The Reverend Know-it-all - St. Lambert Parish

St. Lambert Parish
Proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord
March 18, 2012
Fourth Sunday of Lent
All who do evil hate the Light.
They stay away from the Light
for fear their sins will be
exposed. The man who does
what is right comes to the Light.
What he does will be seen
for he has done what God
wanted him to do.
John 3:20-21
Rectory
8148 N Karlov Avenue
Skokie, IL 60076
Phone:(847) 673-5090
E-mail:
saintlambert@aol.com
St Lambert Parish - Skokie, IL
Website:
www.StLambert.org
Sunday Masses:
(5:00 PM Sat) 8am, 10 am, 12 noon
Weekdays:
7:15 am (Mon-Fri) 8am on Sat.
Pastor:
Rev. Richard Simon
Rev. Know-it-all:
www.rev-know-it-all.com
Resident:
Rev. James Heyd
(847) 673-6819
Deacon:
Mr. Chick O’Leary
Mr. Rick Moritz
Religious Ed Director
Mrs. Liz Frake
(847) 329-1201
Music Director:
Mr. Steven Folkers
Ministry of Care:
Mrs. Carol Glueckert
(847) 674-6456
Office Staff:
George Mohrlein
Debbie Morales-Garcia
Confessions:
Saturdays at 8:30 am
Weddings:
Arrangements must be made
6 months in advance.
Baptisms:
Third Sunday of the month at
1:30 pm. Baptismal Preparation
Class is the first Tuesday of each
month at 7pm in the rectory.
Please call the rectory to
register.
Bulletin Guidelines:
Submissions for the weekly
bulletin should be received at the
rectory office 10 days preceding
the date of bulletin publication.
Submissions should be in
electronic format (i.e. text files,
digital photos, email).
Thank you.

Page Two St. Lambert Parish 4th Sunday of Lent
Fourth Sunday of Lent
March 18, 2012
God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world
might be saved through him.
— John 3:17
Masses for the week
Saturday, March 17
5:00 † Bernie Dentzer
Sunday, March 18
8:00 † Kathryn Ruesch
10:00 † Hristo Devedjiev & Lidia Gard
12:00 People of St. Lambert
Monday, March 19
7:15 † Josephine Genovaldi
Tuesday, March 20
7:15 † Rolando Callangan
Wednesday, March 21
7:15 † Epifanio & Rommel Llanos
Thursday, March 22
7:15 † Rolando Callangan
Friday, March 23
7:15 † Antonio Ong
Saturday, March 24
8:00 Brunner family & Mary Johnson
5:00 † Marion Cascino & John Krump Sr.
Sunday, March 25
8:00 † Stephen Radler
10:00 † Herb Raef
12:00 People of St. Lambert
The Coffee Hour will be hosted by the
FFOS and the contact person is
Alice Melecio.
She can be reached at
847-676-1069.
As part of our own journey through Lent, St. Lambert will
host a viewing of the movie The Way , today (Sunday) in
Trainor Hall following the noon Mass.
The Way, is a
stirring
presentation of a
father ( played by
Martin Sheen)
making a
pilgrimage in
honor of his late
son (played by
Emilio Estevez). It
is a powerful and
inspirational story
about family,
friends and the challenges we face while navigating this
ever-changing and complicated world. Tom, an irascible
American doctor who comes to France to deal with the
tragic loss of his son. Rather than return home, Tom
decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage "The Way
of St. James" to honor his son's desire to finish the journey.
What Tom doesn't plan on is the profound impact this trip
will have on him. Through unexpected and often times
amusing experiences along "The Way," Tom discovers the
difference between "the life we live and the life we
choose.”
The film has a running time of 121 minutes and is rated
PG-13
READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Monday: 2 Sm 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16; Rom 4:13, 16-18,
22; Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24a or Lk 2:41-51a
Tuesday: Ez 47:1-9, 12; Jn 5:1-16
Wednesday: Is 49:8-15; Jn 5:17-30
Thursday: Ex 32:7-14; Jn 5:31-47
Friday: Wis 2:1a, 12-22; Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
Saturday: Jer 11:18-20; Jn 7:40-53
Sunday: Jer 31:31-34; Ps 51; Heb 5:7-9; Jn 12:20-
33 Alternate readings (Year A):
Ez 37:12-14; Ps 130; Rom 8:8-11;
Sunday Offertory Collection
March 3/4 2012
Envelopes: $ 6,913.00
Loose: $ 1,368.35
Total: $ 8,281.35

