Althoff Catholic High School - Crusader Yearbook (Belleville, IL)

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Greets Church ' s 100th 1900 — A site is purchased for St. John ' s Orphanage. 1905 — Cathedral High School in Belleville opens. 1912 — St. Peter ' s Cathedral in Belleville burns; restoration begins later. 1913 — Janssen dies. 1914 — The Rev. Henry J. Alth- off is ordained the second bishop of Belleville. 1926 — St. Henry ' s Preparatory Seminary opens; closed in 1984. 1947 — Althoff dies and is re¬ placed by the Rev. Albert R. Zuroweste. 1950s — The diocese opens four high schools: Assumption in East St. Louis; Gibault in Waterloo; Mater Dei in Breese; and Althoff in Belleville. 1962-65 — Zuroweste serves as Council Father at Vatican II. 1976 — Zuroweste retires and is replaced by the Rev. William M. Cosgrove. 1981 — Cosgrove retires and is replaced by the Rev. John N. Wurm. 1984 — Wurm dies and is re¬ placed by the Rev. James P. Ke- leher. 1987 — Diocese celebrates its centennial. In the areas where there are no Catholic schools, how are the children educated in religion?? They do very well. Many of the parishes have a Director of Religious Education that is responsible for coordinating the whole religious program for the parish. They are like the principal; they do all the organizing. It ' s a great way for the laity to get involved in one of the most important ministries of the church — education. Is the CYO meeting the needs of the youth in the diocese?? This is the most active CYO I ' ve experienced. In other places I ' ve seen, it ' s been exclusively athletic. Ours includes social and spiritual. It can be furthered. One problem is that there is no counterpart for those older than CYO age — young adults. Will we lose contact with those out of high school? 20-24 could be very productive — this is my only worry. Why do you think that so few religious vocations are occur¬ ring in the diocese? It ' s a national trend. We will ordain three priests this year. In the past four years no one was ordained. One — we be¬ come more materialistic and individualistic; for a person to become a religious the road is not open to material gains. Two — on the positive side, a lot are discovering that they can serve in the Church as laity. What are you feelings about the youth in our diocese? I find them open and positive. I wish I was able to work directly with them. I miss that, the openness. Young people like to make it a better world. They are very altruistic, and the Church needs to tap this. When kids finish high school, it seems we lose a lot. The theme of the Centennial is A Time of Favor. I think that the years that you have spent at Althoff have been very graced. Those years have been difficult and exciting. It was good to spend them at Althoff. Look back and remember the years, remember the faith you have made and the friends you have made. It is a time of favor for our future. The Lord will continue to walk with us through the hard times. Look at the future with a lot of hope and be faithful to values and the Blood of Christ and the faith of your church.

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Time of Favor — I ' ve done about 150 Confirmations since I ' ve been here. I think they ' ve been pretty well prepared. The big trick is to get them to relax. I meet with them before, you know, and I try to crack a joke or something to get them to open up. So if I can just get them to relax — and I ' m not looking just for stock answers, I ' m looking for some deeper things. I ask them what they ' re hoping for in the future, and how the Holy Spirit might be of assistance to them. But I ' ve found them well prepared and pretty honest. Do you foresee the closing of any more Catholic schools? I see the schools as being very stable right now. And you know, I have never closed a school unless the community has searched through the question and the local community has made a recommendation to me. So, if a community really wants to keep their school alive, I will do everything I can to encourage that. There are very few cases where this is not possible, but maybe in some cases, it is going to be a real struggle. To me, it is a waste of resources to see one parish building extra classrooms, while just a few blocks away, another school has empty classrooms. That just does not make «ny sense to me, and I don ' t think this is a sign of strength. What is your responsibility concerning the parochial school system? There is a board that meets regularly, called the Diocesan School Board. It is a very strong board. It comes up with recommendations on pay scales, opening-closing of schools, and curriculum. The Director of Education, Mr. Tom Posnanski, is at the meetings every month, and he presents his programs to the board and then the board concurs and goes on. The board handles education in al¬ most all its aspects. While schools are the main part, it also handles Adult Education, RCIA, and the PSR programs. About one-half of the parishes have schools, and we have, of course, four high schools. So there are a lot of places in the diocese, which consists of 28 counties, that don ' t have the opportunity for Catholic schooling. We have six dean¬ eries, the East Deanery (14 counties) has no Catholic high school. Neither does the South Deanery, which goes all the way down to Cairo. The Belleville Deanery has Althoff; East St. Louis has Assumption; the West has Gibault, and the West Central has Mater Dei. Of the Confirmations you have done, how prepared have the students been? A time of favor. That ' s how Bishop James P. Keleher de¬ scribed this year ' s centennial celebra¬ tion of the Catholic Diocese of Belleville. Taken from the Old Testament, a time of favor refers to a time to remember the heroic deeds, struggles and faith of ancestors, Keleher said. As we celebrate this time of favor, re¬ membering the past and growing closer to each other in the Spirit, may we also look with hopeful eyes to our future, Keleher wrote in his centennial procla¬ mation. Today, the diocese covers 11,678 square miles — Illinois ' 28 southernmost counties — and comprises 122,419 Catholics, 130 parishes, 156 clergy and 21 seminarians. Total population in the diocese is 861,986. St. Peter ' s Cathedral, Belleville 1. Molly Polka speaks with the Bishop and records the following interview. 2. St. John ' s Orphanage is the Pastoral Center now. 2

