September/October 2008 - Monthly Newsletter
Fr. Wall's Column:
"What It Means To Be A Christian"
It was one of those brief notations chronicled in an old parish history book that couldn't help but catch your eye and command your attention. It starkly stated that in 1854 Father Patrick McLoughlin, pastor of Old St. Patrick's Church in Chicago (where I was pastor for 24 years), Sister Agatha O'Brien, RSM, the first principal of the school, and three other Sisters of Mercy died while attending to the needs of the poor, the sick and the dying during a horrible cholera epidemic that devastated the city... >>Read More
EXTENSION: September/October 2008
Tending the Tiniest Hearts
Dr. Carol Cottrill has helped mend hundreds of hearts in the tiniest patients, pulling them through with her skills and her deep faith. It's for that reason that the 71-year-old pediatric cardiologist was selected to receive Catholic Extension's Lumen Christi Award, the nation's highest honor for home mission work. Many fine Catholic doctors are practicing in the U.S., but not many could claim the title of "missionary." What qualifies Dr. Cottrill is her commitment to the health of the needy in eastern Kentucky, where she runs two monthly cardiac care clinics, and her unwavering respect for human life. .. >>Read More
"One Church At a Time"
In Scottsville, Kentucky there's a little wooden sign that reads, "Catholic Church, half block up on the left." But when you drive by, you find that it's just a little 1960's style modular home with a steeple on top. There's barely room to stand. It's no bigger than a living room. It is the only Catholic church in the entire county. There's nowhere else for Catholics to go! Although many people want to attend Mass, there's not even enough room to sit down. Some people end up standing outside and watching the Mass through windows... >>Read More
September Hidden Hero:
Father Tom Ogg
The Olympics may have just concluded, but the missions have at least one Olympic "hero" - in the senior division, anyway. Father Tom Ogg of the Diocese of Cheyenne took home three gold medals in Wyoming's Senior Olympics in July, the third year he's competed in the games. The priest medaled in the 50- and 100-meter sprints, and in the standing long jump. His time of 13.6 seconds in the 100-meter was only 4 seconds more than the record set by Jamaican Usain Bolt in the actual Olympics. Not bad for a 67-year-old who only tried competitive running three years ago. (Bolt is 22.) ... >>Read More