My sisters and brothers, read Sara Burson’s wonderful interview of Fr. Jim – abridged in the bulletin insert, and complete on the website. What I share today I just call an Appreciation.
 
A few days ago I made my way past the stubborn wooden gate and up the challenging back stairs to Jim’s place.  I came with some questions, but never asked them. You and I pretty much sat quietly – – “poor banished children of Eve”, occasionally sending up a sigh, “mourning and weeping – gementes et flentes in this valley of tears,”   with a few words of Hopkins’ “Why do sinners’ ways prosper and disappointment all I endeavor get? Wert thou my enemy, O thou, my friend, how wouldst thou worse, I wonder, than thou dost defeat, thwart me? Birds build but not I build. No, but strain, Time’s eunuch and not breed one work that wakes! Mine, O Lord of Life, send my roots rain!”       Well, God has!
 
‘The Lord of Life has sent our roots rain.”  Through you,  Jim Halstead!  You have rained rich beams against this much thick and marsh world– from Grand Blanc to Hyde Park, Leuven, Belgium  to Chicago, Illinois, CTU to DePaul, as Augustinian prior and University Professor, (indeed Chair of Religious Studies,) opener of the world of education to the young (yay!) and reader of their papers (Ugh!), and  St Nicholas presider, and resident, and priest to the parish, not to mention dear friend, advisor and soul companion to me.
 
Like you, Jim, I sort of backed into the priesthood; but truth be told,  whether priesthood or religious life, It is really God who made the choice.  It’s right here, in the gospel of Luke, in Isaiah 6 and  1Corinthians 15 that we have just heard. It’s all  God! God’s choice! God’s doing!  God’s grace! “By God’s grace, I am what I am!”

“Whom shall I send, who will go for us.  I wonder how many times you felt like young Isaiah “Woe is me, I am a man of unclean heart…BUT, but – almost in the same breath:  “Here I am, Lord. Send me.” And. like Simon who had so depended on  breaking, tearing,  leaking nets and sinking boats,  you surrendered, you left it all in Grand Blanc and continued leaving it all… “Here I am, send me. SEND ME!  And, at the Lord’s command you put out to sea,  not knowing how deep that water would become.
 
Jim,  I have been blest to know you, first at St Thomas Apostle in 1970 when I was a young priest, and you were…well… even younger…an Augustinian graduate student at CTU, with an imagination that had been sparked years earlier by the grandeur of the stars in Michigan’s pitch black sky – those “firefolk sitting in the air,”  and wonderment of the playful, ever exploring child in you reflecting more deeply about the consciousness of a fish, that first intrigued you in northern Michigan, and now pondering much, much more.
 
Sixteen years later, I welcomed you - a newly minted doctor of theology and PhD in Religious Studies to be presider and, for a blessed time a resident at St. Nicks, when I got to know your mom, and your sisters Jackie and Jannie . We may not have realized  then what an organic part of this community you would become, though you had done parish ministry in  in Chicago, Detroit and Belgium even as you probed the mysteries of moral theology and sought to resolve the conflict between science and religion.  As you said, you found the perfect combination: professor during the week and pastor on the weekends
 
The rest -they say - is history,  a history well known and deeply treasured by our St Nicholas community.  See it in the words of gratitude; feel it in the tears and running laughter of the community.
 
You have presided at our liturgy, baptized our children, anointed our families, buried those we have loved and lost; you have reconciled us, married us; you have visited the sick wherever and however they were. You have enriched our eucharist, have helped us to appreciate the role of the assembly, opened our minds and hearts with your preaching that you may have found “terrifying” but we have found enriching. Ever the professor, you have stretched us, you’ve made us think,  opened us to wonder even when the numbers of your subordinate clauses between  subject and predicate have challenged our limits.
 
