Latest news with #HolyNameCathedral
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
18-year-old arrested for attempted car theft of priest outside Near North Side church: police
The Brief A Near North Side priest was the victim of an attempted armed car theft while his car was parked outside his church on May 21, police say. Raleigh Ford, 18, was identified as the alleged suspect in the incident. The investigation is ongoing; no charges have been filed. CHICAGO - An 18-year-old is in custody after allegedly attempting to steal a priest's car while it was parked outside a Near North Side church on May 21, police said. What we know The victim, a Catholic priest, stopped to check the mail at Holy Name Cathedral Parrish before joining some of the nuns for a lunch reservation at around 11:25 a.m. The victim parked his 2015 Toyota Rav4 on the street, unlocked with the keys in the ignition and the vehicle running. When returning to his vehicle, the victim allegedly saw Raleigh Ford checking to see if the car was unlocked. When the victim called out to Ford, Ford entered the driver's side of the car. The victim quickly ran to the car and entered the car on the passenger's side. The two got into a physical altercation, with Ford trying to push the victim out of the car while the victim was able to dislodge the keys from the vehicle's ignition. Ford then fled on foot in an unknown direction. No injuries were reported. The incident was recorded on the Parrish CCTV. Ford was arrested for a similar crime on May 26 by Chicago Police and positively identified as the suspect by the victim. What's next The investigation is ongoing and charges are still pending at this time. The Source Details of this case were provided by the Chicago Police Department and court documents.
New York Times
12-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
‘Viva Papa Leo!' At U.S. Masses, Dawn of Homegrown Pope Brings an Air of Electricity.
The Rev. Gosbert Rwezahura opened Mass on Sunday morning by saying what everyone in the pews was thinking. 'Habemus papam!' he exclaimed at Christ Our Savior Parish in South Holland, Ill. Beaming, he added, 'He is one of our own!' It was the first Sunday in American history with an American pope seated on the throne of St. Peter in Rome. At parishes across the country, Catholics filed into the pews with a sense of wonder, hope and pride over Pope Leo XIV. At Christ Our Savior, the pride was personal: Today's parish was formed from others in the area around the South Side of Chicago that includes a now-closed church where the pope attended as a child. Father Rwezahura put it simply: 'We are the home parish of the pope!' 'I'm so full and so proud, I don't know what to do,' said Janice I. Sims, 75. 'I'm definitely blessed because I lived long enough to see it happen.' Others there traded anecdotes about brushes with the future pope, back when he was known as Robert Prevost: the music director who played at a wedding he officiated, the deacon who went to high school where his mother was the school librarian. At the standing-room-only 10:30 a.m. Mass at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, the Rev. Ton Nguyen began his homily by exclaiming 'Viva Papa Leo the 14th!' The congregation applauded. Outside the church, yellow and white bunting hung in celebration. 'My heart is overwhelmed with joy that we have an American Pope, and he is from Chicago,' Father Nguyen said. Catholics at other services around the country were no less ebullient and were starting to think ahead to their hopes for the new papacy. Perhaps Leo could attract more young people to church, inspire more men to become priests or help unify an often fractious Catholic population in his home country. At 69, he could lead the church for decades. 'He already won over the hearts of the whole world,' said Amelia Coto, 70, who was attending a Spanish-language Mass at Gesù Catholic Church in downtown Miami. 'We were without a father, but now God gave us this father we desired so much.' Ms. Coto is from Honduras, and she teared up when talking about Leo. Like others at Spanish-language Masses in Miami on Sunday, she expressed optimism that a Spanish-speaking pope who lived for decades in South America might be able to sway American immigration policy. 'I hope his arrival will help this new president change, stop all those deportations that Trump is doing to Latinos,' she said. In New Orleans, the pope's mother's family had roots in the Black Creole community, where African, Caribbean and French influences blend. In the city this week, social media feeds were overloaded with images of the pope's face superimposed in everyday New Orleans scenes. Eating a bowl of gumbo. Showing off his footwork in a second-line parade. Popping his head out of a front door to ask, 'How's your mama and dem?' Angela Rattler, 69, was attending Mass on Sunday at Corpus Christi-Epiphany Catholic Church in the Seventh Ward. When she first heard the pope speak, tears flowed down her face, she said. 'He appears to be such a humble man.' It was Mother's Day, which is not a Christian holiday but one where church attendance is usually high anyway. Still, the pews seemed especially full at some parishes. At St. Ann Parish in Coppell, Texas, all 1,300 seats inside were filled, along with a few hundred people seated in a courtyard at Sunday's 10 a.m. Mass. The Rev. Edwin Leonard planned a homily that emphasized the vocation of motherhood. But then 'the Holy Spirit did a beautiful thing,' he told his congregation, and another topic felt more fitting. 'So it is on Mother's Day that I'm going to speak about the Holy Father,' Father Leonard said. Among traditionalists, who had a rocky relationship with the open and informal Pope Francis, some wondered whether Pope Leo might reopen broader access to the traditional Latin Mass. Pope Francis cracked down on the traditional Mass, celebrated by Catholics around the world until the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. At a Latin Mass at St. Damien Catholic Church in Edmond, Okla., worshipers expressed cautious optimism about the prospect. 'There is no way to be sure what he'll do,' the Rev. Joseph Portzer said in his homily. 'But we do see that some of the first words that he said were to talk about unity in the church.' Father Portzer was among those who found the pope's American identity intriguing. 'We will have an unusual experience being governed by someone who thinks like an American, a Midwestern American,' he said. 'It's going to mean a lot to us to have an American mind-set governing the church.' For him, that meant a practicality in governing and the possibility that 'we will be able, as well, to understand the way he thinks.' When Father Leonard in Texas heard the new pope's name on Thursday, the first thing he did was to look up whether he had political or ideological leanings, he told his congregation. 'Mea culpa,' he said in the only Latin words heard during the Mass. 'We should not try to fit our pope into our American liberal or conservative camps. If you did that, shame on us.' Back at Christ Our Savior in the south suburbs of Chicago, a large population of immigrants from Nigeria worshiped along with white and Black families who have lived on the South Side for decades. The pope's home parish is now a place that in many ways reflects the global church that its favorite son is now charged with leading. Father Rwezahura is from Tanzania, and the deacon serving with him on the altar on Sunday, Mel Stasinski, has lived in Chicago his whole life. United by a faith shared by 1.4 billion Catholics around the world, they were also connected by their sheer joy on Sunday. As Diane Sheeran, 70, described how she felt when she got the news about Leo: 'I had a grin for two days.'
