More Chicagoans Are Leaving the Catholic Church? Voice Your Opinion

Yesterday I saw the front cover of Chicago Magazine featured this headline story: Catholics at a Crossroads: More Chicagoans than ever are leaving the church. Can new archbishop Blase Cupich change that?

I found the article online (see here).  Here are some excerpts from the article.  I will note, they did at least feature some of the traditional Chicago parishes in the article:

Meanwhile, 14 percent of the residents of those two counties—more than 800,000 people—used to be Catholic but have left the church. Put another way: For every 10 Catholics here, there are now four ex-Catholics. Among those born in the United States, the exodus has been greater still. Says Susan Ross, who chairs Loyola University’s theology department, “If it weren’t for Latino immigration, the church in Chicago would be losing many more people.”
...

Add in Mercy Home for Boys & Girls, Misericordia (a group home for the developmentally disabled), 17 Catholic hospitals, and Catholic Charities (which offers over 150 services in 160 locations), and “there’s no single entity beyond the State that does more for Chicagoans than the Catholic Church,” says Robert Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois and the archdiocese’s chief lobbyist in Springfield.
...

Mary Anne Hackett, a grandmother of 18 from west suburban La Grange, attends yet another church revived by a conservative pastor: the elaborately baroque St. John Cantius in Chicago’s River West neighborhood. Every Sunday, she and her husband, a retired ophthalmologist, make the half-hour drive. “There are tons of young families there,” says Hackett, who is also the president of Catholic Citizens of Illinois, a group that aims to restore traditional Catholic values. (Most of its 1,400 members range from age 40 to 70, and virtually all are white, she says, adding that CCI welcomes those of all races.)

I've added a rather lengthy comment to the article in the comment box. I encourage you to add your own comments, especially fellow Catholics in Chicagoland.  Let's take a stand for Tradition.  Continue here.

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Photos: Blessing of Wine on the Feast of St. John

Today is the annual Blessing of Wine for the Feast of St. John.  Read more here.  Photos were taken this morning at the Shrine of Christ the King in Chicago.

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Cardinal George Will Be Succeeded by Bishop Blase Cupich

BREAKING NEWS: Cardinal George Replacement Will Be Succeeded by Blase Cupich of the Diocese of Spokane, Washington.

Three pieces of immediate interest to this blog's readers:

1. Back in 2002, Bishop Cupich severely restricted the Latin Mass community in his diocese of Rapid City by locking them out of their Church during the Triduum.  Source: Rapid City Journal

2. Bishop Cupich had in Spokane prohibited priests and others from praying outside of abortion clinics and severely hurt the pro-life cause.  Source: The Orate Fratres

3. He has not celebrated the Traditional Latin Mass.

4. He has destroyed architectural treasures that were financed and built by Catholic immigrants who willingly gave their treasures to the Church - only to have their buildings destroyed in the name of modernism (example: Seminary Chapel of St. Turibius Destroyed by Blase Cupich)

Prayers are very much in order.

While some may praise Bishop Cupich’s appointment, I’m skeptical.  The Catholic Church is not a democracy.  We believe the Church to be God’s instrument on earth, although led by imperfect people.  Committed Catholics like me want a traditional Church to take root in Chicago.  We want the Latin Mass.  We want traditional doctrine.  We want charitable works to help the poor, marginalized, and sinners.  I pray that Bishop Cupich be a force for what is truly good – not another modernist who waters down Catholic Dogma to make friends.

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March for Life 2013: Traditional Latin Mass

Image Source: Fr. Peter Carota

As reported by LifeSiteNews, this year a record number of over half a million individuals marched on Washington DC against the horror of abortion and taking a stand for life and justice.

This year's March marked the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, since which an estimated 55 million babies have been killed by abortion in America.

While accurate estimates of the number of attendees at the march are hard to come by, organizers had said in the days leading up to the event that all signs pointed to a record-breaking crowd. Hotels in the D.C area sold out far in advance of when they normally do, and organizers installed two jumbotrons just to ensure that all marchers could get a glimpse of what was happening on the stage.

Last year's march was estimated at around 400,000 participants, likely putting this year's at the half million mark, or even beyond. The popularity of the event could be seen on social media, with the March for Life trending on Twitter for a time in the early afternoon, and Facebook exploding with photos and status updates from attendees.

What few organizations report is that after the March for life, Juventutem organized a Pontifical Requiem Latin Mass at St. Mary Mother of God Catholic Church for all the mothers and babies who have died from abortions.  The Pontifical Requiem Mass was said by His Excellency Auxiliary Bishop Perry of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

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Tridentine Mass in Calumet City, IL (June 2012)

Most Rev. Joseph N. Perry, auxiliary bishop of Chicago, said the regularly scheduled First Saturday Traditional Latin Mass at St. Andrew's Church in Calumet City, IL on June 2, Ember Saturday in the octave of Pentecost.

The Ecclesia Choir, conducted by Mr. Timothy Woods, sang 'Missa Super Laudate Dominum' by Orlando de Lassus, while the regular schola of six years chanted the propers of the Mass. This marked the sixth anniversary of the Latin Mass in this location, which was started in June 2006. St. Andrew's is located at 768 Lincoln Avenue in Calumet City, Illinois. The regular celebrant of this mass is Fr. Bernard Danber, O.S.A., but occasionally there is an alternate celebrant.

