From the Pastor - Ascension Catholic Church

(Continued from page 2) up the necessary form here in the Parish Center or
Well now, we know why the Chicago Police Dept.
beefed up their security at the Taste of Chicago. The
two most popular menu items were turkey legs and
various chicken parts. With this knowledge they must
have suspected much more “fowl play” than
previous years.
This new week brings with it the opening night of
Backyard Theology 2011. This Tuesday, July 19, at
7:30 p.m. in the Pine Room, our weekend assistant
Fr. Jerry Bleem, O.F.M., who besides being a priest,
is an artist and teacher, will be our presenter. Fr.
Bleem’s talk is Beholding the Spiritual in Art. As we
have come to know Fr. Jerry as a wonderful homilist,
we can now see and hear the artist teacher in him as
he shares his experience of faith and art. I hope you
can join us.
This coming Saturday, the 23rd, is the next PADS
Summer Lunch in the Pine Room. If you can be a
part of the team for this lunch it would be greatly
appreciated. You can be part of the wait staff, you
could donate food or drinks, you could be part of the
clean-up crew. Please call Carol Ford at 848-3971
and tell her what you would like to do. Thank you in
advance for your compassion. The PADS basket
remains in the East Ave. vestibule for any donated
toiletries as well as the PADS box for socks,
underwear, tee shirts, caps etc. Thank you.
Theology on Tap continues this week Tuesday for
our parishioners in their 20s and 30s (married or
single) over at St. Edmund’s Murphy Hall which is
at 200 S. Oak Park Ave beginning at 7:30 p.m. The
speaker is Jim Ivers; Jim and I went to school
together. Jim’s topic is Faith: A Context for our
Blessings and Burdens. Jim has experienced many a
burden in his own life; I highly recommend him to
our 20-30 crowd.
I am getting several new dates on my calendar for
our many sacramental celebrations, plus prep
sessions, which reminds me that this strange weather
month is moving right along. I ask ALL Parish
Ministries and Organizations to please continue to
submit your Space Requests for single or parish
events for the 2011-12 calendar year. You can pick
download one from our website:
www.ascensionchurch.com. Rosemarie thanks you
and I thank you!
Getting back to our 2011 Priest Convocation, on
Tuesday morning June 28, Msgr. Michael Meher
gave a very affirmative talk on priesthood. I felt he
was very encouraging and supportive about our
priestly vocation and extremely positive in the good
things that priest do in their ministry. I just felt it
was a very good, affirming talk and I wasn’t the only
one who asked for a copy. We walked out of the talk
affirmed. In the afternoon, our speaker was Dr.
Elizabeth Nagel, who is a Scripture Professor at
Mundelein Seminary. Again, a fine talk in a series
of good talks. She reminded us to really study the
scriptures for our weekend homily, explain the
passages, and tell how they can be lived out in our
daily Christian journey as best we can. Dr. Nagel
stressed once again that the Liturgy of the Word at
Mass is as important as the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
Overall, I enjoyed the convocation with the priestly
camaraderie being #1. Our next one will be in
Spring of 2014.
Elsewhere in our DOME is a summary of last
weekend’s Offertory collection. Thank your for your
generosity. Thank you for ALL that you do for our
Family of Ascension.
I pray for you every day.
I see where there is some doubt whether or not the
Joffrey Ballet’s Season can be salvaged. The mood
is not optimistic that a settlement can be reached. I
think this is a good time for a “leap of faith.”
Have a good week.
GOD’S BLESSINGS!
J U L Y 17, 2011-P A G E 3