A Day in Chicago {Day 8: Meandering Home}

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle...

Visiting St. John Cantius placed first on our 1-day-in-Chicago-to-do list;  meeting up with a long lost high school friend was a very close second.  Brian, my dear friend from Gig Harbor High School and a current FB and Christmas card friend, caught our online posts as we traveled I90 en route to Notre Dame and emailed an invite to stop off at his place on our way back through Chicago.  Further communications revealed that he lived only a short distance from St. John Cantius, and very near to St. Michael's Church (in Old Town), which he highly recommended we check out, knowing how we love our Churches.

St. Michael Church, Old Town Chicago

Brian served as our personal transportation consultant for the drive into and around the Windy City, with great driving directions and tips for avoiding serious back-ups and finding free parking.  At Brian's suggestion, we met at St. Michael's in Old Town around lunch time.  The glorious artwork was captivating, and reminiscent of Churches we visited in Italy, the high altar and tabernacle were still in place. 

Tim, Zachary and I were all given St. Michael as our middle-name patron, and our family fosters a special devotion to this Archangel, so visiting this place named in his honor had special significance... little did we know HOW special and HOW significant!

Joseph teaches Emmett a new trick at lunch.

After our rendezvous at St. Michael's, we walked a few blocks through beautiful Old Town Chicago to Brian's house, where we met his wife, Kathleen, and sons Emmett and Evan, before venturing on foot to the neighborhood diner for deli sandwiches and milkshakes.  Post lunch festivities included a trip to the North Shore of Lake Michigan, a short walk from their house.  The adults lounged and visited on the sandy shore, and the our boys enjoyed a dip in the lake, while their boys frolicked on the beach.

Peter and Evan's sidewalk races in Old Town Chicago

4 boys on a bridge, heading for the beach

Back to Brian's house for sand-rinsing, Lego sharing, and adult bonding, we found ourselves still in town at 5:30PM when the daily Mass began at St. Michael's in a side chapel.  My new friend, Kathleen, and I speed-walked to Mass, while the men-folk lingered and joined us at the Church for a 6PM farewell gathering.  Barefooted sidewalk races and pinkie toe first aid ensued, and before long we tore ourselves away from our Chicago friends and began another many hours drive west.

Joseph and Peter swimming in Lake Michigan on Chicago's North Shore

Noteworthy:

• Tonight's en-route inspirational CD highlighted the spiritual experience of reconnecting with a long-lost friend named Brian, not seen in 27 years...on this day that I reconnected with my friend, Brian, not seen in 27 years; certainly a spiritual experience!
• On sharing our Chicago stories with Tim's parents, they told us that it was IN ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH in Chicago that they received the inspiration to give their unborn son (Tim) the middle name Michael! Certainly another spiritual experience...

Tim and me on the North Shore

Brian and Kathleen in their own backyard

Our final view as we departed Illinois heading West

Meandering Home {Day 7: South Bend to Chicago}

Peter receives an exuberant greeting from the hounds at Uncle Wayne's house.

The sting of leaving Zachary at Notre Dame {at 2:22PM} was eased by divine grace, and by the fact that we had a dinner engagement in Chicago with Tim's uncle and cousin that evening.  Treated to deep dish Chicago-style pizza, we enjoyed the chance to visit with Wayne and Stacy and meet their (growing) menagerie of furry friends.  Checking into our hotel after the family reunion, we were assigned to room 222.

Cousin Stacy, Uncle Wayne, Tim and Bridget

A long desired wish to visit St. John Cantius Church in Chicago, put a family pilgrimage at the top of our to-do list during our short stay in the Windy City.  We navigated toll roads and one way streets to the Church, and upon entering were surprised to find the entire nave filled with scaffolding and drop cloths. We knew that extensive renovations were happening at St. John Cantius, but had no idea that the place was actually off limits to visitors that day.  We walked along the outside isle, taking in the beauty amidst the construction chaos.  A quick call to the main office filled in a few blanks:

"Hello, St. John Cantius."
"Hello, we are visiting from Washington State and made a special stop to visit the Church. Father Phillips told us that one of the Brothers could show us around the Church today."
(Pause) "The Church is closed today and tomorrow, the only days it's not open to the public during the construction project.  Can you come back another day?"
"No, we are only in town today."
(Pause) "Where are you?"
"We are in the Church, near the baptismal font.  The doors were open... the construction crew must have been on a break because we didn't see anyone when we arrived."
"Stay right there.  I will be right over."

St. John Cantius, under renovation

Not even a minute after we were given instructions to stay put, a construction worker some 30+ feet above us on a scaffolding platform yelled down,

"Hey!  Get out of here!  There's no one allowed in here today!" 
"But Father told us to wait right here.  He's on his way over to see us."
(Pause) "OK... Well then could you unplug that extension cord and unwind it from the base of the pillar?"

Main altar at St. John Cantius, during renovations Aug. 2012

Brother Matthew arrived shortly thereafter, a pleasant, peaceful young man in his fifth year (of eleven) of formation for the priesthood in the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius.  Well informed and entirely welcoming despite the scheduled building closure, Brother Matthew visited with us, answering our many questions and sharing the mission and charism of St. John Cantius.  Amazing renewals are happening in our Holy Catholic Church, and the Restoration of the Sacred at St. John Cantius offers a glimpse of the tremendous, heavenly beauty of our prayer and worship, rediscovered and restored.

Brother Matthew with Joseph and Peter at St. John Cantius, Chicago

Restoring the sacred, St. John Cantius is filled with beautiful works of art.

Like most religious orders, St. John Cantius' priests and brothers welcome prayer requests and have an online prayer request form, through which prayers can be requested from anyone, anywhere.