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The
History of the Sheil Catholic Center Epilogue
No history of an
institution can ever adequately record "the spirit of
the place," which is a product of the people who compose
it. Calendars, building specifications, financial accounts,
even correspondence never do justice to the people behind
them. Individual memory is usually a very personal thing involving
the impact and interplay of other persons; the historian's
chronicle, restricted to data, misses most of that. A place
may bear its own address, present its own configuration of
space, publish its own calendar, but the reality of what goes
on there will vary according to the special qualities of those
who shape the experience within it. A recorded name from the
past can be linked to an office, a committee or an event,
but it remains only a name: The persona is missing. The only
authentic history of Sheil would be one that gathers together
the personal testimonials of all those who have played a part
in its life -- an impossible task. Our modest hopes must be
that recalling some of the names and events will trigger the
more significant memories of persons present to one another,
sharing both common goals and special gifts, needs and dreams.
Jubilee Highlights
Superman, Judy
Garland's Wizard of Oz, and the Sheil Club of Northwestern
University were all created in 1939, and would all celebrate
a golden anniversary in 1989. Krypton and the Yellow Brick
Road were all somewhere over the rainbow, but 2110 Sheridan
Road was and is very much right here, and the plans for our
special anniversary celebration were started in the winter
of 1988, under the leadership of Monsignor McGillicuddy, Father
Krump and the two associates whose special dedication kept
the whole thing going: alumna Helen LaPat Smith and her husband,
Sheil's deacon since 1986, Courtney T. Smith. The Smiths'
considerable skills of organization and diplomacy were of
inestimable value in mapping out and directing what would
become a complex and wide-ranging network of activities and
volunteers: By spring nearly 200 persons -- mostly alumni
and associates -- had enlisted to serve on the various subcommittees.
Plans went ahead for a special series of lectures throughout
the year; a gala weekend reunion and celebration in May 1989;
a community cookbook, "Taste of Sheil"; a commemorative
history; and a major fundraising program.
Joseph Cardinal
Bernardin joined Sheil chaplains Carroll, Krump and McGillicuddy
in concelebrating the Mass to open the Jubilee year on April
17, 1988.
The Jubilee Forum
Committee, led by William and Lucille Riordan, James and Joan
Wilbur and student chair Lori Kettner, set up a series of
our special presentations with distinguished participants:
Fall 1988: "Women,
Men and Authority: the Church Confronts its own Sexism."
Panelists addressing the draft of the U.S. Catholic Bishops'
pastoral letter on women's concerns for church and society
included Dr. Alice B. Hayes, Vice President for Academic Affairs
at Chicago's Loyola University; Dr. Rosemary Radford Ruether,
Professor of applied Theology at Garrett Evangelical Seminary
in Evanston; Rev. George J. Kane, pastor of the Church of
the Holy Spirit, Schaumburg; and women's advocate Edwina Gateley,
founder of the Genesis House.
Winter 1989: Dr.
John Dominic Crossan, Professor of Biblical studies at De
Paul University in Chicago, discussed his recent book, The
Cross That Spoke: Origins of the Passion Narratives, in which
he argues that the "Gospel of Peter," an apocryphal
text discovered in 1886 in the Egyptian grave of an early
Christian monk, contains the first narrative version of the
death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, from which the accounts
in the canonical gospels were elaborated.
Spring 1989: "Fundamentalism
in Contemporary American Protestantism and Catholicism"
was analyzed by two experts: Rev. Martin E. Marty, Fairfax
M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor of the History of
Modern Christianity at the University of Chicago and editor
of the celebrated ecumenical weekly, Christian century, and
Dr. Scott Appleby, Associate Director of a major research
and analysis project funded by the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences on fundamentalism around the world.
Fall 1989: Patricia
Werhane, Professor of Ethics at Loyola University, and Dennis
McCann, Professor of Religious Studies at De Paul University,
discussed "The Moral Money-Maker: Ethical and Religious
Perspectives on Business."
Other highlights
of the jubilee year were two special social events: a Mardi
Gras dinner-dance in February and a gala reunion weekend May
19-21. The winter event, held at a new restaurant in the very
building-The Margarita Club-where Sheilites of the '40s had
held their dances, succeeded in drawing 130 participants despite
a hostile blizzard. Ed Walsh, one of Sheil's original six
founders, attended, along with several from the first 30 years.
Many more alums
returned for the spring weekend, first to gather at a reception
Friday night in the center, where an exhibit of Sheil memorabilia
had been mounted in the library, and then to join with associates
and students on Saturday night for a buffet dinner and dancing
under a tent set up on the premises. The 200 participants
applauded the awarding of plaques of appreciation to Monsignor
McGillicuddy and Father Krump and the announcement by alums
Ted and Louann Van Zelst of an endowment fund established
to honor Father Mac by providing income for special programs
at Sheil. The festivities were brought to a close at Sunday's
Alumni Mass, concelebrated by chaplains McGillicuddy and Krump
and alumnus Father Steve Lanza.
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