CBS News
11-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral honors Pope Leo XIV at Sunday mass
A special prayer was delivered at Holy Name Cathedral Sunday for Pope Leo XIV. The church held its first Sunday mass since the pope was elected on Thursday. Many who attended said they are praying for unity." It was an overflow crowd for the 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning mass. Kevin Schwehs couldn't miss the moment. "We've got the Pope, we've got love, we've got sunshine, we've got Mother's Day," Schwehs said. "We're winning." Schwehs, his mother, and a friend of the family, Nancy Cobb, say Pope Leo XIV gives them hope. "He seems so down-to-earth, and we all need hope," Cobb said, "and I think he will unify a lot of us." Alice Villalobos is from Los Angeles, and came to Chicago to celebrate her 62nd birthday. She said she is a proud Catholic, so it was a must to attend church. "As soon as it was announced that we were coming here, we've got to come to a church," said Villalobos, "and we were going to go to his hometown, but we slept late today." Villalobos also wanted to share in baseball fandom with the Pope. "We're going to a White Sox game just for him, even though we're Dodger fans," she said. "Go Dodgers." While part of the mass was dedicated to Pope Leo XIV, many parishioners also came to celebrate Mother's Day. "I think it's a combination of both — also, the beautiful spring weather here in Chicago; graduation for college students, so families are in town," said Father Andy Matijevic, director of worship at Holy Name Cathedral. "It's a great day to celebrate, a great day to be Catholic, and a great day to come together to thank God for the gift of so many things." Many at Holy Name Cathedral said it was their hope that the inspiration that many felt this week will continue for years to come.
CBS News
10-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Pope Leo XIV serves as inspiration for newly ordained deacons in Chicago
Fifteen deacons were ordained Saturday morning at Holy Name Cathedral in downtown Chicago, in a private mass many people called magical, especially on the heels of the selection of a new pope who is a Chicago native. Parishioners said it's always special to see their loved ones being ordained, but especially during a week like this where Chicago's Catholic community is in a global spotlight "It's been an unbelievable week, obviously, for all of us," said Mark Duffey, who was ordained as a deacon at St. Thomas of Villanova Parish in Palatine. Holy Name Cathedral parishioner Gloria Roman said it's a week that filled her with happiness as Chicago native Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected the new pope, Pope Leo XIV. "I feel like we're one with the whole world. You can be in any church. I couldn't be in Rome today, but I was here, and you can go to any church in the world, and it's the same liturgy, and it's beautiful," Roman said. Roman watched a friend become an ordained deacon at Saturday's mass. "I felt I was in heaven when I was in there," she said. Duffey said he feels honored to be a part of the journey for 15 new deacons. "I think there was a lot more energy and excitement with the new pope, the new Chicago-born pope. Bishop Sullivan mentioned that a couple times today, and brought us greetings from Cardinal Cupich, who obviously is still a little busy in Rome with everything," he said. Duffey said he hopes the new pope's background, with extensive missionary work in Peru, can inspire more people to serve the Catholic Church. "Certainly could strike people in their hearts in a different way than maybe other popes have, and he's just such a down to earth guy," he said. The presence of women leading in the church is also something carrying inspiration. "I think women have a very strong role in the church, have always had it; the greatest saints are women," Roman said. "That's certainly been increasing for the last, I'd say, 20 or 30 years in particular, going back to St. Pope John Paul II, but all of the popes since then, certainly Pope Francis, and it sounds as if Pope Leo XIV is going to continue that, and I think that's a wonderful thing for our church," Duffey said. Many at Holy Name Cathedral said it's their hope the inspiration many have felt from the church this week will continue for years to come.
Washington Post
09-05-2025
- General
- Washington Post
‘Da Pope' thrills Chicago Catholics — and raises high expectations
CHICAGO — Bells tolled and joy erupted in Holy Name Cathedral when hometown cleric Robert Francis Prevost was elected pope, but by Friday the city's Catholics were more contemplative — gathering in large numbers to pray for the new pontiff and pondering his historic future. At a morning Mass and prayer service for Pope Leo XIV at Holy Name — the headquarters of Chicago's archdiocese — dozens of faithful lined the pews to sing, clasp hands and pray for Prevost, a native of the city's South Side who spent much of his religious career in Peru. Spring flowers dotted the altar; hats from previous cardinals hung suspended from the vaulted ceiling like a flock of red birds.
