As it turns out we spent
the week between Christmas and New Year in Norway Illinois about 90 minutes
southwest of Chicago Norway
Our road trip going was
about 6 hours from our location in Indy.
The last 2 1/2 hours was spent driving in the snow and by the time we
reached our resort destination it was after dark and there was a good 6 inches
or more of snow on the ground. We
unloaded our car, fixed the dinner we had brought from home, showered and
settled in for the evening. Before retiring for the night we phoned St.
Theresa's Catholic Church in Earlville
for the Sunday Mass schedule and decided upon the 10:30 A.M. Mass.
After waking on Sunday
morning to more snow; we ate breakfast, did our morning prayers, got ready for
Church (by this time it was in single digit temperatures) and cleared the car
of snow. When we headed out on the
country roads it was not too bad but by the time we had traveled 3 miles of the
20 mile trip we began to re-evaluate the
situation. We were traveling on unfamiliar
roads, the wind was causing the snow to drift and even though it appeared snow
plows had been by we really could not tell very well where the road ended and
the fields began. We decided we should
not risk ending up stuck a in ditch. Disheartened that we would miss Mass we
turned around and headed back to the condo.
For the remainder of
Sunday and again on Monday we caught up on reading and relaxation. Tuesday was the day we were
really looking forward to. We woke up at
2:00 A.M. to get ready for our 90 minute trip into Chicago for the 6:00 A.M.
Mass, Extraordinary Form followed by the Novus Ordo and Morning Prayer at St. John Cantius Church.
The Church is of Polish
origin and is one of those parishes near closure due to parishioners moving to
the suburbs. It is now operated by the
Canons Regular of St. John Cantius whose main charism is to bring about the
sacred, in the celebration of the liturgy, devotion and in education. It has
been completely renovated and is gorgeous! It is home to six or so priests and
probably 30 or so seminarians. The Novus Ordo Mass was celebrated with the
altar facing away from the people and in the Sanctus, Agnus Dei, etc in Latin.
Morning Prayer was chanted. The whole
morning was such a beautifully awesome experience. We stayed for Midday prayer and then
reluctantly began our return trip home.
St.
John Cantius has what is called St.
Monica's Sodality for those of us who mourn for our family who have lapsed
from the Faith. The following is a
remark from
Shirley Cichy, a member of the St. Monica Sodality. “It’s unbelievable
when you stop and realize that we probably have more fallen away Catholics than
active Catholics. The Catholic culture in the United States
The following day we
again woke early this time to be at Marytown for the 7:00 A.M. Mass. Marytown is located in Libertyville ,
IL just north of Chicago
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