Most of all, you have loved us! You have always found time to drop in to our lives, no matter how diverse the location and crowded your schedule.  You rarely stayed long, but you showed up…you always had 100 places to go—combined, I think, with  Augustinian “restlessness” 
You are “Christ in 10,000 places, lovely in limbs, lovely in eyes not his!
 
Nor have you been hesitant to “put out into the deep!  Ask David Bradford. David called me, wrote me to say:  “Four and a half years ago Fr James gave to my wife, Remy, the most precious of gifts, the gift of life. He donated his kidney so that she could live a normal life.  Remy had been on dialysis for seven and a half years,  waiting to hear from the national organ program.  David said:  “Although I was raised a Catholic, I’ve been a practicing Buddhist for over 50 years. I would accompany Remy and our daughter to Mass occasionally, and was moved by Fr James’ preaching, especially a homily on the world’s’ religions. While Biking the Ridge,  praying and worrying about Remy, I found myself in front of the church. I walked into the confessional to ask Fr James if he had any suggestions or advice on enhancing Remy’s chances of getting a kidney.  Without hesitating, he said “What about me, Dave…could I be a donor?”
I was dumbstruck. I said  “Father James, I came here for advice and not to solicit a kidney.” 
 
Thus began a lengthy and  rigorous process of screening, interrupted by a pandemic. At one point, James, you told me they drew 21 vials of blood, and then because of human error had to repeat it!.  In all of this – from the preparation to arduous recovery, you never wavered in your determination to donate your kidney.  Here I am Lord, Send me!
 
“Here I am, Lord, send me!    Here I am, And you have gone into a world at once charged with God’s grandeur and so badly bent. You continue to witness to the ‘dearest freshness deep down things, as you cheer for us and challenge us to strive for justice, work for peace, care for those at the peripheries – the least, the lonely and the lost.
 
Let’s return to your apartment. The gate’s still stubborn, the stairs challenging. . You hand  me a newspaper, the Daily Southtown (April 5, 2005) JPII has died–there an open letter from you to the college of cardinals.  You describe your hopes for a new Pope:  spiritual depth, deep faith, hope and love of God and all people; one who can inspire people to talk to each other as members of the church and citizens of the world… who takes keen interest in youth, challenges and celebrates their lives…who speaks for human dignity, cares for the sick, dying and the dead… who can say a word of encouragement, challenge and wisdom to artists, businessmen, thinkers  and politicians, the shapers of social life, one who wants and likes his job,  
 
You may have been writing about a pope, but you were describing YOU,   holy Father – You, Jim Halstead!
 Beloved! Beloved! Beloved!
 
-Fr. Bob Oldershaw

At the 10:30 Mass this Sunday, February 9, our parish will celebrate Fr. James "Jim" Halstead, OSA, and his life, love, ministry, and dedication. Cards (no gifts) are welcome; they can be dropped off at the Mass or sent to the parish office (Fr. Jim Halstead c/o St. John XXIII Parish, 806 Ridge Ave, Evanston, IL 60202), where they will be collected and delivered to Fr. Jim. We are also creating a video montage as a tribute to Fr. Jim. If you would like to contribute a short video of no more than two minutes, please click HERE and follow the instructions on the website. The deadline to submit a video is February 15.

(Click HERE to read Fr. Bob Oldershaw's homily from the Mass on February 9 honoring Fr. Jim.)

Recently, Fr. Jim (JH) sat with parishioner Sara Burson (SB), shared memories of his childhood, his life as an Augustinian, and his ministry at St. John XXIII Parish and the legacy St. Nicholas Parish.

SB: Is there anything you would like to share about your childhood?
JH: I spent my early childhood in Flint, Michigan, an industrial town. Later, we moved to Grand Blanc which, at that time, was a small town outside Flint, 90 minutes north of Detroit. I had a lot of fun in a sheltered childhood with my two sisters, protected by my loving parents. We spent summers in the northern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan, where I discovered the majesty, grandeur, and mystery of nature. The sky was pitch black at night, with all the stars visible. Being a bit of a nerd, I wondered, “What is light and what is darkness?” My imagination was sparked by Lake George as well as the sky. I remember watching the fish and wondering, “What is the consciousness of a fish?” Those summers spent out of the city and in nature were magnificent.

