Assumption Snapshots

Assumption snapshots is a monthly report that features some of the news and events of Assumption parishioners and priests designed to help us all get to know each other a little better.

Father Damian Celebrates 60 Years

Assumption Church's own Fr. Damian Charboneau, O.S.M. was honored by Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago at a luncheon on June 13 in Oak Park, along with other sisters, brothers and priests celebrating 50, 60 and 70 years of religious life.

Fr. Damian is a Chicago native and entered the Servite Order in Illinois after a year at St. John's University in Minnesota. He was ordained in 1950 at St. Andrew Church in Chicago. During his 60 years in the ministry he has taught in a Servite minor seminary, the novitiate program in California and Servite high schools in Chicago and Denver.

His missionary work has taken Fr. Damian to Swaziland where he also was a Peace Corps volunteer, and he has been active in AIDS ministry. While serving in New Jersey he helped start a Hispanic parish in Perth Amboy, after studying Spanish in Puerto Rico.

We join in celebrating Fr. Damian's long service to the Servite Order!

Secular Servite Addresses Province Chapter

One of the speakers at the 2010 Provincial Chapter of Renewal for the Order of Friar Servants of Mary was MaryAnn Andersen, an active member of the Assumption Church parish. She is also the prioress of the Servite Secular Order, or Secular Order of the Servants of Mary, which is the Catholic organization of lay men and women and diocesan priests practicing their religion in the materialistic world.

Speaking at the meeting, held in Mundelein during June, Ms. Andersen reflected on how she feels Servites can respond to the reality of the current world, with its needs and longings. She has come to realize that knowing and loving God with our whole heart and soul requires moving beyond attending Mass to taking action to achieve goodness. The Servites attracted her because of their A-list qualities: Authenticity, Accessibility, Attentiveness and Action. Her words were an inspiration to lay members of the faith who are all called to holiness and are worthy of service

Assumption Parishioner Jacqueline Hayes and HELP

After trying one too many times to climb over bodies of homeless people sleeping on sidewalks in the Michigan Avenue and Oak Street area, Jacqueline Hayes decided it was time to do something. As a real estate leasing agent, she was often in the neighborhood showing retail properties to business men and women from around the country and the world.

"It was terribly embarrassing for them to see how Chicago treated its neediest," she recalled, "and it was no place for anyone to be sleeping."

So Ms. Hayes founded HELP, or Help Ease Local Poverty, in November 1999. By August of the following year HELP was an Illinois not-for-profit organization comprised of various groups located between Wacker Drive to the south, Division Street to the north, Lake Michigan on the east and Chicago River to the west.

Among the sponsoring organizations were Catholic Charities, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Greater North Michigan Avenue Association, Holy Name Cathedral, Lawson House YMCA, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, River North Association, Streeterville Organization of Active Residents and Thresholds Mobile Assessment Unit. Additionally, the Chicago Department of Human Services, the 18th District Police Station and the Department of Veteran Affairs were closely involved.

HELP's first order of business was to educate individuals about how to assist those in need of food, shelter and work. A card was developed which listed the various services available to the disadvantaged and suggestions as to how area businesses and residents could provide access to those resources.

Then Ms. Hayes worked with Catholic Charities to begin a dinner service for people who had no where else to eat. The first schedule was for meals to be served on Wednesday evenings at 721 North LaSalle Street for about 130 guests. Soon other organizations began sponsoring the evening meals and service was expanded to additional evenings. Programs were offered while guests were gathered for dinner which focused on literacy, physical and mental health, job training, drug rehabilitation and homeless shelters.

By 2008, HELP had expanded to the point that Ms. Hayes merged the organization with the Jane Addams Hull House Association, where she remains active on the board. The growth and success of HELP is certainly a tribute to her efforts to make a difference in Chicago by volunteering her time, talent and many resources.

Assumption Church provides volunteers for HELP dinners on a regular basis. The next opportunities for working at a HELP dinner are on September 15 and November 3. Watch the Sunday bulletin for details on how to offer your services