Top story, week of July 6

Bishop’s administrative assistant to lead religious community

Known as Sister Trish, she will begin a three-year term as president of the Sisters of the Visitation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in August. Her final scheduled day with the diocese is July 31.

Succeeding her as the bishop’s administrative assistant will be Christopher Kreps, who will continue as assistant director of the diocesan Office of Divine Worship.

"It has been my privilege and pleasure to serve Bishop Jenky and the people of the Diocese of Peoria," said Sister Trish, who was already well known by the bishop when he invited her to assist him here in June of 2004. For nearly two decades, Bishop Jenky had observed Sister Trish’s organizational skills as she guided residence halls and directed choirs at the University of Notre Dame and later St. Matthew’s Cathedral Parish in South Bend, where the bishop also served.

"That’s a lady who could organize the Normandy invasion," Bishop Jenky told The Catholic Post this week in describing his "friend and colleague."

In thanking her for jobs well done, including scheduling his many appointments and travels, fielding telephone and mail correspondences, and even running his household operations -- such as planning the various social functions a bishop is called to host -- Bishop Jenky called Sister Trish "bright," "gifted," and "a woman of very deep faith."

Sister Trish, meanwhile, said her years in Peoria were "a great experience." She thanked everyone for their welcome and cooperation, and especially the clergy of the diocese for their support.

Quick to laugh as she shared stories of days going "full tilt" in the diocesan chancery, Sister Trish said her greatest joy was "knowing I’d made (the bishop’s) job hopefully a little easier."

"I go home with happiness in my heart but mixed feelings," said Sister Trish, a former teacher, principal, and parish director of music and of religious education. She came to central Illinois knowing one person -- Bishop Jenky -- but leaves with many new friends.

"I look back and I’m amazed," she said. "I think we accomplished a lot."

Rock Island man named to direct Office of Catechetics

Maybe it was what he learned from the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who were his teachers for 11 years at the former Sacred Heart School and Alleman High School in Rock Island.

Maybe it was the training he received as a Brother of the Christian Schools, a religious community he entered shortly after graduating from Alleman.

Now 68, he brings that steadfast love and a lifetime of experience as an educator, counselor and administrator to the diocesan Office of Catechetics. Named to succeed Father Douglas Grandon as director of the office, Dr. McClean started his new job on July 1.

Father Grandon, who was ordained on May 24 and assigned to serve as parochial vicar at Sacred Heart Parish in Moline, will continue to work with the Office of Catechetics as its associate director.

While he wants to continue the good work started by Father Grandon, Dr. McClean is especially looking forward to encouraging and supporting the work of those entrusted with sharing the light of faith with others.

"The directors of religious education and catechists are the church to those kids," he explained. "The more information they get not only about the faith but also about how to impart it, the more the kids will get."

Dr. McClean has been doing that on a smaller scale for the last four years as director of religious education at his home parish, St. Pius X in Rock Island. In addition to coordinating the CCD program for children in grades one through eight, he coordinated the RCIA process and introduced a yearly cycle of adult education to the parish.

He also brought "Family Formation" to St. Pius X. Developed at the Church of St. Paul in Ham Lake, Minn., "Family Formation" is a model of religious instruction that honors parents as the primary educators of their children and equips them to reclaim this role.

The ability to witness the faith at all levels is important for people in a society that militates against that, Dr. McClean told The Catholic Post.

"We need to share our experience -- to be a powerful force," he said. "I feel we can contribute to that."

Tribunal welcomes judge

As the newest judge for the Tribunal of the Diocese of Peoria and administrator of St. Mary of the Woods Parish in Princeville, he has found the opportunity he was seeking.

"I am glad to be here and grateful for the generous offerings of the Diocese of Peoria," Father Escalante, 43, told The Catholic Post, adding that being able to work in a small parish as well as the Tribunal will permit him to live a "truly priestly life."

The opportunity for both came about when Msgr. Richard Soseman, former judicial vicar and pastor of the Princeville parish, was released from his diocesan duties to serve in the Congregation for the Clergy at the Vatican.

While Father Jason Gray was named judicial vicar, there was still an opening for a judge in the Tribunal. When Sister Marianne Burkhard, OSB, director of the diocesan Tribunal, made the announcement at a meeting of the Canon Law Society of America (CLSA), Father Escalante thought, "Why not?"

