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Adult Catholics in their 20s and 30s should check out the free opening session of Holy Name’s Theology-on-Tap series this Wednesday at 7:00pm. The topic is fascinating – Insights on Marriage: Why So Many Want It and Why So Many Fail. The speaker is just as good – Frank Hannigan, the respected director of the Archdiocesan Family Ministries Office. I think this will be a terrific lead-off session to the four-week program. If you did not come through the courtyard to get to Mass today, take a peek around the corner at the big blue cranes that are parked there for the summer while skilled workers repair some of the chipped limestone and treat the façade of the Cathedral’s north wall. The section already addressed looks noticeably stronger and much cleaner. Eventually, the entire Cathedral exterior will need the same work. We have been able to get a start on the project this summer because of the success of our parish’s Restore & Renew capital campaign, a $10-million attempt to make the Cathedral even more beautiful than it already is. This stone work is not cosmetic; it is necessary. We cannot have pieces of the building flaking off. This work is similar to that which was done a couple years ago on the venerable Chicago Water Tower, a survivor of the 1871 Chicago Fire and one of our City’s most identifiable landmarks. Holy Name Cathedral was constructed from limestone to protect it against the kind of infernal horror that engulfed Chicago in October of 1871. Now we have reached a time when we need to attend to this cherished place of prayer. Thank you to all who have stepped forward with contributions and pledges. If you have not made a commitment to Restore & Renew, please see the information at the new Restore & Renew box at the back of the center aisle. Or call me. What is a diocese? A diocese is a territorial area recognized by the Catholic Church and governed by a bishop, a man with the fullness of Holy Orders, a successor of the Apostles. What is an Archdiocese? An Archdiocese is an area governed by an Archbishop. Usually the Archdiocese is designated as such because of its size or historical importance. Chicago became a separate diocese in 1843, an archdiocese in 1880. Previously, Chicago came under the jurisdiction of Vincennes, Indiana. The closest Archdiocese was St. Louis. In 1843, the Diocese of Chicago included all of Illinois. Today, the Archdiocese consists of two crowded counties, Lake and Cook. Cardinal George is the 8th Archbishop of Chicago, the 13th Ordinary or governing Bishop of our local Church. Did Cardinal George’s nomination as a Cardinal trump his rank as Archbishop? No; he is still an Archbishop. The title of Cardinal refers to his status as a member of the clergy of Rome. A chief duty of the Cardinals is the election of a Bishop of Rome, the Pope. Chicago has known six Cardinal-Archbishops – George Mundelein, Samuel Stritch, Albert Meyer, John Cody, Joseph Bernardin, and Francis George. Two Chicago Archbishops preceded the line-up of Cardinals. Patrick Feehan, an Irish native and the former bishop of Nashville who heroically had shepherded that Civil War-ravaged city in the Reconstruction era, was our first Archbishop when he was installed at Holy Name Cathedral on November 28, 1880. Feehan founded a record 140 Chicago parishes, 62 of ethnic character. He opened the doors of Chicago’s first black Catholic parish to Father Augustine Tolten, our first black priest. He founded Feehanville (later re-named Maryville), a home for needy children. Among the American bishops attending the Third Council of Baltimore, he helped write The Baltimore Catechism, for decades the prime textbook of Catholic religious education. Tension marked the last years of Feehan’s episcopacy as Irish-born clergy opposed the appointment of Bishop Peter Muldoon, an American-born Irish priest as the Archdiocese’s second Auxiliary Bishop. Father Patrick Crowley led a protest into Holy Name Cathedral itself during a Mass that was to have been celebrated by the Archbishop. Father Crowley eventually was excommunicated for his insubordination. James Edward Quigley was installed at Holy Name on March 10, 1903, as Chicago’s second Archbishop. A Canadian native and former bishop of Buffalo, Quigley helped to establish the Catholic Extension Society which continues to serve the Church in rural, sparsely populated, remote, and even distinctively non-Catholic sections of the USA. He opened 97 parishes, 58 of them with ethnic flavors that welcomed Chicago’s early 20th century immigrants. Most importantly, Quigley founded Chicago’s modern seminary system when he began the Cathedral College of the Sacred Heart, a commuter high school that once stood diagonally across the street from today’s Cathedral rectory. Several incarnations of the high school seminary later bore Quigley’s name. Although St. Joseph College Seminary at Loyola University and the major Seminary in Mundelein continue to give witness to Quigley’s vision of a locally formed and educated clergy, the high school seminary finally closed its doors quietly just last month. Archbishop Quigley died on July 10, 1915 – 92 years ago this Tuesday. Archbishop Feehan died on July 12, 1902 – 105 years ago Thursday. Both were buried from the Cathedral from which they had governed, the same Cathedral in which you prayed today. Remember Archbishops Feehan and Quigley in your prayers this week. On Monday, remember Father Augustine Tolten. Born a Missouri slave, young Tolten escaped to a free Illinois with his mother. Quincy priests encouraged his interest in the priesthood and sent him to a Rome seminary when no American seminary was willing to admit a black man. According to The Archdiocese of Chicago: A Journey of Faith by Edward R. Kantowicz (Booklink: 2006), the Hurley brothers were two New England priests with African blood; however, they generally had passed for white. Tolten was the first recognized black priest in the United States. Archbishop Feehan brought him to Chicago in 1881 where Tolten raised funds for the building of St. Monica Church at 36th & Dearborn in the growing black community. Sadly, at age 43 he worked himself to death during a summer heat wave. Pray on Monday, July 9, the 110th anniversary of the death of a Chicago Church giant. Thursday, July 12 – happy 81st birthday to my dad! Remember those important to you, too. Fr. Dan Mayall |
