--- Chicago Region

Has anyone else noticed that this event has not yet made the nightly mainstream news in our area. Or did I miss it entirely.

When members of a family are no longer in the same church or worship in the same place, what is the response of mothers, fathers, grand-parents, god-parents, uncles, aunts? How can the family be brought together and unified without making those that have made a change feel uncomfortable? How is the hirarchy reacting to this and what if a child or grandchild is brought in for baptism? How about communion when feastdays are celebrated together and family members want to join in or are not even aware of the "church regulations" covering such items?

This morning I went to my less-used bookshelf and took from it to reread yet again Charles Brady’s “Stage of Fools” (Dutton Press). The setting of this book is a crisis time, as is ours, in which the accountability of church was a burning issue. Corruption in the church (Roman Catholic) was then a big factor in the shredding of the social fabric. Colonialism was a joined mission of imperial exploitation and religious evangelism. There were, then as now, those who protested church corruption and imperial overreach.

I'm interested in the area of evangelization--particularly of lapsed Cradle Catholics. I know that this area has been formally addressed by the Archdiocese by a series of talks by Fr. Barron, but I am wondering very practically what folks feel is actually going on at the parish level. Are formal programs in place both to reach out to those who are no longer with us and to help them transition back into active faith practice?

By JOE FEUERHERD
Originally published in National Catholic Reporter issue of 03/31/2006

Eighteen Chicago archdiocese “accused priest abusers” live at church-owned facilities under an “honor code” system where their activities and whereabouts are largely unsupervised. Some have regular access to children and other vulnerable people, such as nursing home residents.

Those are among the findings of a 58-page report commissioned by Cardinal Francis George following revelations that a prominent parish pastor was allowed to remain in ministry for more than four months following allegations of sexual abuse. The priest, Fr. Daniel McCormack, served as pastor of St. Agatha Parish on Chicago’s west side and as a coach and teacher at the parochial school it shares with two other parishes.

By ROBERT McCLORY
Chicago
Originally published in National Catholic Reporter issue of 04/07/2006

While many elementary schools are trimming or entirely eliminating art, music, dance and poetry in favor of a stripped-down core curriculum, one Catholic school on Chicago’s north side has made these subjects the focus of daily activity. At the Alphonsus Academy and Center for the Arts, everything, including history, geography, math, science and religion, is taught through the prism of the arts. “The idea is to integrate the arts into non-arts education,” said Principal Barbara Rieckhoff. “They’re blended into all the thematic units.”