SB: What drew you to the priesthood? And why the Augustinians?
Most Catholic boys growing up in the 1950s and 60s considered the priesthood. I lost interest in middle and high school. I struggled to reconcile what I was learning in science and religion classes and what I was questioning privately. But I was always intrigued by ritual. The Tridentine Latin Mass was mystifying—in a good way. During my 1966 high school retreat, I went to Confession. My penance was to consider becoming an Augustinian. And so I did. When the Augustinians invited me to enter their novitiate after high school, I said OK. Why? Not so much because I was drawn to it, but it meant I didn’t have to figure out what other path to take! I didn’t particularly like school, so college held little appeal. Nor did I want to go to Vietnam. A year on the farm in the Augustinian novitiate was a way to “kick the can down the road.” And since the vocation director did the application paperwork, going to the novitiate was the easiest thing to do.

SB. So you could say you sort of backed into the priesthood?
JH: Yes (laughter)

SB: Some of your education was in Belgium. Why? Do all Augustinians study there?
JH: I did undergraduate work and first graduate studies in Chicago at the Catholic Theological Union (CTU). (Strange--decades later I chaired the Board of Trustees of CTU.) Unbeknownst to me, my teachers at CTU told my religious superior to have me pursue a doctorate. They hoped I would return to teach at CTU.

​I was ordained in 1976. I thoroughly enjoyed parish life for the next four years at two St. Clare of Montefalco parishes, one in Chicago, the other in Detroit. In year three I was told to find a doctoral school and apply. I reluctantly obeyed.

From 1980-1986, I studied religion and theology at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. I earned three degrees: an STL (License in Sacred Theology), PhD in Religious Studies, and an STD (Doctor of Sacred Theology). I chose Leuven for three reasons: 1) The theologians I studied and most admired at CTU were all trained in Europe; 2) Wanderlust lingered from my boyhood fascination with Europe and Flemish architecture; and 3) I wanted to experience the world and education outside of the United States. In Leuven, I finally resolved the conflict between science and religion that had bothered me earlier. Critical thought and theology, science and religion, medicine and religion, modern life and traditional religion—they can all work together.

To earn money and pay for my education while in Europe, I served as a priest for hire, doing sacramental work at American Air Force and Army bases in southwest Germany. I also served as interim pastor at an international parish in The Hague, The Parish of Our Saviour (British spelling). Combining academia during the week and pastoral life on the weekend led me to a preaching style characterized by respect for Scripture and tradition, careful thought, and a rhetoric that invited Catholics to discuss issues. Reflection on my own maturation and four years in parish work taught me that trying to dictate a specific way of thinking, praying, and acting was hopeless.

An example: while at The Hague, Americans installed nuclear-tipped cruise missiles in Europe. We all assumed targets included population centers as well as military installations. The American bishops had written a pastoral letter on nuclear weapons. The Dutch were in the streets, demonstrating. Parishioners in the international parish were military leaders, diplomats, civilian contractors, jurists of the World Court, spies, some business persons, and international students. I preached about cruise missiles with nuclear warheads, the bishops’ letter, and our various responses. I didn’t argue in favor or against installation or targeting. I wanted conversation. I wanted all of us to acknowledge and address the multiple moral dilemmas the missiles presented in the light of the Gospels. Interestingly, Americans in the parish tended to have their hackles up and shied away from the discussions. Europeans and Asians wanted to talk.

SB: What came next?
JH: I returned to the States in January 1987, and taught part-time at the Institute for Pastoral Studies at Loyola University while looking for a full-time job. In 1988, DePaul University posted a position in Ritual Studies. Although that was not really my area, DePaul hired me. I began in the fall of 1988 and remained on the faculty until my retirement in June 2019. In retirement, I returned to part-time teaching until illness forced my permanent retirement in December 2023.