A longtime member of the CLSA, Father Escalante had come to the United States last year to work as a judge in the Tribunal of the Diocese of Lansing, Mich. He called it a "blind date" -- a chance to start exploring where he could do the most good.

Assigned to a large parish, he was not able to get involved in parish ministry or ministry to Spanish-speaking Catholics as much as he would have liked. Not wanting to have a second "blind date," he visited the Diocese of Peoria to see if there was a way to find a better balance between Tribunal work and parish life.

"I didn’t just want to sit on this side of the desk," Father Escalante said. "Canon law is a real service to the church, but you can’t serve people if you don’t understand those people."

The large Hispanic community in central Illinois affords him one way of reaching out, although he said ministry to Spanish-speaking Catholics in the diocese seems to be well organized. "I am happy to help," he said simply.

As he continues to find his way, Father Escalante is content to do the work he loves so much.

Ceremonies July 19-20 mark 150 years since first Catholic church in Danville

On the weekend of July 19-20, Father Ted Pracz, pastor of Holy Family Parish, will lead the anniversary celebrations commemorating the 1858 construction of the original St. Patrick’s Church.

"The parish will gather around the threshold stone of the original mother church. This stone was recovered by Father Francis Cleary in 1937 and is now proudly preserved opposite the entrance to Holy Family Church," Canon John J. Flattery, a Danville native and historian who served as pastor of Holy Family Parish from 1989 to 1992, said in an e-mail to The Catholic Post.

Before each of the four weekend Masses, parishioners will take part in memorial and rededication ceremonies at the threshold stone.

"There parishioners can cherish the memory and pay honor to the pioneers of the faith who came to this country and built churches and schools which we have inherited and from which we have benefited," said Canon Flattery. "We treasure that faith that they brought to us, which we have received and which we now cherish and joyfully share with others."

Holy Family Parish, 444 E. Main St., was formed in 1978 when the former parishes of St. Patrick and St. Joseph parishes in Danville merged.

St. Patrick’s was established in 1858 as a mission of St. Mary’s in Champaign, while St. Joseph’s was established in 1863 to serve the German-speaking Catholic community of Danville.

The first Mass on record in Danville was celebrated in 1850 by Father Thomas Ryan, who attended to Catholics scattered over nine counties.

Newsletter links diocese’s Hispanic Catholics

Appropriately enough, the locally produced newsletter’s name is "Buenas Noticias" -- Spanish for "Good News."

Bearing a subtitle that translates "A diocesan bulletin for the Catholic Hispanic community," the four-page newsletter debuted last fall and now is distributed through 16 communities of Spanish-speaking Catholics located in or near Peoria, the Quad Cities, the Illinois Valley, Bloomington and Champaign.

Hispanic Catholics of the Diocese of Peoria are served by the Office of Hispanic Ministry, based at St. Bernard’s School in Peoria. The office is headed by Msgr. J. Brian Rejsek, episcopal vicar for Hispanic ministry.

Msgr. Rejsek said it is difficult to say how many Hispanic Catholics live in central Illinois, but he estimates it could be at least 20 percent of the region’s Catholic population.

"Buenas Noticias" is produced by three Sisters of the Sacred Heart and of the Poor who serve on the staff of the Office of Hispanic Ministry and travel frequently around the diocese. They are Sister Socorro Medina, who oversees the newsletter’s production, Sister Marina Ramirez Meza and Sister Rebeca Alcaraz Velezquez.

"The goal is to evangelize," Sister Socorro told The Catholic Post, and "to inform all (Spanish-speaking) people what is happening in the diocese and what the Hispanic ministry is doing in the diocese."

The Office of Hispanic Ministry has published the newsletter since September, offering it as a parish bulletin supplement to pastors and staffs in parishes with a significant number of Spanish-speaking Catholics.

"We make the newsletter ourselves and then send it to the parishes, and they make as many copies as they like," said Msgr. Rejsek. The affordable method keeps production within the office’s budget.

"It is a blessing for us. We feel good that all the diocese can draw together" through the newsletter, said Sister Socorro. "It is an opportunity for the Hispanic ministry of the diocese to be united."