Bulletin Board with News and Events

 In the name of the priests, sisters, deacons, pastoral associates, the music ministers, and the administrative staff of Holy Name, I thank the many, many parishioners and friends who sent Christmas cards, Christmas gifts, and kind words. Those of us who try to serve Christ’s people appreciate the thoughtful gesture of all who take the time to recognize us. I am especially grateful to those who took the time to stop after Mass to wish me a blessed Christmas. That face-to-face smile is the best. As each Christmas passes, I add another year to my term as pastor of Holy Name Cathedral. It’s just about six years since I slid down the chimney and into the life of God’s people in downtown Chicago. Late last year, I underwent an evaluation of my first term as the Cathedral’s pastor. That evaluation was interesting. I’ll be writing more on it very soon. With each season, I recognize and appreciate more and more of the souls with whom I pray on weekends, the people who give this historic Church its wonderful reputation. Your acknowledgment of my part in the evolving face of Holy Name Cathedral means a lot to me. Your kindness to me makes me feel at home. From all of us who work at Holy Name Cathedral, Merry Christmas and right now, Happy New Year!

You are invited to the Fourth Presbyterian Church New Year’s Eve for an ecumenical prayer service at 7:30pm. As we close 2007, our downtown Presbyterian friends have invited us to their historic house of prayer on Monday, December 31, for an hour of thanks for the past year and hope for the coming year. Ali Trowbridge, the Fourth Presbyterian Church’s Associate Pastor for Congregational Care, will join me in leading the prayers. Please pray with us. The Fourth Presbyterian Church is located on Michigan Avenue directly across the street from the Hancock Building, between Chestnut and Delaware.

January 1 is designated by the Church as a Holy Day in honor of Mary, the Mother of God. If you are a Catholic, you are supposed to attend Mass on New Year’s Day. Why wouldn’t you want to begin the New Year with Mass and Holy Communion? Mary, the human tabernacle, presented Jesus to the world, to eternity, and to you. Celebrating her unique and prime role in Jesus’ life, we come to Mass on New Year’s Day. Five Masses will be offered at Holy Name Cathedral celebrating Mary, the Mother of God, and fulfilling your obligation to attend Mass on the Holy Day. The first Mass will be the Vigil at 5:15pm Monday, December 31. On Tuesday, Masses will be celebrated at 8:00am, 10:00am, 12:10pm, and 5:15pm. Come to Mass on Tuesday, January 1.

Normally, confessions are heard in the reconciliation room on the lower level of the Cathedral every Monday, Tuesday, and Friday beginning at 5:00pm until all confessions are heard. New Year’s Day, January 1, this year is a Tuesday. In order to let the priests celebrate the holiday with their families, no confessions will be scheduled this Tuesday, New Year’s Day. We’ll be back in the Reconciliation Room on Friday, January 4, at 5:00pm.

Next weekend, January 5 & 6, a second collection will be taken up after Communion for the support of the Catholic Church in Latin America. Over 90% of that collection’s revenue directly develops the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2006, this collection assisted 476 projects in 168 dioceses, 94 parishes, 58 religious congregations, and 36 seminaries. Please give to next week’s second basket, the support of the Church in Latin America.

Let me try to pay sufficient homage to those who made Christmas, 2007, at Holy Name Cathedral such a special time. First of all, the Art and Environment volunteer group gets special thanks for their hours of care, for their pride in Holy Name Cathedral, and for their generosity. Holy Name Cathedral looked beautiful for Christmas. That was the doing of the Art and Environment volunteers. They also set up the Cathedral Crèche on the south lawn near State & Superior, the perfect place for passersby, the perfect place for a visitor to take a photo. Of course, our choirs and cantors are the best! Dr. Ricardo Ramirez (Music Director), David Jonies (Associate Music Director), Jerald Egger (Assistant Organist), Abby Girdauskas (Administrative Assistant to the Music Department), and bulletin editor Jamie Sanchez along with added musicians did heroic work on the Christmas music. The Cathedral priests get a thank you for their care with Christmas, for the social obligations they fulfill as a piece of parish pie, for the liturgies of Christmas, for the Advent confessions especially on Christmas Eve, and for their kind gift to me at our rectory celebration last Thursday with the Cardinal. Lectors, Extraordinary Ministers of Communion, Servers, Ushers, and Sacristans all are added to the grace of Christmas with generosity of time. Father Matt Compton, who supervises all liturgical details at the Cathedral, made it through his first Christmas while putting the Cathedral’s needs at the top of his agenda. Special event staffers like Pat Still and Deacon Stan Strom carried an extra responsibility all week. Our friends at WGN-TV get a big thank you for continuing to broadcast what might be the most available Catholic Mass in our half of the globe. Over 72-million households received WGN’s broadcast of our Midnight Mass. I hope anyone who stayed up to watch us gets to visit us in 2008. Meanwhile, thank you, WGN-TV. Godie, Mary, and all the receptionists patiently fielded the phone calls. Thanks to web master/bulletin editor Jamie Sanchez for siphoning off all the calls her website was able to satisfy. The Cathedral maintenance crew worked hard over Christmas. To David, Ryan, Jesse, Mario, Berni, Arelis, Nancy, Laura and all the rest of the crew – thank you. Andy Skura, the parish’s new controller, expertly supervised the volunteer collection counters and ushers. I think he was impressed. Thanks to Dick Biondi of True Oldies 94.7-FM and Chicago Rock legends The Ides of March for tagging along with me at the 6:00pm Christmas Eve Mass. Their CD, SHARING CHRISTMAS, sold for the benefit of the Cathedral’s Thursday Suppers at Catholic Charities is still on sale downstairs at the Cathedral bookstore until Jan. 1, next Tuesday, for just $10. That money will give someone who needs food a meal, and will give you a nice thank you to someone for their Christmas gift. Until January 1, that CD will also be on sale at www.theidesofmarch.com. Thanks to all who prayed at Holy Name Cathedral on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 2007. 

Fr. Dan Mayall