SB: What brought you to St. Nicholas/St John XXIII?
JH: In 1972, while at CTU, I first met Bob Oldershaw, then associate pastor at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish. I witnessed him leading a parish in singing. I had never seen anything like this before. This was Vatican II! Fr. Bob was putting into action what I was learning at CTU. In 1993, Bob was looking for weekend presiders. The music director Diana Kodner recommended me. (We had worked together at Loyola.) I started at St. Nick’s in August 1993.

SB: When did you move into the rectory at St. Nicholas and how long did you live there?
JH: I finished my term as Prior at the St. John Stone Friary in Hyde Park in the summer of 1995 and needed to move out so the new Prior could take over. Coincidentally, Fr. Jim Kastigar had just left St. Nicholas for another assignment. Fr. Bob was alone in the rectory and invited me to join him. I moved in that fall and stayed until January 1, 2000, when I took the opportunity to have financial responsibility and independence.

Entering religious life at age 18, I missed a few things growing up. In mid-life, I felt a need to be on my own financially--managing a mortgage, paying my own bills, and dealing with taxes. To be honest, the Provincial thought I was a little crazy, but he rolled his eyes and approved my proposal. I bought a two-flat with a fellow Augustinian priest, which we fixed up and where I lived for 12 years. I thrived there and stayed until the priest in the other apartment left the priesthood. I rented out his apartment for a time, but I learned that I did not like being a landlord! So I sold the building and moved to my current hermitage. I love eremitic life--and being a renter.

SB: What involvement did you have in our parish? What are some highlights from your time with us?
JH: I celebrated sacraments. I presided at weddings and funerals, heard confessions, anointed the sick, and regularly celebrated Sunday Mass. Weekday life in the classroom and weekend parish work enriched each other. During the week, I read and taught about religion, religious traditions, and religious communities. On the weekend, I got to experience it.

In my early times at St. Nick's and after the church was renovated, I recall spending time in the choir loft observing Fr. Bob, watching how he did liturgy. Bob can improvise, dance, clap, recite poetry, and walk into a baptismal font. I can’t. I knew I had to find my own way, but I learned by observing him.

I loved working with wonderful, talented, and committed liturgical musicians.

Preaching at Sunday Mass was both terrifying and enriching. I remember thinking, “I have to preach to these people, people who are deeply invested in religious life and Catholic liturgy.”

I came to appreciate deeply the role of the assembly. Theoretically, when the People of God gather for Eucharist, especially at the altar during the Eucharistic prayer, we embody, incarnate, the Risen Christ. The community at St. Nicholas/St. Mary enfleshed that theory and helped me develop my sense of what the priesthood should be and is. I do not do “priest-craft.” I have a role, presbyter/presider, and lead within a Eucharistic Assembly. I/the priest don’t know everything, nor do I/we need to. Nor do I/we need to do everything. I/we need to trust people and believe they will come through.

Who are these people?
by Barb Soricelli
December 2024

Let's begin by borrowing from a poem written by Fr. Joe Veneroso, MM, that appeared in Maryknoll Magazine not too long ago. We as Christians, who believe that all of creation including every human person is worthy of respect and dignity, will resonate with the last words of this poem.

Jesus... Help us to recognize they are you and they are us.
We believe that these sentiments reflect what motivates those of us at St. John XXIII parish in Evanston to minister to the current influx of asylum seekers in our country currently.
​
Over 1 ½ years ago the Chicago archdiocese requested that our parish accompany a Haitian family of 4 (parents and 2 boys ages 4 & 5) given we had a significant Haitian community in our parish. The parish responded generously. We applied for and received a grant from Catholic Charities. We responded to this request with a flood of parish volunteers, monetary donations, finding apartments, assisting in setting up households, stocking food pantry, finding employment once work permits were received, navigating applications for benefits, legal issues, asylum applications and so many other innumerable ways to assist them in their journey towards independence in their new country. We have done this for three families.

