|
Beginnings
Spurred by the
zeal and enthusiasm of the six founding students and the support
and inspiration of Bishop Sheil, who served informally as
the group's first chaplain, the club began to grow. Besides
regular social activities, its first program included lectures
on Scholastic philosophy and a day of recollection. The most
noted event of its inaugural year was a lecture presented
in 1940 by Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen, who spoke to a crowd
of 1,300; The Daily Northwestern covered it as front-page
news.
In July 1940 Bishop
Sheil arranged for a young assistant pastor at St. Mary's
church in Evanston, Father Cornelius McGillicuddy, to serve
as official club chaplain as part of his parish assignment.
Father McGillicuddy was no stranger to at least of the founding
members of the Sheil club; he had grown up in the same Chicago
parish -- Our Lady of Mount Carmel -- as Irene Lundgren and
Ed Walsh. At their invitation, and while still a deacon, he
had attended the club's early meetings. Ordained in 1939,
"Father Mac" (as he was quickly dubbed) shared with
the Sheil Club an anniversary of more than passing significance.
Most of the first 30 years of his priestly career would be
devoted to campus ministry at Northwestern.
The club met wherever
it could hang its hat, on and off campus. Sheil, if not the
first, was one of the first campus organizations to meet in
the new Scott Hall for its opening reception, in the 1940-41
school year. It also met in the Coast Guard building, Harris
Hall, and St. Mary's, and held dances at the Margarita Club
on Oak Avenue, then a residence hall for single Catholic women.
Sheil programs
fell into the categories of spiritual, educational, and social.
Communion Sundays started with Mass at St. Mary's and ended
with breakfast with a prominent speaker at a nearby hotel.
Days of recollection were presented at Marywood School (now
the Evanston Civic Center) and annual retreats were held at
Doddridge Farm near Libertyville, which Bishop Sheil had purchased
for use as a Catholic Youth Organization camp.
Members also met
weekly in the Scott Hall Grill for Friday lunch. ("We
didn't eat meat together," was group's informal slogan).
Weekly get-togethers and meetings featuring a guest speaker
or discussion became a regular practice. Special discussion
groups were also formed. And there were special public events,
such as a concert by the Paulist Choristers in Cahn Auditorium.
Social events included
dances, picnics, hay rides and outings -- especially those
to Doddridge Farm, where, beginning in the summer of 1940
and then in the spring of the following years, the newly elected
board of student officers spent a week to plan activities
and projects for the year ahead, mixing work with sports,
games and worship. (Later, in the '50s, similar planning weekends
took place at Childerly, a center in Wheeling owned by the
University of Chicago's Newman Center, the Calvert Club.)
From the beginning,
the students essentially ran the club, adopting a constitution,
electing an annual slate of officers, planning and then carrying
out spiritual, educational and social programs. The original
charge of the Educational Committee reflected what Bishop
Sheil had endeavored to foster in so many quarters: "To
contact and bring to our campus outstanding men and women
in the field of Catholic action and give us a program that
will satisfy our desire for a strong basic knowledge of our
religion." This kind of student leadership predated the
current and growing practice of giving the laity a significant
role in the leadership and direction of the Church. Experience
has shown that active participation of the students in the
life of the campus church prepared many of them to become
future leaders in parishes and other Catholic communities.
About Us
l Student
Groups and Programs l Worship,
Sacraments and Spiritual Life l Education
l Upcoming
Events l Service
Programs and Opportunities l News
l Other
Religious and Spiritual Resources l About
You l Site
Map l Sheil
Home
|
|
