Bulletin Board with News and Events

 Joe Konen, Stewardship Director of Holy Name Cathedral, will be leaving the parish staff at the end of this month. Voluntarily and skillfully, Joe has served the Cathedral in that capacity for five years. In 2002 it became obvious that contributions were limping due to several factors – the post 9/11 falloff in tourism, the scandals in the American Church, the change in leadership at Holy Name, and a weak economy. Furthermore, budgeted spending was seriously unrealistic and sometimes mismanaged. I decided to cut budgets and freeze staff salaries. Both staff and parish finance council urged me to hire a Development Director. Joe Konen stepped forward. Already an active parishioner, Joe analyzed the situation and presented me with a plan of Stewardship rather than Development. He volunteered his time and hard work, serving as an example of what he was preaching - Stewardship. Since that time, he has initiated a planned giving program; the automatic contribution system; information regarding estate planning and stock contributions; and the Cathedral Stewards Society. He honestly revised the annual financial reporting method. He founded a Cathedral Stewardship Committee. He served as the Cathedral’s recognized and respected representative to the Archdiocese in several financial projects. For the first time in parish history, under Joe’s guidance, we opened an endowment for capital needs. He quarterbacked the very successful Restore & Renew capital campaign with over $8-million pledged so far and the prospects of $10-million raised over the four years remaining on the campaign. He helped me hire two Comptrollers and two Stewardship Coordinators; he was my sounding board in enlisting the consultants, the chairpersons, and key volunteers for Restore & Renew. He and his wife Judi have made their home available for several parish events cultivating the spirit of participation that has established Holy Name Cathedral as one of the premier parishes in the Archdiocese. Of all the advice I have received in six years as Cathedral pastor, there is no word I respected more than that of Joe Konen. He has left an indelible mark on Holy Name Cathedral. Our parish is better because Joe worked here. This is not, however, an obituary. Joe and Judy remain happy parishioners. (Judy, by the way, is concluding a term as a President of the Women’s Association of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.) Joe will remain a member of the finance council and the stewardship committee. He promised that his relationship with me will not change. His advice is a phone call away. Some of Joe’s responsibilities already have been assumed by the skilled Stewardship Coordinator Alex Lucio, Comptroller Andy Skura, and Administrative Chief of Staff Deacon Stan Strom. Now I am shopping for a full time Administrative Assistant. She or he will be my right arm and certainly will inherit some of Joe’s responsibilities. Joe will help me find that Assistant. For now, I loudly thank God for the gift of Joe Konen to Holy Name Cathedral. As exemplary steward, Joe, you made Holy Name Cathedral a better parish. In the Holy Name of Jesus, thank you, Joe.

Next weekend, a second basket will be passed after Communion for your contributions and pledges to the Annual Catholic Appeal. As I wrote last week, this is no extra-$5 second collection. This is a major commitment to the services and ministries offered to all Chicago’s parishes by the Archdiocese. I will commit 10% of my next paycheck. Many Cathedral parishioners traditionally pledge over $1,000 annually. Whatever you give will help. Plan to commit yourself to the important annual Catholic Appeal. Pledge envelopes and information are at the Cathedral doors.

Next Sunday, February 3, will be the Feast of St. Blase, legendary 4^th century bishop and martyr. Prayers for the second Sunday in Ordinary Time supersede the liturgical prayers of the Martyr’s Day. However, we will offer the customary blessing of throats as the general blessing rather than an individual blessing at the conclusion of all Masses next Sunday. Through the intercession of St. Blase, Bishop and Martyr, may God free you from every ailment of the throat and from all other diseases in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

January 14-17, I attended the semi-annual Cathedral Ministries Conference in St. Augustine, Florida. Over 300 from 63 Cathedrals attended in the oldest USA settlement continuously occupied, St. Augustine. I would like to write over the next three weeks about the host Cathedral, about what I learned, and about the connections I made during the week. The Cathedral-Basilica of St. Augustine is the oldest continuously active parish in the USA, founded in 1565. Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles first sighted Florida on St. Augustine’s Day, August 28. Mass was celebrated on the Feast of the Nativity of the Mary, September 8, by Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza y Grajales, the founding pastor. Father Thomas Hassett, an Irish priest, purchased the present site and built a Church of coquina stone in 1793. That Church became the Cathedral when the Diocese of St. Augustine was erected in 1870, five years before Holy Name Cathedral opened. Typical of many 18^th century Spanish-built Churches, walls of the façade swoop upward in graceful curves to the Moorish belfry surmounted by a golden cross. In 1887, a horrible fire damaged the building, but left the walls intact. A new chancel and transepts were added. A bell tower designed by architect James Renwick (architect of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City) was built. A vertical sundial on the tower bears the inscription Pereunt et iniputantur – The hours pass, and you will be held accountable for them. Above the main entrance is a statue of St. Augustine watching over the quaint tourist town. The Church’s oldest bells remain in their original location at the very top of the entrance. The oldest, dated 1689, is labeled, “St. Joseph, pray for us.” Stained glass windows depicting the life of St. Augustine are the most beautiful feature of the interior. I prayed at the window showing the death of Augustine’s mother, St. Monica. Richly decorated cross-beams below the vaulted ceiling each display the coats-of-arms of the seven former bishops of the diocese. The present bishop, Victor Galeone, celebrated Mass for us one evening. The parish budgets $20,000 per weekend for their ministry. Their Christmas collection so far amounts to over $53,000. They have a school and a mission Church in addition to responsibilities for a shrine. They are staffed by two priests and two deacons, a Parish Coordinator, a Youth Director, a Music Minister, a Religious Education Director, a Gift Shop Director, and at least three administrative people. Their “Ministry Coordinator” organized the Cathedral Ministries Conference. I want her to be my Administrative Assistant. Short of kidnapping her, she will be the model for the one I am shopping for. Next week – what I learned at the Conference.

Fr. Dan Mayall