Canons of St. John Cantius expand to Springfield, IL


via FatherZ
Changes in Parish Leadership.
Bishop Thomas John Paprocki has appointed Sister Mary Jean Traeger as pastoral facilitator of St. Frances Cabrini Parish, effective July 1, 2015. Fr. John Nolan will be priest moderator at St. Cabrini while continuing as pastor at Little Flower Parish, and Msgr. John Ossola will serve as sacramental priest. Also on July 1 St. Katharine Drexel Parish will welcome three priests of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. Bishop Paprocki has appointed Reverend James Isaacson, SJC, Reverend Scott Thelander, SJC, and Reverend Kevin Mann, SJC to parochial ministry at St. Katharine Drexel. On Wednesday, Feb. 11 Fathers Isaacson, Thelander and Mann will meet with the St. Katharine Drexel Pastoral Council and Finance Council at 6:00 p.m. At 7:30 p.m. on the same evening all members of the parish are invited to attend a gathering in the Lawrence Street School Building where the three newly appointed priests will be introduced and all will have a chance to greet them and welcome them to the parish. Please keep this new venture in your prayers.
It seems highly likely Paprocki was on the short list of suggestions to replace Cardinal George.

I found out recently:
They have another parish in Volo, IL http://www.stpetervolo.org/
In chatting with friends in the area, I've always recommended the Canons as perfect fit for the La Crosse area(I'm not sure if the converse is true).  There are probably not enough traditionalists in this area to support a TLM only parish, but a dual parish would flourish.  Plus I love the idea of supporting an order founded right here in our area.  Some dioceses are happy to bring in the new orders, some are more weary of "outsiders" coming in.  I've even heard of a situation where a diocesan priest was complaining that a parish run by a religious order was "taking money away from his parish."  So I guess the point that bringing in the Canons or a similar order will certainly build up Catholic Identity and faithfulness in the community, but there's always some negative ninnies who want to complain about this or that.

4 comments:

Rob said...

I am a big supporter of the dual-parish model. If we are honest about the equal worthiness of the EF and OF, we should have both in as many places as possible! Even moreso - the OF in Latin! St. John Cantius in Chicago has, each Sunday, two TLMs, one Latin OF, and one English OF. PERFECT, I say, and if they added a fifth Mass I would propose a Spanish OF.

This IS the New Evangelization!

Anonymous said...

St Francis of Assisi in Necedah, WI (where we go in summer) is a "dual Parish" Staffed by a diocesan Priest (Fr Redfern)...the Canons are awesome and I attend St Peter in Volo, IL....have for many years, before the Canons came, we had one EF Mass and reverent OF Masses....they were a perfect fit! I pray they are allowed to stay, since Fr Isaacson is being sent to S'field....unsure what our new Archbishop thinks of the Canons. :-/

Thomas Zabiega said...

The Canons Regular of St. John Cantius have so many vocations, they cannot be kept only to two parishes in the Archdiocese of Chicago. They were greatly supported by Cardinal George and Bishop Paprocki knows them well as he would celebrate Easter and other Masses at St. John Cantius. The only thing they are lacking is Hispanic ministry, despite the fact many Chicago Latinos flock to go to Mass and Confession there. Interestingly, the parish in Springfield has a large Latino membership, so I think Masses with at least Spanish homilies will be necessary. As their number grows, I think you will see more and more dioceses inviting them over. I think what they are doing is best: there shouldn't be two separate communities, those for the OF and those for TLM. Every priest should be trained by the Cantians (they do have materials they have produced) on how to properly celebrate both forms of the Mass and then our Catholic faith would truly have a resurgence.

Anonymous said...

I attend St. John Cansius in Chicago, and Fr. Mann (a young priest) is absolutely awesome in his holiness, devotion, and ministry. He came and gave the Sacrament of the Sick to my elderly (97 year old) mom, who has since passed away. His *performance* of the sacrament was so very beautiful (and according to the new rite, not Extraordinary Form) that my mother was very, very joyous. Fr. Scott is also a really great priest, down to earth, very solid. I don't know Fr. Issacson.
These men are correctly formed, not at all outside the Magisterium, and completely in conformity with the Church. You will be so blessed by their presence. I will pray for them and you. You are very lucky, and I will miss Fr. Mann and Fr. Thelander's Masses and homilies (and confessions!)