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Each year at the dinner we present the Rev.
Robert E. McLaughlin Faith Foundation Award.
This award is given annually to an individual or
individuals who have made a significant
contribution to the lives of young people, the
next generation. We are proud to announce that
this year’s recipients will be John and Pat Lucas.
Please join us on Monday, June 27th when we
present this year’s award to this special couple of
great Faith.
Last year the Faith Foundation presented its
annual award to Peg Barry. The committee
asked some people who knew Peg Barry to share
their thoughts about Peg Barry with us. The
following poem was written by Peg Lombardo
about her friends Peg Barry and Father Bob. It
was so good and fitting for the occasion that we
decided to reprint it. Thanks Peg!
Fr. Bob thought he'd retire someday at Holy Name
Oops! Wrong plan! Not going to happen! New game!
Though McLaughlin disagreed, he would not fight
Instead to Mary, Seat of Wisdom he took flight
He found great people who fed his soul
Nourishing their faith; making them whole
Met Peg, a dedicated woman to his delight
These two planning together were quite the sight
Programs for teens and liturgy extraordinaire
A true dynamic duo working prayer
Long years with Fr. Bob was not meant to be
As he is already enjoying his eternity
With Peg and the Faith Foundation, all will be right
Through the Lord's grace and Bob's shining light!
The 7th Annual Robert E. McLaughlin Faith Foundation Golf Outing & Dinner Monday, June 27, 2011 • Park Ridge Country Club – Invitations to follow.
continued
Fr. Bob McLaughlin
F
or many years Father Bob was concerned about our present institutional church’s approach to building
community. He was concerned not only by the lack of participation by people who are at Sunday Liturgy,
but also by the lack of presence at Sunday Liturgy by unchurched people. He was constantly searching for ways
for the Church to be a more welcoming community. In Red’s Square dated 11/03/02, Father Bob shares with us
some of his thoughts on this perplexing question.
Red’s Square
Dear Parishioners,
The other night I had dinner with a young couple whose
wedding I will help to celebrate in the near future. They
are wonderful people and both have a deep spirituality –
but neither of them goes to Church very often. As I
listened to them – and to many like them – I was very
aware of something that Robert Bellah wrote in his book,
Habits of the Heart, fifteen years ago. He said:
Individualism lies at the very core of American
culture…
Some of our deepest problems both as
individuals and as a society are also very closely
linked to our individualism.”
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In an article in Commonweal Magazine, Ms. Steinfels goes
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Our American legal system is based on individual rights –
some would say to the detriment of the common good.
Our emphasis is on personal choice. We are, in words of
Margaret O’Brien Steinfels, “More pluribus than unum.”
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Blessed we've all been to see the sight
Of fabulous Peg Barry and the Mighty Mite!
MARK YOUR CALENDAR!
The Robert E. McLaughlin Faith Foundation
920 West Granville
Park Ridge, Illinois 60068
Keep Smiling!
he Faith Foundation is busy preparing for
the 7th Annual Golf Outing and Dinner.
This year’s event will again be held at Park Ridge
Country Club.
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mclaughlin brochure Spring 2011:mclaughlin brochure Feb 09 3/2/11 12:26 PM Page 1
This mindset makes a sense of community and concern for
the common good fragile and vulnerable. It affects not
only our civic community but reaches into the realm of
religion, raising obstacles to communion. It is not just that
we love underdogs, naysayers, people who thumb their
noses at established authority. No, our individualism leads
us to believe that religious faith needs no community.
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church
I keep it staying at home,
With bobolink for a chorister
and an orchard for a dome.
Emily Dickenson’s verse is echoed throughout the best and
worst of American culture. It is the lone worshipper in
nature, not the gathered congregation that we respect and
celebrate. The same outlook is confirmed in Gallup polls in
which Americans overwhelmingly endorse the importance
of being religious without attachment to any organized
religion. Catholicism has challenged that American
assumption, and our challenge once made the culture very
nervous…but increasingly American Catholics are being
shaped by the individualist culture.
The Lone Ranger was one of the heroes of my youth.
When it comes to religion however, we are not “Lone
Rangers”. We are part of a community of faith. While our
relationship with God needs to be personal, it is not
individualistic.
Your Brother in Christ,
Fr. Bob McLaughlin