August 2020 Newsletter
Pioneers Club Launches!
This fall the Midtown Cultural Center launches the Pioneers Club, a father-son club for boys entering grades 1 - 4. The club will meet at Midtown (1825 N. Wood Street, Chicago) and focus on helping fathers to raise young men of sound character. Through formative talks, as well as fun practical exercises Pioneers looks to build upon and strengthen relationships between each Dad and his son. The Sunday afternoon sessions will have some activities for the fathers and sons to do together and others separately. For instance, while their sons are engaged in a structured activity fathers will participate in discussions about how to inculcate virtue in a boy or how to build a relationship of friendship and trust with their son.
Midtown Cultural Center is delighted to bring this offering forward. “This is awesome! My two sons are looking forward to participating and have been since we started the planning nearly a year ago. My youngest son can’t wait to get a little older so he can come in a few years!” says Joe Wheadon, who is helping to organize the program. Some of the games planned include dodgeball, capture the flag, and a new form of volleyball called four-square. Included with the games, there will be classes on first aid, self-defense, and pinewood-car building. The program will culminate with a pinewood derby at the end of the program year. Pioneers will include plenty of fun and activities, but its central aims are to build young men of character and strengthen trusting connections between Dads and their sons.
The Pioneers Club will meet monthly on the second Sunday of the month from 2 – 4pm. The first session will be Sunday, September 13. Click here for more information and to register.
The Theology of Creation by Fr. Joseph Thomas
This unique book offers an in-depth and easily-readable study of the theology of creation from a Catholic perspective. It is brief and geared toward lay persons who desire a deeper knowledge of their faith.
The author emphasizes the importance of recognizing God as the creator of the universe, and the profound implications which this recognition has for the Christian life. The book describes the divine work of creation in continuity with the new creation brought about through Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Topics covered include an analysis of Creation in the Old and New Testaments, an overview of Christian thought on creation from the Fathers of the Church to the modern period, and systematic analysis of what creation means.
The book is available in paper back or electronic format from Scepter Press.
Who Doesn’t Need This!
The purpose of a retreat is to help you turn a few days into an important turning point in your life, one that leads to your own happiness and directly affects the happiness of the people whom you love most.
This may strike you as quite a high-reaching ambition. Unrealistic, you may think. But it isn't. The fact is that God himself has ambitions for your happiness that you've scarcely begun to imagine. And His will for you, for the rest of your life on earth, is what a retreat is all about.
Space is limited for the last summer retreat - Thursday, August 20th to Sunday, August 23rd - so hurry and make your reservation!
Register for a 2020 retreat on the Shellbourne website.
Men’s Recollection at St. Mary of the Angels
For the foreseeable future, there will only be one Evening of Recollection in English at Midtown. It will be held on the second Monday of each month from 7 - 9pm. St. Mary of the Angels is hosting the Recollections. We meet in the main Church, which allows ample room for social distancing.
You can now make tax deductible donations online at our secure site. Thank you for your generosity.
“Your work must become a conversation with Our Father in heaven.” — St. Josemaría Escrivá