Bulletin Board with News and Events

An Advent Penance Service with individual confessions is scheduled for this Tuesday, December 12, at 7:00pm in the Cathedral. Many priests will be on hand to absolve the sins following a brief prayer service. Take advantage of this opportunity to put your soul in tune with the soul of the Church in a season of waiting for the realization of Christ’s loving presence. The Sacrament of Penance also is prayed each Monday, Tuesday, and Friday in the Reconciliation Room on the lower level of the Cathedral at 5:00pm. That room offers opportunity for either face-to-face confession or confession behind the anonymity of a screen. Each Saturday, there is a confessor in that Reconciliation Room from 3:00-5:00pm. There also is an hour of scheduled confessions Saturday from the conclusion of the 5:15pm Mass until 7:15pm in the confessional accessible also to the disabled in the front, left side of the Cathedral. Note that the final scheduled pre-Christmas confessions will be heard from 3:00-5:00pm on Saturday, December 23.

A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized Juan Diego. As a 57-year-old widower, he lived near Mexico City where he walked one winter morning on his way to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honor of Our Lady. He neared a hill called Tepeyac. He heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared and within it a young Native American maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared. Eventually the bishop told Juan Diego to have the lady give him a sign. About this same time Juan Diego’s uncle became seriously ill. Afraid, poor Diego tried to avoid the lady. She found Diego, nevertheless, assured him that his uncle would recover, and provided roses to carry to the bishop in the peasant’s tilma. When Juan Diego opened the tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground and the bishop sank to his knees. On Juan Diego’s cloak appeared an image of Mary as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac. It was December 12, 1531. Mary's appearance to Juan Diego as one of his people is a powerful reminder that Mary and the God who sent her accept all peoples. In the context of the sometimes rude and cruel treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards, the apparition was a rebuke to the Spaniards and an event of vast significance for Native Americans. While a few hundred had converted before this incident, after the apparition they came in droves. 9-million Indians became Catholic in a very short time. In these days when we hear about God's preferential option for the poor, Our Lady of Guadalupe cries out to us that God's love for and identification with the poor is an age-old truth that stems from the Gospel itself. Tuesday will be the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Father Alejandro Garrido from Casa Jesus, the formation house for Latino men discerning vocations to the priesthood in Chicago, will be Tuesday’s 5:15pm celebrant.

The Oblate Sisters of Jesus the Priest represented by five blessed Mexican Sisters who live at Holy Name Cathedral in the convent on Wabash attached to the rectory celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe as a special day on which they renew their vows and marvel in the way that Jesus has made Himself known to us. They live in recognition of Jesus’ presence in the person of every single ordained priest. They sustain us by their prayers, and they have been a blessing to the Chicago presbyterate since their arrival in our Archdiocese in 1961.  The Oblate Sisters of Jesus the Priest were founded in 1924 in Mexico City by the Venerable Felix de Jesus Rougier, M.Sp.S. (the same religious family of Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller), a missionary priest who studied at St. Sulpice in Paris. The Chicago priesthood depends on the Sisters. Sr. Rufina Ferriera, Sr. Lorenza Pat, Sr. Guadalupe Torres, Sr. Consuelo Cruz, and Sr. Amada Hernandez are active Holy Name Cathedral parishioners. I am happy they are at Holy Name Cathedral.

For those who missed the previous announcement, construction will begin January 2 on a new terrazzo floor replacing all of the Cathedral’s present carpeting. Pews will be removed, refinished, and repaired. A ramp making the sanctuary accessible to the wheel-chair bound will zigzag the area in front of the pulpit. During January and the first two weeks of February, we will use folding chairs for Sunday Mass. Daily Masses will be held in the chapel (6:00, 7:00, & 8:00am) and the Club Room (12:10 & 5:15pm). Decisions are yet to be made regarding weekday confessions and the Gifts and Books Store; we may have to suspend their schedule – more later. Most funerals can be accommodated in the Chapel. Any large funerals will have to be relocated. St. Michael’s Church in Old Town will help us. The construction time will be challenging. However, the completed project will leave us with a new and cleaner look along with a more resonant sound. Say prayers all goes as scheduled. Also, be patient.

It’s here! “Sharing Christmas”, a 4-number CD featuring The Ides of March along with Chicago radio legend Dick Biondi (True Oldies 94.7), is on sale for just $10 in the Holy Name Cathedral Gift & Book Store on the Cathedral’s lower level. All money goes to support the “Thursday Suppers” at Catholic Charities sponsored by the Cathedral.  This is a terrific Christmas gift and a gift to folks who need a meal.  Get your copy of a genuine Chicago treasure today for only $10. Join The Ides of March, Dick Biondi, and me at the 6:00pm Mass Christmas Eve. Together, we’ll be “Sharing Christmas” with you.

Wednesday, Bishop Timothy Lyne will celebrate the 23rd anniversary of his ordination as a bishop. On December 13, 1983, at Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago’s John Cardinal Cody ordained four auxiliary bishops who have gone on to serve the Church nobly - Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta (formerly of Belleville, Illinois, and past President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops); Archbishop John Vlazny of Portland, Oregon (formerly of Winona, Minnesota); Bishop Placido Rodriguez of Lubbock, Texas (Chicago’s first Mexican-born bishop); and Bishop Lyne. Bishop Lyne had served as the seventh pastor/rector of our Cathedral from 1967-1990. He was the overseer of the Cathedral’s renovation when the Cathedral itself was closed from Easter, 1968, until Christmas Eve, 1969. On Wednesday, say a prayer of thanks for four mighty Chicago priests - Archbishop Vlazny, Archbishop Gregory, and Bishop Rodriguez plus Holy Name Cathedral’s best friend, Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Lyne.

Fr. Dan Mayall