March 18, 2012 St. Lambert Parish Page Three
ENCYCLICAL LETTER
HUMANAE VITAE
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
PAUL VI
TO HIS VENERABLE BROTHERS THE PATRIARCHS, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS
AND OTHER LOCAL ORDINARIES IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE,
TO THE CLERGY AND FAITHFUL OF THE WHOLE CATHOLIC WORLD, AND TO ALL MEN OF
GOOD WILL,ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH
Honored Brothers and Dear Sons,
Health and Apostolic Benediction.
The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with
God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes entails many difficulties and
hardships.
The fulfillment of this duty has always posed problems to the conscience of married people, but the recent course of
human society and the concomitant changes have provoked new questions. The Church cannot ignore these questions,
for they concern matters intimately connected with the life and happiness of human beings.
I. PROBLEM AND COMPETENCY OF THE MAGISTERIUM
2. The changes that have taken place are of considerable importance and varied in nature. In the first place there is the
rapid increase in population which has made many fear that world population is going to grow faster than available
resources, with the consequence that many families and developing countries would be faced with greater hardships. This
can easily induce public authorities to be tempted to take even harsher measures to avert this danger. There is also the
fact that not only working and housing conditions but the greater demands made both in the economic and educational
field pose a living situation in which it is frequently difficult these days to provide properly for a large family.
Also noteworthy is a new understanding of the dignity of woman and her place in society, of the value of conjugal love
in marriage and the relationship of conjugal acts to this love.
But the most remarkable development of all is to be seen in man's stupendous progress in the domination and rational
organization of the forces of nature to the point that he is endeavoring to extend this control over every aspect of his own
life—over his body, over his mind and emotions, over his social life, and even over the laws that regulate the
transmission of life.
New Questions
3. This new state of things gives rise to new questions. Granted the conditions of life today and taking into account the
relevance of married love to the harmony and mutual fidelity of husband and wife, would it not be right to review the
moral norms in force till now, especially when it is felt that these can be observed only with the gravest difficulty,
sometimes only by heroic effort?
Moreover, if one were to apply here the so called principle of totality, could it not be accepted that the intention to have a
less prolific but more rationally planned family might transform an action which renders natural processes infertile into a
licit and provident control of birth? Could it not be admitted, in other words, that procreative finality applies to the
totality of married life rather than to each single act? A further question is whether, because people are more conscious
today of their responsibilities, the time has not come when the transmission of life should be regulated by their
intelligence and will rather than through the specific rhythms of their own bodies.
to be continued…...

Page Four St. Lambert Parish 4th Sunday of Lent
The Reverend Know-it-all
“What I don’t know…
I can always make up!”
letter to Helena Hahn
Basquette continued...)
Are you still reading this? I just
called you a monster! Perhaps I
was harsh. I realize there were
and are people who agonized
over these things. There were
then and are now marriages that are in
difficulty. There were and are those with
serious medical issues. I had one sister who
couldn’t conceive and another sister who
couldn’t keep from conceiving. We discussed
these things at length over dinner in my home
back in the early sixties. If you struggled to
obey, if you agonized over your decisions, God
keep me from condemning you. It’s not you
that I blame. The real monsters are those who
made or make the decision glibly thinking only
of the inconvenience or expense of large
families. The monsters are those who sacrifice
children to Moloch and Baal, the Canaanite gods
of prosperity.
In the current age it is simply assumed that one
will be sexually active before marriage and will
practice artificial birth control. It is routine when
a doctor interviews a young woman, married or
unmarried, he asks “What kind of birth control
are you using?” (It is interesting to note that a
doctor never seems to ask a young man the
same question. Another victory for feminism,
no?) Extra marital sex is the assumption and
small families are the expectation. Chastity,
marital fidelity and large families seem odd, or
even irresponsible now. The monsters are
those of us who, for love of ease and money
have grown callous to the beauty and
sacredness of human sexuality and its
relationship to the family. Further, we, the
clergy are the ones to blame for the
monstrosity. We failed to teach the Catholic
Faith. We encouraged you to pick and choose
those teachings that were most useful and least
challenging. “Dear brothers and sisters, not
many of you should become teachers in the
church, for we who teach will be judged more
strictly.” (James 3:1) We, the scoffers of the 60'
and 70's will soon have to face God and I
tremble because of all the people I mislead.
Thinking it was kindness, I failed to say the
hard things. Now as my life hurries to its final
chapters, I realize that I deprived people of the
truth, I deprived them of real love by trying to
be polite. If there is a lion about to devour you,
is it kindness on my part not to point it out? If I
fail to warn you of danger simply because I
don’t want to upset you, or to anger you, is this
love?
We clergy in the years after the Council taught
a diluted faith that made few demands. Fasting
was no longer important. Marital fidelity was a
high ideal, but not really practical. Mass was
optional. Frequent Confession was tedious and
an invasion of privacy. Father would make up
the Mass as he went along, and use bread
baked by the liturgy committee that was tastier
than a dry communion wafer. He used wine that
had a bit more zing, like a good port. We had
general absolutions at Christmas and Easter.
Everybody should go to communion, because
we were now all sinless. God understands our
weakness. What we did mattered not so much
as what we felt. It was our good intentions that
mattered. If we had made a “fundamental
option” for God, then the rest was unimportant,
after all St. Augustine said “Love God and do
what you will.” We taught you to pick and
choose among the treasures of the faith. Now I
see people my own age who, when they talk
about their children, get a far away look in their
eyes. “Yes, my daughter lives in California.
That’s where her career took her. She was
married, but got divorced and the grand kids
spend their time going between Nevada where
their father lives and then back to California.
We see them on some holidays when it’s mom’s
turn to have them, but it’s all right... they seem