It has not been easy! Lots of challenges attempting to provide case management. We’ve been learning a lot! However, the joy of being of service far outweighs the difficulties.

Fortunately, our parish’s Peace and Justice committee had considerable experience with how to organize this effort. Support groups for each family we are accompanying were quickly formed; two pronged groups for each of the families we are accompanying. The first, for those who could not sustain a long term volunteer commitment but could swing into action to find apartments, set up households stock food pantries etc. The second, for keeping up contact with the family and one another through home visits, face-to-face meetings, zooms, and WhatsApp groups to coordinate ongoing efforts as described above. We committed to doing this for one year but have found that the delay in receiving work permits necessitates extending this time commitment.
As relationships developed with families, we more and more realized that perhaps their agendas were not exactly ours. We had budgeted for public transportation cards to assist them; they were intent on getting cars as soon as possible! A much more expensive proposition but understandable since it often facilitated getting work. Our expectation was that any money they would earn by working and begging, (which they were encouraged to do by the shelter personnel) would go towards paying rent and other basic needs as much as they were able. They were more focused on sending money to help their extended families who were in dire need because of conditions back home.

We are learning much about unconditional love and respecting the agency of the other!

The money from our Catholic Charites grant will soon run out but we have a considerable amount that has been given by individual donors. We are now in the process of discerning how best to spend this money assisting asylum seekers. There are several faith-based groups in the Chicago area doing this work. We want to explore partnerships. Also, we are part of Interfaith Action of Evanston with whom we would like to explore partnering. The City of Evanston was contemplating opening a shelter but would only move forward if existing church groups who are already helping asylum seekers would also be involved in the endeavor.

What will happen in January 2025 is on everyone’s minds. We pray to remain hopeful and trusting in God’s steadfast love and to act accordingly, alert to what needs to be done!

We are continuously grateful to all who have contributed to this effort.

If you would like to volunteer as part of a support group as we move forward, please contact:
Sally Arden ([email protected]), Margaret Feit Clarke ([email protected]), or Barb Soricelli ([email protected])

Learn more on our Migrant Matters page.

The Evanston Knights of Columbus Council 1077 has received the distinction of Star Council for 2023-2024, the international organization’s top award for local councils. They were presented with a commemorative plaque at a special Mass on Veteran's Day at St. Mary Church. The Star Council Award recognizes overall excellence in the areas of membership, promotion of fraternal insurance benefits, sponsorship of faith formation programs and service-oriented activities.

Council 1077 earned this distinction through its contribution to the Pope John XXIII parish and Evanston Community. Notable activities include support for the Evanston soup kitchen, vocations assistance for aspiring clergy, parish social activities including the Lenten Fish Fry, pancake breakfasts, and the ever popular donut day in January! In addition, Council 1077 participates with other Knights of Columbus Councils in supporting persons with disabilities through our yearly Tootsie Roll Drive.

The Knights of Columbus is one of the world’s leading fraternal and service organizations with over 2 million members in more than 16,000 parish-based councils. For information on joining the Knights of Columbus contact local Membership Director Greg Allen at [email protected]. To learn more about the Knights of Columbus, please visit us at kofc.org.

The next two weekends, come welcome and support the students in our parish Confirmation program!

Sunday, October 20, 2024
Introduction of Our First-Year Candidates

• 10:30 a.m. Mass at St. Nicholas (English Program)
• 12:30 p.m. Mass at St. Nicholas (Bilingual Program)

Sunday, October 27, 2024
Commitment of Second-Year Candidates

• 10:30 a.m. Mass at St. Nicholas (English Program)
• 12:30 p.m. Mass at St. Nicholas (Bilingual Program)

​Esprit D'Amour Charismatic Prayer Group invites you to come celebrate our 30th anniversary! Join us in the Pope John XXIII School Cafeteria on the St. Nick's Campus on Saturday, October 26, 2024, from 6:30-10 p.m. We will have Haitian food for dinner and a concert featuring The Believers, a gospel group from Brooklyn, NY. 

