Chicagoland

175th anniversary: National ministries with roots in the archdiocese

By Chicago Catholic
Thursday, November 8, 2018

Participants listen and take notes during a workshop to train Pre-Cana facilitators in this 2008 file photo. Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic

Note: This story is part of a special issue marking the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Over its 175-year history, the Archdiocese of Chicago has seen ministries start here and spread nationwide. Here are a few from recent memory:

CYO

The Catholic Youth Organization was founded by Auxiliary Bishop Bernard Sheil in 1930 as a way to use sports and leisure activities to promote Christian values among boys and girls of all races.

While the CYO provided other social services, sports were its centerpiece. At one time, it leased four floors of a downtown building and fitted them out with bowling alleys and boxing rings, according to Timothy Neary’s “Crossing Parish Boundaries: Race, Sports, and Catholic Youth in Chicago, 1914-1954.”

It also at one time sponsored the world’s largest basketball league, with 430 registered teams.

Unlike similar programs, the CYO was not segregated by race, which may have been one reason its popularity declined among white Catholics as the black population of Chicago grew.

Other dioceses started their own CYOs in the years following the establishment of the CYO in the Archdiocese of Chicago. The CYO is still at work in the archdiocese today under the auspices of Maryville.

CCHD

Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Michael Dempsey was tapped to lead the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Catholic Campaign for Human Development when it was founded in 1969, only two years after he was named a bishop. Bishop Dempsey based the work of CCHD on projects he had been involved in as pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish on the West Side and coordinator of the Inner-City Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

CCHD uses money donated by Catholics around the country to fund projects to help address the systemic causes of poverty. To qualify, the projects must include the people they serve in their leadership. Each diocese keeps 25 percent of the money its parishioners donate to make local grants; the national organization distributes the rest of the money to projects around the country.

See related story

The Cana Conference

The early marriage movement was called the Cana Conference and originated in the Archdiocese of Chicago. Its beginnings were firmly planted in the early Catholic Action Movement and in national family renewal efforts. One such effort, that of Father John Delaney of Rochester, New York, in 1942 marked the earliest record of the Chicago Cana movement.

Edwin and Marge Kirwin of Oak Park had read of Delaney’s work and invited him to conduct a marriage renewal day in Chicago. The enthusiasm generated by the conference gave impetus to the goal of making marriage renewal days available to other couples throughout the archdiocese. They enlisted the support of two Chicago priests, Father James Voss and Father Julian Marhoefer, and over the next two years, they promoted these renewal days for couples.

The name Cana Conference was used to describe not only the day retreat, but also the growing movement itself. After being officially recognized in 1946 by Cardinal Samuel Stritch, Father John Egan was appointed the first director of the Cana Conference of Chicago.

The same year, the first Pre-Cana sessions for couples preparing for marriage were held.

Christian Family Movement

The Christian Family Movement sprang from two separate groups that were created around the same time, one in Notre Dame, Indiana, and one in Chicago.

The Chicago group started with seven men meeting in a Chicago law office starting in February 1942 and discussing the role of laypeople in the church. Their discussions turned to spousal relationships, and in 1943, they held a day of recollection for husbands and wives. That action marked the beginning of the Cana Conference; an action by a group of the wives kicked off the Pre-Cana Conference.

When Pat and Patty Crowley — members of the Chicago group — met leaders of the Notre Dame group in 1948, the Christian Family Movement was born. It continues as a grassroots lay eccesial movement focusing on justice, using the “see-judge-act” method.

Topics:

  • 175th anniversary

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