CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya Brachear Pashman,
Chicago Tribune
Archbishop Blase Cupich will make the first of three visits to ethnic parishes across the city this Sunday, when he celebrates Mass at the predominantly African-American St. Agatha Catholic Church.
The visit will bring him face to face with some of the biggest issues within the archdiocese. At St. Agatha, the largest African-American congregation on the West Side, Cupich will see how one parish has grappled with violence in its surrounding neighborhood, clergy sex abuse by one of its own and a struggling school that will be downsized to an early childhood center next school year.
“His emphasis on violence, anti-violence, immigration, the sex abuse stuff all hits home here in Chicago,” said the Rev. Larry Dowling, pastor of St. Agatha, who said he didn’t know why Cupich chose to make the parish his first stop. “In a lot of ways it makes some sense if he’s going to make a statement symbolically. Our parishioners are interpreting it as affirmation of what we have been through and moving forward.”
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