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Let’s put ten kids through Catholic School this year! Over 30% of the families with children in the Frances Xavier Warde Catholic School depend on financial assistance to meet the tuition costs. The cost of operating the excellent FXW Catholic School is met primarily through tuition payments. In addition, there are well-run, successful fund raisers – next Monday’s golf outing; a springtime award banquet; and the king of them all, the FXW winter Gala. An annual fund also supports FXW. Finally, the parishes – Old St. Pat’s in the West Loop and Holy Name Cathedral – commit themselves to supporting Catholic education downtown and to maintaining a model of elementary education that puts the responsibility on the lay-governed apostolate. Each parish passes a basket in the fall for the children at the Frances Xavier Warde School. Without our help, FXW could not continue to maintain the diversity of backgrounds that is the foundation of the school’s success. This year, the Cathedral intends to put 10 students through Catholic School. That’s just 10 out of the 740 enrolled at FXW. Every Catholic member of the Cathedral and of St. Pat’s must support Catholic elementary education. Be sure to bring the envelope that either has come to you at home or pick up an envelope at the Cathedral doors next weekend. Better yet, if you want to support Catholic education in a more significant way, write a healthy check or make a pledge to be a benefactor of FXW Catholic School. At all Masses next weekend, a basket will be passed. At the 9:30am Mass on Sunday, FXW students, parents, teachers, and administrators will join me in celebrating the Catholic mission of the school. You are invited to join us, too. Take a peek at the drawings in the vestibule/lobby of the Cathedral. Smaller versions are on the cover of this bulletin. Those masterpieces drawn by the smallest of the FXW tribe represent the 10 students Holy Name Cathedral wants to send to Catholic School this year. Smile when you see the pictures. Smile, too, when you proudly support the Frances Xavier Warde Catholic School next weekend. Let’s put ten kids through Catholic School this year! Do you realize that the annual Holy Name Cathedral Gala is just a month away? It’s sneaking up on us! Formerly held in mid-November, this season the Gala will take place on Friday, October 5, beginning at 6:00pm at 435 East Illinois Street, the River East Art Center – a new location in addition to the new date. Dinner, dancing, music, magic, live auction, silent auction, the grand raffle, and a lot of surprises and fun are on the menu for October 5, less than five weeks away. The deadline for making a reservation to attend the Gala is less than four weeks away – September 25. See the ad elsewhere in this bulletin for details. This will be the biggest of our parish parties; it is as much fun as anything we do all year. Gala proceeds fund many of the Religious Education programs at the Cathedral. We count on the profits in our budget. Come to the Holy Name Cathedral Gala on October 5 and celebrate our lively parish. Make your reservation today. I will be at the River East Art Center (the building where our old XII Pillar Chapel used to be) on Friday, October 5. I will be looking for you, too. Don’t miss it! Meanwhile, our friend Richard Laskowski is sitting out on State Street every weekend hawking the Gala raffle tickets. Whether you attend the Gala or not, get your chance at the $5,000 check I plan to write for some lucky soul on October 5. The winner need not be at the Gala. So if you are a visitor, please pick up a chance. There are a limited number of chances remaining. If you are a Cathedral regular, don’t wait to get your chance. When Richard sells out, you won’t have a chance. Again, the winner need not be present; but if you are a Cathedral regular, why would you want to miss the Gala? Raffle tickets are on sale after Mass on the weekends at the State Street doors. You also can pick up a raffle ticket at Holy Name Cathedral Gifts and Books on the lower level of the Cathedral whenever the bookstore is open. Don’t wait. Support Holy Name Cathedral, and take a chance on $5,000. Thanks to the Parish Life Commission, its staff liaison Father John Boivin, and the Commission Chairperson Scott Henderlong again this year for coordinating Coffee-in-the-Courtyard, the summer Sunday post-Mass refreshments and good time. Last Sunday’s welcome for the new seminarians at Casa Jesus – the formation house for Latino men considering a vocation to the priesthood in Chicago during a year of enculturation on the campus of Chicago’s Cathedral – was sponsored by the Cathedral Parish Pastoral Council. It was a beautiful morning and a great way to finish the Coffee-in-the-Courtyard season. To all the parish organizations, ministries, and Commissions who hosted a summer Sunday, thanks for bringing Holy Name together, thanks for welcoming our many guests, and thanks for another successful summer of Coffee-in-the-Courtyard. On Monday, Labor Day, three Masses will be celebrated at the Cathedral – 8:00am; 12:10pm; and 5:15pm. There will be no 6:00 or 7:00am Mass on the holiday. Also note that there will be no scheduled confessions heard at 5:00pm on Monday this week. The Catholic Church has had much to say about labor especially in the years since the advance of the industrialist society. The Papacy has been eloquent. Leo XIII, Pius XI, John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II in encyclicals and in common teaching consistently outlined and articulated the connection between the Church and labor. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops teaches us the following in a section entitled “The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers” from their United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (2006). The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way of making a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected – the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organize and join unions, to private property, and to economic initiative. On Monday, pray for those who work. Pray for all who work in the service of others. Pray for those who work in management. Pray for those who are retired. Pray for farm workers. Pray for those out of work and for those who depend on them. Pray for those disabled and unable to work. Pray for all volunteers. Pray for those blessed in working for God’s people. Fr. Dan Mayall |