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Because religion competes against opposing and conflicting social trends, Retreats attempt to bridge the gap. Early in the morning on Thursday, Octo¬ ber 2, forty Althoff students gathered in front of the gym. These students were waiting for the bus that would take them to the Marianist Apostolic Center for their Senior Retreat. I was one of these forty students. While everyone sat around waiting for the bus, which was late of course, I heard various groups of people talking. Some were ex¬ cited, and some were not even close to being enthused about the whole idea. The bus finally arrived, and all of us lugged our gear on board. Somewhere near ten o ' clock the bus reached its des¬ tination. Everyone went inside the re¬ treat house. We were introduced to our 2 retreat leaders. They were both very young, and it seemed odd that such young people would be doing this. I think everyone was expecting a couple of priests to make us ' holy ' on our two day trip, but this was not the case. The first day was spent doing various activities in small groups of ten and as a large group of forty. Each small group had a leader, and I was so privileged to have Tony Bankston as my group lead¬ er. But, believe it or not, my group actu¬ ally did get some things accomplished. During the day we were allowed free time every once in a while. The guys all went and played football or basketball. What the girls did, I don ' t know, be¬ cause I was playing football. To close our first day we watched a movie, and then we were treated to a late night piz¬ za party. About midnight, everyone went to bed. We were all exhausted. The next morning at 8:30, everyone woke to the sounds of Louie, Louie blaring over the speakers in the rooms. After showering, getting dressed, and eating, we all went to the ' great ' room to begin our activities of the day. The activities were always lots of fun, and I learned a lot about people I never knew before. Somewhere around 3:00 we were told it was time to return to Alth¬ off. Normally, you would think teen¬ agers would be relieved to go home. But not this group. During our 2 days we had all grown together as a kind of family. We took some group pictures and then boarded the bus. Some were glad, and some were sad, but I know everyone en¬ joyed this experience. We returned to Althoff at 4:00. Many talked of their evening plans because it was Friday. We would all see each other in school Mon¬ day and remember the wonderful school retreat we had. P.S. I ' m sure you want to know about the food. Well, be¬ lieve it or not, the food was very deli¬ cious. And they let us have seconds and thirds, and fourths ... — Greg Bedell The Freshmen Retreat was a worthwhile experience. It gave the freshman class a chance to get to know some of our fellow classmates as well as a chance to become closer to God. The day began with a busride to our destination, St. Luke ' s Parish Center. There, we were greeted by Father Elmar, who conducted our retreat. We were then put in groups with a senior as the leader of each group. After being separated into groups, we discussed who we were and what we liked. We then discussed how God had touched our lives. After getting to know the people in our group, it was much easier to talk with them. This allowed the day to run smoother. After eating lunch, we participated in a prayer service. The day ended with mass at St. Luke ' s Church. After mass, we boarded the bus for the ride back to school. All in all, the retreat was a success because we became closer to God and closer as a class. — Garrett Hoerner