Fr. 10/22/2004 8:37:00 PM
 | | Mother Teresa meets Bishop Fulton Sheen at the 1978 IRL Colloquium, with Fr. Edmund McCaffrey, O.S.B. |
Fr. Edmund McCaffrey will be the guest speaker at the Catholic Citizens Lunch forum. His topic is "Whatever Happened to Courage in the Church." Rev. Edmund McCaffrey, former Abbot Ordinary of Belmont Abbey and retired pastor of Holy Family Parish in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, is the co-founder of the Institute on Religous Life (click here.)### Join us at the Chicago Athletic Club (12 S. Michigan Ave.) for the best sermon/salmon combo in Chicago! $20 for a full course lunch, and fully Catholic forum. For reservations, call 708 352 5834 the Weds. before the lunch please. The public is welcome. CCI monthly luncheons are at noon on the second Friday of every month in downtown Chicago at the Chicago Athletic Assoc, 12 S. Michigan Ave. Past CCI speakers are Bishop Sean O'Malley (now Archbishop of Boston), Helen Hull Hitchcock, Prof. James Hitchcock, Mother Assumpta Long, author Michael Rose, Prof. Ralph McInerny, Rev. Joseph Fessio, SJ, Rev. Tony Brankin, Rev. Anthony Bus, Rev. Burns Sealy, Rev. Frank Phillips, Atty. David Shippers, Phyllis Schlafley, Chestertonian Dale Ahlquist, Pro-life activitist Joe Scheidler, and Starboard radio network founder Mark Follett. Lunch is served at noon, and we're done by 1:30PM. Visitors are encouraged to park at Grant Park's north garage, just across the CAA, which is just south of the corner of Madison and Michigan Aves. ### About the Institute on Religious Life: Our Mission The Institute on Religious Life (IRL) promotes and supports the growth, development, and renewal of the consecrated life-particularly vowed religious life-as a gift to the Church and an evangelical witness to the world. We include and engage bishops, clergy, religious, consecrated and lay faithful in a collaborative apostolate of prayer and service, guided by the magisterial teachings and rich heritage of the Church. Our Guiding Principles Fidelity & Obedience: We are always guided and animated by the magisterial and pastoral teachings of the Church on religious and consecrated life. Unity & Solidarity: We are a lived expression of the principle of solidarity taught by Vatican II, bringing together Catholic faithful of all vocations and states of life for a common purpose. Witness & Example: The profession of the evangelical counsels by some can inspire, enrich, and sanctify all. Visible religious in distinctive garb are a powerful witness to the world. Tradition & Progress: We stand on the shoulders of giants, accepting and building upon what is good from the past, in accordance with the Holy See and the inspirations of the IRL founders. Prayer & Service: It is in prayer and service that the consecrated imitate Christ and lead others to Him. Our prayers and works unite us. Our Heritage Rev. John A. Hardon, S.J., established the IRL in 1974, and inspired its work, in response to the Holy See's plea to help save religious life in the United States. He was aided by outstanding co-founders and by early collaborators, including Blessed Mother Teresa, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, and many others. While others were resigned to a generation of turmoil in religious life, the IRL's founders persevered in hope. They weren't content to sit back and watch the dire predictions come true. They rolled up their sleeves and began to build and prepare for a much brighter future. Today, the IRL has expanded to meet the needs of established orders and a growing number of emerging religious communities and other institutes of consecrated life. The supernatural hope of the IRL's founders-which, to many, seemed foolhardy at the start-is beginning to come to fulfillment. Our Potential Is vowed religious life in America at the threshold of an unprecedented resurgence? We believe the answer is a resounding Yes! But the outcome will depend on whether the Catholic faithful do their part. That's why Father Hardon founded the IRL at the request of Pope Paul VI. Religious orders and communities faithful to the Church and their charism are enjoying new growth and they're attracting a remarkably increased response from new generations. Whether this will be a short-lived trend or a great new beginning will depend on whether faithful Catholics seize the unparalleled opportunity that the present moment offers. The IRL is poised to play a significant, even decisive role in shaping the future . . . and so are you! Together, our success will help to determine what sort of Church and world future generations will have.
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