to their Media Review Office section. Click on “Top 10 Movies List.” It will take you to what they judge as Top 10 for each year, 1965-2009. It gives a gist of the plots and ratings. Then you can flip over to Netflix.com or go to Blockbuster with your picks. USCCB’s site also has “family” videos listed alphabetically, synopsized and rated.

  • Mail call —

    Father Chris Doering, former pastor of Our Lady of Victory (W. Agatite), is moving right along in Army chaplain-training. Latest from Fort Benning, Ga., is that having persevered at Airborne School, “Padre Chris” has completed five (count them) jumps “from a plane at 1,250 feet, and walked away from each one!”
    Parachutist wings
    He credits everyone’s prayers, not just the Army’s rigorous instruction. “For jump week we had start times of anywhere from 3:30 to 4:15 a.m. These early starts made for some lonnng days.” He says they began the class with more than 600. “Today at graduation, there were 480 of us.” The technical stuff: “Jumping out of a moving plane is scary and exciting. When you leave the plane, you’re shot out like a cannon ball. You count to four, look up and hopefully see a parachute above your head. Then there’s about 30 seconds of peacefulness. Once you reach 100 feet, prepare to land. I learned I don’t bounce well, but I can make a mean crater!” Now that Padre Chris is “airborne,” he returns to Fort Bragg to join his new unit.

  • Tradition! —

    “Orantibus.” Say it loud and say it proud. Nov. 21 is “Pro Orantibus Day” — “For Those Who Pray.” Specifically that’s men and women religious in monasteries and cloisters, dedicated to prayer and sacrifice. It was Pope JPII’s idea in 1997 to make the feast of the Presentation in the Temple a day to honor, support and thank them. Pope Benedict calls them “the heart” of the Body of Christ. The Chicago-based Institute on Religious Life is making the event known nationwide. . . . Deacon Roger Mullaney, who ministers at St. James Parish (Highwood) received the “golden spurs of knighthood” Sept. 26. That was the day Mullaney was invested in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. It’s one of the greatest honors given by the Holy See. The order was established in 1099 A.D. by Godfrey de Bouillon, who led the first crusade.