Thursday, May 23, 2013

Fifth Announcement: Champaign

Fifth Announcement
SDBs to Get a Kick from Champaign

"I get no kick from champagne" is the opening line of Cole Porter's great tune "I Get a Kick Out of You," sung by Ethel Merman in Anything Goes (1934).

On May 21 Fr. Tom Dunne announced by letter to the province that the SDBs have accepted the offer of Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria to take on pastoral care of Holy Cross Parish in Champaign, Ill.

The Salesian Sisters have been in Champaign since 2011 as part of the pastoral staff of St. John's Catholic Newman Center at the University of Illinois. They're overjoyed at learning that their brothers will be coming to join them.

Fr. Tom plans to assign 3 SDBs to begin with: a pastor, a confrere who will become part of the Newman Center chaplaincy staff, and an assistant pastor to serve Spanish-speaking people, who are a strong presence in Champaign-Urbana. He believes that these new forms of ministry match up very well with the criteria established for Salesian works by the 25th General Chapter (2002). Bp. Jenky's proposal came up for an extensive discussion at the provincial chapter in March.

Fr. Tom did not announce the names of confreres will take on this new pastoral work.

The SDBs are already serving in the Midwest at St. John Bosco Parish in Chicago. The FMAs, in addition to their presence in Champaign, also serve at St. Patrick's Church in St. Charles, Ill. (Rockford Diocese).

Update: The Peoria Diocese's newspaper, The Catholic Post, has published a story about the coming of the SDBs:

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