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The
History of the Sheil Catholic Center
The
First 50 Years
When the Sheil
Catholic Center celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1989, a group
of talented and dedicated associates researched and wrote
a history of the first 50 years. We are reprinting that history
here.
From Campus
Club to Campus Parish
As its family grew,
Sheil took another step in its development from campus club
to campus parish. Occasional weddings under special arrangements
had been held previously at Sheil; in 1969 the archdiocese
granted it full permission to celebrate weddings for any of
its Northwestern-affiliated members. By 1975 some 30 weddings
a year were being held at the chapel.
Infants also began
to be baptized at Sheil, but it is the baptism of adult converts
during the Easter Vigil liturgy that has become a notable
feature at Sheil. A revival of an ancient tradition, it is
the climax of the catechumenate program developed by Father
Krump and elaborated by Cindy Cycon, Joe Bator, Mary and Bob
Kincaid and Sheila McGinn-Moorer. Open to those preparing
for baptism, communion, or confirmation, as well as to others
wishing to learn more about the Catholic tradition and faith,
the catechumenate, in the words of one student in the mid-'80s,
"resembles a tightly woven, multicolored fabric by the
year's end. Participants range in age from 17 to 60 and come
from a variety of backgrounds. Through study, discussion and
prayer, the group draws together, growing individually and
as a whole."
Educational programs
and sacramental celebrations also expanded beyond those of
the strictly student years of Sheil: baby-sitting nurseries
during Sunday Masses, religious instruction classes leading
up to the First Communion, pre-confirmation instruction and
special programs for the high school and younger age groups.
As the central,
sustaining element of the Christian community, the celebration
of the Eucharist is what most brings together the various
sectors of Sheil. Planning the liturgy and participating in
it involve choir groups and musicians; teams of lectors, sacristans
and ushers, Eucharistic bread bakers and communion ministers.
Sheil liturgies
were enhanced in the early '70s when Northwestern faculty
member Frank Willett began a training program for lectors.
That program was further developed in the ensuing years by
Father Fred Baumer and then by Ardis Collins of the Loyola
University faculty, who has directed many memorable readings
for Holy Week and other major liturgies.
Sheil, of course,
continued to see the students as the core of its community.
But where earlier student generations might have seen themselves
as a select group seeking to preserve their Catholic identity
within a sometimes hostile secular university, Sheil students
of the '70s and '80s had the much wider outlook of Vatican
II and a much more diversified congregation with which to
share in worship and learning. In this context, the challenge
for Sheil was to encourage participation and leadership from
all sectors of its expanded community -- undergrads and grads,
faculty, alumni and associates.
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