|
|
|
The Holy Name Cathedral building will remain closed this Easter and through April. The parish remains very much open and alive. All of us are disappointed that the intensive, but careful repair work is taking so long. However, we expect the Cathedral to be open, safe, and clean by early May. The Cathedral has been closed since February 26 when forensic engineers determined that structural weakness was the cause of a 10-lb. piece of decorative wood falling from the ceiling during the night on February 12. The Church was unoccupied when the piece fell. Immediately, workers began securing the decorative 19th-century wooden ceiling from a canopy atop massive scaffolding. In order to get the necessary work accomplished and for safety, parish Masses were moved to the Parish Center. Engineers have designed a support system for the Cathedral building that will ensure safety for all visitors. That system is being custom-made for the 133 year-old Cathedral. Most parish liturgies will remain scheduled at various nearby locations. Weekend Masses as well as the Holy Week liturgies will be celebrated in the Parish Center Auditorium. Weekday Masses will be offered in the Club Room on the lower level of the Parish Center. Confessions will be heard at the regular Saturday hours as well as during extended Holy Week hours (full schedule is on page 3) in the Casa Jesus Chapel, 750 N. Wabash. Cardinal George will offer 11:00am Mass on Easter, as well as at the liturgies scheduled at 5:15pm on Holy Thursday and Good Friday in the Cathedral auditorium. The Cardinal will offer the first Mass of Easter at St. Joseph Church on Orleans at 7:00pm Holy Saturday when nearly 50 people from St. Joseph and Holy Name will become full members of the Catholic Church during the celebration of the Easter sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. St. Joseph Church is not as big as our auditorium. Consequently, only the RCIA with their families and friends should go over to St. Joseph next Saturday. A graceful, but simpler Mass will be offered in Holy Name’s auditorium Saturday at 7:30pm. Stations of the Cross at 3:00pm on Good Friday afternoon will be prayed in the auditorium. Holy Thursday Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Compline (night prayers) will not take place this year. If you have additional questions, look for me. A thousand-pounds of gratitude must be delivered to our neighbors at St. Joseph Church, celebrating their Feast Day on Saturday, March 15 because the traditional March 19 this year falls in the middle of Holy Week. As odd as it may be for all of us temporarily to be displaced from the Cathedral and praying in the auditorium and Club Room, imagine hearing three to seven weeks in advance of the big day that your one-and-only, well-planned wedding could not be celebrated in historic Holy Name Cathedral. Our whole parish is sympathetic with the eight scheduled spring Cathedral wedding couples who were given the bad news last weekend. I know I feel terrible for them all. Still, with Deacon Stan Strom’s heroic help, we were able to secure St. Joseph Church on Orleans Street and parking in the Byrd School’s lot across Orleans. The Cathedral will be grateful forever to Father Pat Lee for his wide open Church door. I am not exaggerating when I write that his St. Joseph may be the most beautiful Church in the Archdiocese. Renovation was completed just a year and a half ago. Once the Church of the Cabrini-Green Housing Project, St. Joseph is undergoing a rebirth as the neighborhood near Clybourn and Division changes. I think I celebrated one of the first weddings in the new St. Joseph for a Marine whom Father Lee and I both taught in the 1980s at Quigley North. It was great. We also thank St. Joseph’s Director of Religious Education Alice Doering for warmly welcoming Cathedral Pastoral Associate Ann Klocke, her team of catechists, and nearly 40 adults preparing to become fully initiated Catholics at the Holy Saturday culmination of the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. We will bring Cardinal George with us. Holy Name and St. Joseph have been brothers since our parish was born. In 1844, the University of St. Mary of the Lake was founded by Bishop Quarter on the very block where Holy Name Cathedral stands today. In 1846, St. Joseph Church was built on the northeast corner of Cass (Wabash) and Chicago to serve Chicago’s growing German immigrant population north of the river. Mass was in Latin; however, sermons were preached and confessions were heard in German. An increasing number of Irish immigrants in the 1840s wanted to hear English-language absolution and preaching. They started frequenting the University’s Chapel of the Holy Name of Jesus. Under Father Jeremiah Kinsella’s leadership, that community became a free-standing parish in 1849. On Christmas Day, 1855, a tremendous brick Church was opened by Holy Name on Wolcott (State) between Superior and Huron. It was taller than the present Cathedral. On October 8 & 9, 1871, both St. Joseph and Holy Name burned to the ground in the Chicago Fire. St. Joseph rebuilt at Hill & Market (now Orleans). Holy Name Cathedral opened in 1875, where it stands on crutches today. Our older brother, St. Joseph, has welcomed us to his house for part of our recovery. Of course, we have been helping him out with our Parish Sharing envelopes during his tougher years. That’s what brothers do. To our family at St. Joseph, thanks again for coming to our rescue. Friday, March 21, will be Bishop Timothy Lyne’s birthday. How old? I would never print that. But I will tell you he was born in the year of an historic World Series appearance for his favorite baseball team. Bishop Lyne was the 7th pastor of Holy Name Cathedral and has lived in our rectory since 1966. That rectory will be dedicated in his honor after the 12:30pm Mass on May 18 as part of a grand celebration of his 65th year as a priest and his 25th anniversary as a bishop. A formal dinner for the benefit of Cathedral’s Restore & Renew capital campaign will be held at the Westin River North on May 1, the Bishop’s ordination anniversary. Watch this bulletin for details. He may have to forego the cake on the birthday; it will be Good Friday. However, there will be a couple of real parties in May (in addition to our return to the Cathedral). For now, Happy Birthday, Bishop Lyne. You always will be Holy Name Cathedral’s best friend. Wednesday, March 19, the Archdiocese will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the ordinations of Chicago Auxiliary Bishops Francis Kane, Thomas Paprocki, and Gustavo Garcia-Siller. All three are friends of the Cathedral where they were ordained. Congratulations, Bishops; and thanks for your loving leadership.
Please, pray with us next Sunday for Fr. Dan Mayall |
