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Let’s put some kids through Catholic School this year! Holy Name Cathedral is a Catholic parish. Every Catholic parish has a responsibility to support Catholic education. Therefore, Holy Name Cathedral has an obligation to provide a Catholic education for children. Holy Name is fortunate. We do not have far to look when meeting our duty in educating the young. The Frances Xavier Warde School is right next door. An independent Catholic elementary school governed by a Board of Trustees, FXW this coming year will serve over 740 children with Pre-K through grade 4 on the west Loop campus of Old St. Pat’s and the 5th through 8th grades on Holy Name Cathedral’s block. Diversity is the cornerstone of FXW’s superb reputation. The families of FXW reflect the make-up of Chicago’s diversity. To maintain the school’s diversity, over 30% of the children will receive some financial award this year to meet the tuition. FXW is not a cheap school - $8,400 per student this year. Every student will pay some tuition; nobody will go to school free. Still, FXW wants to keep the diversity even in regards to the annual income of the school’s parents. Holy Name can help. Let’s make our part simple. Let’s identify a few imaginary FXW kids. I already had some of my buddies in last year’s pre-K class draw them. Let’s give the Cathedral kids names. Let’s post the drawings in the Church vestibule for a few weekends. Let’s celebrate them at a special Mass at 9:30am on Sunday, September 9. Let’s invite all the FXW kids and other kids from Holy Name Cathedral to attend that Mass with their families. Let’s brag about FXW at that Mass. Let’s pass the basket after Communion – as we will at all Masses that weekend, as we have every year since FXW and the Cathedral have been neighbors. How many should we cover – 5, 8, maybe as many as 10? That’s 10 out of 740. That sounds mighty possible. Let me ask the parish’s Finance Council for advice. We will not take money out of the general collection. We already have budgeted uses for those dollars. But we do not have a parish school. We do not subsidize a parish school. FXW is our school; but I do not hire the principal, I do not set the religious curriculum, I do not pay the teachers. We give them a building; but they pay utility and maintenance costs. Still, FXW is our school; and we are Catholic people with an obligation to Catholic education. Let’s put some kids through Catholic School this year! I will be writing more about the FXW collection in the weeks leading up to September 9. For now, I would like all who call themselves Holy Name parishioners to make the following resolution: Let’s put some kids through Catholic School this year – the “Cathedral Kids” from FXW! Fr. Mark Canavan was my priest-supervisor when I was a deacon. The 1970s Chicago seminarians in their final year of graduate school were assigned to a Chicago parish during the year-long last stage of Holy Orders before they were called to be priests. Mark taught me many valuable lessons – take a walk around the parish every day; take a day off every week; be patient with crazy phone calls; realize that, even if you are not the pastor, this is your parish; appreciate the people that make the parish work; say prayers; and laugh. Mark did a good job in preparing me for priesthood in Chicago. He continues as one of the best pastors in the Archdiocese today. Back in 1976, when we approached the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I asked him how he planned to preach that Holy Day. He took a minute and then pronounced, “Today is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – the day Catholics assume that Mary was taken up into Heaven.” He was making a joke; but he had some things right. Our Protestant brothers and sisters do not recognize this Feast. If Revelation comes solely from Scripture (as Protestants assert), no Assumption of Mary is there. On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII declared as a dogma revealed by God that "Mary, the immaculate perpetually Virgin Mother of God, after the completion of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into the glory of Heaven." Scripture and Tradition are both Catholic fonts of Revelation. We have no real knowledge of the day, year, and manner of Our Lady's death. Both Jerusalem and Ephesus claim to be the place where she died. Mary's tomb was presumably found in Jerusalem. It is believed that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that after her burial, her tomb, when opened, was found empty. Therefore, they concluded that her body had been assumed into Heaven. There is an important difference, of course, between the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven after His Resurrection, and the Assumption of Mary. To ascend is to rise up under one's own power; while to be assumed means something that is done to someone. Jesus, being the Second Person of the Trinity, had no need of assistance; whereas Mary did not have this power. By God’s power, she was assumed into Heaven where she remains our model of obedience and our advocate in prayer. That’s cause for a Holy Day! Masses will be offered at the Cathedral in commemoration of Mary’s Assumption on Tuesday, August 14 at 5:15pm; and on the Holy Day of Mass Obligation for Catholics (Wednesday) at the daily Mass hours – 6:00, 7:00, & 8:00am; and at 12:10 and 5:15pm. I will be away from the Cathedral until the weekend of August 25-26. Most of the time I will be with my dad; and for a good portion of that time, I will be asleep. Please hang on to messages that need my attention until that late August weekend; don’t leave phone messages! Call again; you’ll get a more prompt and satisfying answer. If you need things from Holy Name, I think just about all the rest of the pastoral and administrative staff will be around. Pastor-like decisions will go to Father John Boivin and Father Mike Novick. I’d include the new full-time Associate Pastor, Father Matthew Compton on that list of authority; but he also had an August 10-20 vacation planned before he and we got the word that he was coming to the Cathedral. Enjoy your vacation, Father Matt; there will be plenty to do when you return. Meanwhile, I’m sure going to enjoy my time away from the phone and office! I’ll look for you at Mass on August 25 & 26. Fr. Dan Mayall |
