Bulletin Board with News and Events

Let’s thank the Parish Pastoral Council for the great and cheerful work they did in welcoming the recently registered parishioners to a gathering after 5:15pm last Saturday. In addition, several members of the staff participated in an evening of getting to know those who recently have moved into the area. If you are a recently registered Holy Name parishioner, watch this bulletin for notice of another new parishioners’ gathering in February. For now, I thank the PPC for organizing last Saturday’s party.

On October 15, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed four new saints. A French immigrant to the 19^th century Indiana wilderness who practiced an apostolate of education and corporal works of mercy, Mother Theodore Guerin of the Sisters of Providence was especially honored in Chicago where many of her Sisters have served and continue to serve and where Guerin Prep High School educates high school folks in near suburban River Grove.  Bishop Rafael Guizar Valencia (missionary to early-20^th century Cuba, bishop of Veracruz); Sister Rosa Venerini (Italian Sister from late 17^th & early 18^th century who educated young working-class women), and Father Filippo Smaldone (late-19^th and early 20^th century Italian priest who worked with particular love among the deaf, the blind, the orphaned, and others with disabilities) also were canonized last Sunday. A local TV crew set up in front of last week’s 11:00am Mass to see if any of the Cathedral Mass-goers had anything to say about Mother Theodore. The reporter approached me. I first asked if I would still be eligible if I told her that I once served on the Board of Directors of Guerin High School. Sadly, the reporter did not know there was a Guerin High School. She asked me a couple of soft questions – What is the significance of a canonization? Did I see something in Mother Guerin’s story that could inspire Catholics? Then the reporter asked a curious question. With all the difficulties in the Catholic Church in recent times –the clergy scandal, questioning of authority, shortage of vocations – does the canonization of Mother Guerin provide a welcome diversion? My answer was simple. I think she got the question backwards. The virtue of Mother Guerin is the normal state of a blessed Christian soul. The scandals are the diversions. On the day of our baptism, each of us is called a child of God, a sister/brother of Christ. It is God who chooses us. On the day of her canonization, St. Theodore Guerin was recognized as a daughter of God for all eternity. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. She and the whole company of saints set the bar for the rest of us. The natural state is the state of Grace. Before you turn in tonight, identify a way that you were true today to your identity as God’s child. Give thanks for the life that prevented you from being diverted by sin. Insofar as you were true to your Christian soul, thank God. You look more like Mother Guerin than a naïve TV reporter can imagine.

Mark your calendar for Thursday, November 2, All Souls Day. For the third consecutive year, Holy Name Cathedral will celebrate the 5:15pm Mass along with Mozart’s Requiem as the musical setting.  Dr. Ricardo Ramirez, the Cathedral’s Music Director, has enlisted a full orchestra along with our own choirs to present this special music. Francis Cardinal George is scheduled to be the main celebrant. All are invited to pray with us for all those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. All Souls Day is not a Holy Day of Mass obligation; the previous day, All Saints Day, is the Holy Day. However, many Catholics participate in the Mass on November 2, a very solemn remembrance. A collection will be taken at the 5:15pm liturgy to offset the cost of the music. There will be five Masses offered in the Cathedral on that day – 6:00, 7:00 & 8:00am; 12:10 & 5:15pm.  Join us on All Souls Day.

As long as you have the marker out for reserving dates on your calendar, don’t forget Friday, November 10, and the Holy Name Cathedral Parish Gala beginning at 6:00pm at the Four Seasons Hotel on Delaware, just west of Michigan Avenue. Hundreds of Cathedral parishioners will enjoy a great evening of food, dancing, and smiles complete with both a silent auction and a live auction featuring tremendous prizes. The raffle tickets are on sale now after most Masses at the State Street doors; somebody will win $5,000 in that game. Don’t wait. There is a limit on the number of raffle tickets sold. And I will look for you at the Gala itself on Nov. 10.  Call Pat Still at 312-573-4426 for more information on how to get your ticket. All money raised will support the pastoral programs of our parish. The Gala is less than three weeks away.  EXPECT THE SPECTACULAR – the 2006 Holy Name Cathedral Gala!

One more mark on the calendar belongs to Cathedral Christmas, a presentation of the season with the real sounds, sights, and senses of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Cathedral Christmas will be presented in the Cathedral at 7:30pm on Friday, December 8. With the event on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, special tribute will be made to the role of women in the plan of our salvation. Watch this bulletin for information on how to obtain tickets to this popular event. Cathedral Christmas is Holy Name’s present to Chicago in a very busy season. Invite your friends to join you and me for Cathedral Christmas on Friday, December 8.

My mom died in 1997. If she were still with us, she and my dad would be celebrating their 57^th wedding anniversary on this Sunday, October 22. This weekend, I have officiated at the wedding ceremonies of three couples. I pray that each bride and each groom will be as much of a blessing for her or his spouse as my parents were for each other. The Church where my folks were married (St. Veronica) and the priest who offered their Mass (Father Jim Keating) are gone. I pray that both the Cathedral and I last long enough to welcome these three new couples back for many anniversaries. One of this weekend’s couples looks forward to children; one already has children; one is a second marriage for a couple of widowed folks. I pray that each of their unique circumstances will be blessed in the way that I hope my sisters, and brother, and I tried to bless my mom and dad. In every marriage, I pray that the bride and groom love each other as the one who will constantly show the other how close he or she is to Christ. For now, congratulations to the newly-weds! And happy anniversary, mom and dad!

Fr. Dan Mayall