Donations are $75/ticket before October 12 or $85 after. Please contact Saradienne Delva (847.477.6110) or Marie Ange Sagaille (847.532.2248) to reserve your tickets, or catch one of them after Mass this weekend at St. Mary!

Come have a good time with us!

Charlie Luczak is a beloved longtime parishioner at St. Mary. For decades, he was a daily Mass sacristan, lector, and all-around church caretaker! He made close friends with all the priests over the years. Charlie's warmth, charm, and smile attract everyone to him; you always leave feeling lighter and more joyous after being with him.

On Thursday, October 3, Charlie celebrated his 99th birthday! It's harder for him to get out these days, so a few of his friends decided to bring the party to him. Fr. Jean-Philippe offered to celebrate Mass on his front lawn. A group of friends and parishioners gathered together to tell stories, share our gratitude, and bless Charlie. He was beyond thrilled!

Please enjoy a few photos from this day.

Jacob Hooker, a 9th grader who was confirmed at St. John XXIII Parish this past April, wrote the bulletin reflection for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time. While we couldn't fit the whole reflection in the bulletin, we thought the parish deserved access to the full thing! Thank you so much, Jacob!

A Reflection
by Jacob Hooker, Parishioner
​
Some of my favorite memories are spending time outdoors with family and friends. Every year, my family and I visit national parks and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, places that make me feel connected to myself, others, and even God (our natural world is, as The Gospel by Gen Z would say, “a W for the Top G”).
 
This week’s reading reminds us of our baptismal call to be prophets, which means living a life of service. A kind of service that is important to me is care for the environment. Our faith calls us to be stewards of the earth. To me, that looks like limiting our fossil fuel emissions, but it also means being educated about what’s happening around us and what we can do about it. I have learned about an ethic called “leave no trace”, which teaches the importance of reducing your impact upon the natural world. Applied to everyday things, like picking up litter, these actions leave a place better than we found it. There is joy in this service. I have done a few beach sweeps with my friends and it was fun because we got to hang out while also cleaning up nature. We’d had competitions about who could find the weirdest object or pick up the most trash in the shortest amount of time. Although these were few and far between, these outings helped deepen my connection to both them and the environment.
 
“Leave no trace” makes me think of other ways human beings can take greater responsibility for our common home. Much of our day-to-day life revolves around technology, which is developing so rapidly that we can’t keep up with the energy demand. For example, artificial intelligence data centers need a lot of energy to operate which, in most cases , still comes from burning fossil fuels. According to a study recently done by the UN, a request made through ChatGPT consumes as much as 10 times the electricity of a typical internet search. And, as the prevalence of AI increases, these centers could account for nearly 35 percent of the US’ energy use by 2026 (The UN Environment Programme, Sep 21 2024). Now technology alone isn’t the problem here. The problem is the copious amounts of fossil fuel energy they consume, which pollutes the air we breathe. And, in our country and around the world, often it is the most economically and politically vulnerable communities who are disproportionately affected by the highest levels of pollution created by these systems. As Pope Francis so finely put it in his second encyclical Laudato Si': “There is an urgent need to develop policies so that, in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and other highly polluting gasses can be drastically reduced, for example, substituting for fossil fuels and developing sources of renewable energy” (Laudato Si', para. 26).
 
As this week’s reading states, “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!”. Moses reminds the Israelites, who are lost and complaining in the wilderness, that we all are prophets (Nm 11:25-29). We are all called to a new way of living. In our world today, that means to live our faith in such a way that shows responsibility and care for the vulnerable, which includes the environment. This week, I encourage you to make time to be in the natural world and reflect on ways you can care for our common home. Then, do something.