March18, 2012 St. Lambert Parish Page Five
happy... They were baptized, but I don’t think
they go to church much. I’m not sure..... My
son lives in California too. He never married and
I hear from him fairly regularly....He’s always
going on trips with his friends. He’s taken some
wonderful vacations, and sends us photos, but
he doesn’t come back to the Midwest much...” I
have this conversation all the time, or ones like
it. It breaks my heart. I want to run away and
weep, not because you have sinned, but
because I have. I taught a kind of Christianity
that inspired no one because it demanded
nothing. All truths were the same. All religions
were as good, one as one another. The old man
in the Vatican couldn’t tell me or you how to run
our lives.
I remember now with great shame going to
dinner with some fellow seminarians on Ash
Wednesday. We of course ordered meat, just a
sign of “Christian Liberty.” It was purely an act
of defiance. If it is true that love is sacrifice,
then I taught narcissism as if it were love, just
as I had been taught by a seminary of priests
who left the priesthood. I remember a dramatic
reading of the Song of Songs that was the
grand finale of one my theology school classes.
It was read antiphonally by a priest professor
and a friend of his, a nun. They did it with great
feeling looking longingly at one another and
reciting in hushed breathy tones. A month or
two later they ran off together. Haven’t heard of
either of them since. So now our churches are
empty, our nests are empty and our hearts are
empty. God forgive me. And, as God is my
witness, I cannot do it any longer. Perhaps
there is still time.
I recently got a letter pointing out that “ your
rhetoric appears to be heading towards absolute
dogmatic adherence without the necessary
nuances........ Empathy, Forgiveness, Charity,
Reconciliation are the words I would like to hear
at Mass more often and less archaic rituals.”
Maybe the writer was correct. Please
understand that there is no one unloved by
God, and that all one must do to receive
forgiveness is to admit sin. If we can really
admit that we “ have sinned and fallen short of
the glory of God,” (Romans3:23), then we are
on the path to heaven. But to say that my sin is
not sin is the surest road to hell. We, the clergy
helped you along that road to hell by assuring
you that your sin was not sin! How often have
you gone into a confessional and heard the
priest say, “Oh, that’s not really a sin.” You
knew it was a sin. It was eating you up inside,
but father told you it was okay. Do you think
you will be punished nearly as harshly as I will
be? I tremble to think of the wrath that awaits
me! I remember hearing of a man who
repented all his life of a childhood prank.
Everyone said it was nothing. He knew it was
something. As a boy, he and his friends had
turned a sign on a country road so that it
pointed in the wrong direction. It was all great
fun. He wondered all his life how many people
he had mislead who never found their
destination because of something he thought
good fun. It haunted him on his very deathbed.
So many of us clergy turned the signs that led
to heaven and replaced them with the sign that
led to hell. God be merciful to us.
The few heroes who held out for the faith were
mocked and hounded into silence or obscurity. I
remember going to a lecture by an old priest
who questioned some of the liturgical changes.
I was invited by some of the older seminarians
to come along and heckle. It was all great fun.
We who wanted to get along and go along, and
preached the new and more pleasant Gospel. I
believe with all my heart that God is giving us,
the clergy, another opportunity to accept the
teaching of the Church and to obey the pope
regarding Humanae Vitae and the sacred liturgy
of the Mass. What will happen if we once again
refuse to obey? Haven’t the moral scandals of
the past forty years been enough? What will
happen if we priests once again refuse Him? I,
for one, will obey this time and hope that God
will have mercy on me in my old age.
Again, I know this sounds very harsh. That it

