Bulletin Board with News and Events

In 1965, the year the Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of Chicago reached their peak in enrollment, my friend and I had a lot in common. We spent every school day in that eighth grade classroom in the southeast corner of the second floor at St. Veronica School. I was looking forward to high school at Quigley Seminary North; she was looking forward to graduating the first eighth grade class she ever taught. In the years since that graduation, I have changed. I loved going to Quigley. I am a priest today because I went to that school. Anybody tells you a high school kid cannot dream about being a priest, tell him he’s wrong. As Archbishop Quigley Seminary closes its doors in a couple weeks, some insist that adolescence is too young to consider a developing vocation. Those experts don’t know what they are talking about. Eventually I was ordained and have served in five Chicagoland parishes. I taught at the high school seminary, too. Now I am the pastor/rector of Chicago’s Cathedral. That’s long distance from that classroom at St. Veronica. But imagine how far my friend has traveled. Sister Mary Alice Minogue was then and is now a Sister of the Holy Child Jesus. I heard she left our school for another assignment in 1967. All the stops along her way I do not know. But I do know where she has been for the past ten years. Sister Mary Alice is a missionary in the Dominican Republic – a filthy, crowded nation with a corrupt government that keeps the majority of its citizens in wretched poverty. Mary Alice and two other Sisters of the Holy Child provide really basic education and health care for a community in that part of our world. There are two seasons – summer and hell. The 6 and 7 year old children come to school barefoot. The Sisters provide socks so that the kids can walk on the plastic floor without making the school look as dirty as the rest of their world. The Sisters teach self-esteem; they teach basic lessons (counting, sounds, discipline); and they teach that God does not despise His children. That’s news, good news for Dominican families. Mary Alice described the social pressures that render later elementary school education practically non-existent. To me and my friends she showed pictures of beautiful children and told the horror stories behind the faces. Sister Mary Alice is a real missionary; that’s a long way from my eighth grade classroom. After our lunch, I recognized how far both of us had traveled. I prayed after the lunch that I can see Jesus as clearly in my vocation as she does in hers. I pray we have Jesus in common.

Again, I ask you to volunteer for service on the Parish Pastoral Council or on one of its Commissions – Human Concerns; Adult Education; Evangelization & Spiritual Life; and Parish Life. Volunteer and you will be interviewed by two present members to discern your interests in coordination with our need for new lay leadership. The new teams will begin work in August. However, the choice of new members is taking place now. See the specific information elsewhere in this bulletin as well as at the Church doors. Council members will provide a little more information after Communion at all Masses this weekend. We need about 35 new names to fill the positions of those who have completed their 3-year terms. Get more closely involved in the good work of Holy Name Cathedral. Now is the time. Submit your name today.

In September 1952, the Resurrection Fathers and Brothers opened Gordon Tech High School as the first college preparatory/technical high school in the Archdiocese of Chicago In 1961, GT moved to a beautiful facility at California & Addison on the northwest side. Most of the fellows with whom I went to grade school graduated to Gordon. In 2002, Gordon became a co-ed school. Gordon Tech challenges students to model Gospel values and serve the common good by making a personal commitment to their Faith in God, respect for others, the attainment of self-discipline and the pursuit of excellence. Holy Name Cathedral will be proud to welcome Brother Ed Howe (President of GT) as he confers diplomas on the Gordon Tech Class of 2007 Wednesday evening.

Our Restore & Renew capital campaign for Holy Name Cathedral continues. In just about a month, we plan to announce the amount pledged by those who belong to Holy Name. We can celebrate with $6-million pledged; $8-million will be a stretch, but very welcome if we want to tackle all the goals I spelled out a few weeks back; for $10-million, we can do everything we hoped to do. I am typing this sentence on Sunday. Check the “thermometer” elsewhere in this bulletin for a more current accounting of our pledges. See the chart at the State Street doors for the most up-to-date data. Have you returned your pledge card? Please get your card back to the Cathedral office this week. We have great things planned for Holy Name Cathedral. For those who have pledged, thank you. I would like all Holy Name regulars to be a part of this great project to Restore & Renew Holy Name Cathedral.

I received a note a couple weeks ago from a northwest-sider who wrote “Just a Thank You for the great care I got from the Eucharistic Ministers during my stay at Northwestern Hospital. I was able to receive Communion almost every day, ashes on Ash Wednesday, and Fr. Moriarity took the time to console my wife that things would be fine and so far so good. During these times and with these acts of kindness it makes you proud to be a Catholic. Please convey my THANKS to all. Yours in the Risen Lord.” Thanks to all the Cathedral Ministers of Care for your loving ministry to this fellow and to all you serve. You do basic Christian work very well.

One more note from a Texas mom — “I am a family dentist from Texas. My 11 year old daughter and I visited Chicago in April. Our purpose was to visit The American Girl Place. Our travel plans had been in the making for years. Neither of us had ever been to Chicago although I was aware that the American Dental Association is based there. We stayed at the Omni Hotel and, being good Catholics, we found Holy Name Cathedral on Saturday and got a Mass schedule for the next day. Sunday was a beautiful day, and we were tempted to skip Mass; but of course our Catholic guilt got the best of us and we raced over to the Cathedral with minutes to spare. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the 9:30 Mass was the first ‘Lilac Mass’ to be offered for dentists! It seemed to be a sign from God that my first time in Chicago I would be at the Mass offered for dentists. It was truly an inspiring event for us.” Catholics call that DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

Fr. Dan Mayall