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Father Michael Pfleger of the Archdiocese of Chicago: Supports Barack Obama

Catholic Priest Has Only Glowing Praise for Pro-Abortion, Pro-Homosexual Marriage Candidate Barack Obama

By Cassidy Bugos

CHICAGO, January 18, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Catholic priest Father Michael Pfleger of the Archdiocese of Chicago wants people to know that pro-abortion, pro-homosexual marriage Senator Barack Obama "is the best thing to come across the political scene since Bobby Kennedy."

Father Pfleger says he has known Obama for 20 years. "I think Barack Obama is in a class of his own," he said.

As an Illinois Senator Obama had the unstinting approval of the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council for his dependable support of pro-abortion legislation. Now, after a short two years in the U.S. Senate, Obama has earned 100% ratings from pro-abortion groups across the board, including NARAL Pro-Choice America and the National Organization for Women.

In 2002 he voted against a bill to protect or offer medical care to babies that survive botched abortions. Prior to that he opposed an Illinois State ban on partial-birth abortion, and refused his vote to a bill mandating internet pornography filters in schools.

In 2006, Obama cast his vote against the Federal Marriage Amendment. "Personally, I do believe that marriage is between a man and a woman," he said the day he voted against defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

But Father Pfleger is just concerned for Obama's "vulnerability."

"When anybody comes with that much hope, whether it's a Bobby Kennedy or whether it's a Martin Luther King Jr., they do become vulnerable. They become vulnerable because they tell the country and the world that we can be better and we don't have to accept what is. And unfortunately, we live in a world where not everybody wants it to be different."

Although Father Pfleger says he is pro-life, he has a long history of inviting outspoken pro-abortion advocates into his pulpit – this despite the fact that the Chicago Archdiocese has a longstanding policy explicitly forbidding the use of Church property, under any circumstances, by pro-abortion advocates.

Yet in January 2003 singer Harry Belafonte was invited by Pfleger to speak at a Sunday Mass, where he criticized Bush for being pro-life and threatening a "woman's right to abortion." [His website reveals that he has invited many people with heretical views to speak at this parish, or as well calls it, a "faith community" http://www.saintsabina.org]

Pfleger has also hosted Muslim firebrand Louis Farrakhan, a known ridiculer of the Pope who has condemned Judaism as "a gutter religion."

Nor is this the first time Father Pfleger has been outspoken in his support of pro-abortion politicians. In February 2003 he invited pro-abortion Presidential candidate and Pentecostal minister Rev. Al Sharpton to speak during Mass.

For Sharpton, that was the first time he had spoken in a Catholic church.

"The comfort," he told the Chicago Sun-Times after the event, "is that Father Pfleger is a different kind of a Catholic priest."

Different indeed.

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Pro-abortion Sen. Hillary Clinton to Speak at Chicago Catholic Charity

I just received this news from LifeSiteNews.com. I wanted to pass it along and encourage my readers to contact the Archdiocese of Chicago and Mercy Home and politely ask them to not allow pro-abortion Clinton to speak at the fundraiser.

Sen. Hillary Clinton has been scheduled to appear as the keynote speaker at a Catholic charity event in Chicago, despite objections from pro-life groups over her vociferous support for abortion and homosexual activism.

The Mercy Home Graduates Luncheon is an annual fundraiser to support the Mercy Home Catholic children's charity. Mercy Home for Boys & Girls is a long-term residential home for young people ages 11 to 21, administered by Catholic priests. Fr. Scott Donahue is the current president of the organization.

According to the Pro-Life Action League, Fr. Donahue was apparently not aware Sen. Clinton had been asked to speak at the event until he was informed of her scheduled appearance by the League.

However, Mercy Home spokesman Mark Schmeltzer told LifeSiteNews.com that Fr. Donohue was approached by Chicago Cardinal Francis George about the upcoming Clinton fundraiser. "The Cardinal had some very understandable misgivings but he just wanted to be assured this was not a political stop," Schmeltzer told LifeSiteNews.com.

...

In 2004, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a policy document calling on Catholic institutions not to have pro-abortion politicians put on a pedestal due to the scandal it would cause. In their document, Catholics in Political Life, the Bishops' Conference states: "The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honour those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honours or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

Joseph Scheidler, national director of the Pro-Life Action League has organized a demonstration against Senator Clinton's appearance in Chicago. He told LifeSiteNews.com that her appearance would set a precedent for pro-abortion speakers at other Catholic events.

Source: LifeSiteNews

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Cardinal George has a fractured hip

I ask readers to please pray for my Cardinal, Francis Cardinal George. Below is a Catholic World News article concerning his accident.

Chicago, Apr. 9, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Chicago's Cardinal Francis George was released from a local hospital on Easter Sunday after suffering a fractured hip in an accident during a Holy Saturday service.

Cardinal George slipped and fell while he was blessing food baskets scheduled for Easter delivery by the members of St. Ferdinand's parish in Chicago's northwest. Participants in the service said that after sprinkling holy water, the cardinal evidently slipped on the wet marble floor.

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