Page Six St. Lambert Parish 4th Sunday of Lent
sounds harsh is not the matter. More
importantly, is it true? There are people who
cannot have children but long to or are able
only to have a small family. I am not speaking
about them. I am speaking about those who
refuse the gift that God would give, and even
more I am speaking about myself and the
others who taught a shallow materialism. Once,
the woman who could not bear children
received sympathy. Now, the woman who has a
large family is pitied and often looked down
on. Have we forgotten what the Lord said on
His way to Calvary? “For the time will come
when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren
women, the wombs that never bore and the
breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will say to
the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills,
‘Cover us!’ For if men do these things when the
tree is green, what will happen when it is
dry?” (Luke 23: 29-31) We are the generation
of the green wood. The dry wood is surely on
its way.
(You guessed it! To be continued.....)
Sisters of Providence plan Spring Fling
event in Chicago area
Join the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the
-Woods, Ind., for their annual Spring Fling
celebration at 12:30 p.m. (CDT) Sunday, April 22,
at White Eagle Banquet Hall, 6839 N. Milwaukee
Ave., Niles, Ill. Enjoy a meal, entertainment, silent
auction and good company. Cost is $75 per person,
or $525 for a table of eight. Proceeds will be used
to support the Sisters of Providence ministries. To
register for attendance or for more information,
contact Sister Sue Paweski at
spaweski@spsmw.org or at 773-463-2478
The Sisters of Providence, a Congregation of more
than 350 women religious, have their motherhouse
at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, located northwest of
Terre Haute, Ind. Saint Mother Theodore Guerin
founded the Sisters of Providence at Saint Mary-of
-the-Woods in 1840. Today, Sisters of Providence
minister in 21 states, the District of Columbia and
Taiwan, Singapore and China.
CROSSwalk
More than 600 of our young people have been
murdered since 2008. As a faith community, we need
to help do something about it. Let us join forces with
churches and community organizaons from the
Chicago area for CROSSwalk, a four-mile procession
across the heart of the city to remember children we
have lost and connect parcipants with opportunies
for acon. CROSSwalk takes place on Monday, April 2,
and promises to be a moving way to begin Holy Week.
Beginning at 5:30 pm, it will step off from St. James
Cathedral, proceed through the Loop and stretch
across the city to the lawn outside Stroger Hospital,
with stops along the way at Daley Plaza and Old St.
Patrick's Church. At each stop we will lament the loss
of our young people and-- importantly--commit
ourselves to efforts that protect children and migate
violence in our communies. Please join us for all or
part of the procession. Buses will be available for
those who require transportaon along the route.
For more informaon or to sign up, visit
www.crosswalkchicago.org.
NEED HELP DEALING WITH
OUR STRESSFUL WORLD?
Have you ever considered
counseling, but you couldn’t find
the time? Maybe the time is now!
The Holbrook Counseling Center
of Catholic Charities provides
professional counseling services
at a number of locations including
downtown Highland Park,
Mundelein and Chicago’s West
Loop. We work with adults,
couples and families; our fees are
reasonable and services are always totally confidential.
To schedule an appointment, please call us at
(312) 655-7725.
NOT ENOUGH
It is not enough for me to love God, if my neighbor
does not love God.
—St. Vincent de Paul

March 18, 2012 St. Lambert Parish Page Seven
THE FEAST OF DIVINE MERCY
April 15, 2012
In 1931 St. Faustina saw our Lord in a vision, clothed in a white garment with His
tight hand raised in blessing; His left hand was touching Hos garment in the area of
His heart from where two large rays came forth; one red the other pale. Jesus said to
her: “ Paint an image according to the pattern you see with the signature
“Jesus, I Trust In You….Jezu, Ufam Tobie”
Nine day Novena for the Feast of Mercy begins on Good Friday, April 6th at 8 am.
St. Lambert will celebrate The Feast of Mercy at the 12 noon Mass, April 15th.
Spring Craft Sale at Scared Heart Convent
2221 Elmwood Ave., Wilmette, IL
(From Lake Ave. go 2 blocks north on Hunter & turn right on Elmwood.)
Saturday, March 24,2012 12– 4 pm
Appliance Towels dishcloth, pot holders baby articles afghans and quilts.
Proceeds go to support the ailing and retired sisters.
Please come to the back of the building-south side.
Enter the door marked: CRAFT SALE
Please join us on Sunday, March 25th at 1:30 P.M. in Roberts Hall as we connue our study
of Tim Staples book Nuts & Bolts. If you have not yet aended one of our sessions, please come.
Each session is offered as a “stand alone” topic, that is, these sessions do not build upon each other.
This is a beginning book of Catholic apologecs. Apologecs does not mean that one
apologizes for being Catholic. Rather, as the cover says, it explains and defends our Catholic faith.
Tim Staples is a former Protestant who is now Catholic and now works for Catholic Answers in San
Diego, California, the largest Catholic apologecs organizaon in the U.S. Our main reason for
studying this book is so that you can delve deeper into understanding our precious faith.
We will connue to meet on the Fourth Sunday unl we finish the book. The cost will be
$13 to cover the cost of the book. Please bring a Bible with you as we will be referring to numerous
passages of Scripture. If you have any quesons please contact Deacon Rick through the rectory.