Big John and Ramblin’ Ray are joined by Chicago mayoral candidate Willie Wilson. They talk about why he was giving out money to people at church over the weekend, and how that could possibly affect the way people see him as a candidate.
Tag Archives: church
Are they paving paradise to put up a parking lot?
St. Edna Catholic Church in Arlington Heights, is removing a 125-year-old tree as part of the church’s expansion. Some neighbors aren’t too keen on the tree being removed, John and Ray put in their thoughts on the situation.
Man charged with setting fire to NW Side church
(CHICAGO) A Northwest Side man has been charged with setting fire to St. Genevieve Church early Monday.
Raymond Luna, 28, faces two felony counts of aggravated arson for the fire at the church at 4835 W. Altgeld St., according to Chicago Police.
Officers called for a reported burglary saw Luna climbing out of a window as smoke poured from the building when they responded at 12:14 a.m., police said.
The officers called firefighters, who put out the fire with minimal damage, police said. No one was hurt.
Luna, of the 2100 block of North Lorel, was arrested at the scene. He was scheduled to appear in bond court Tuesday.
Trump interrupted by pastor at church in Flint, Michigan
[van id=”politics/2016/09/14/donald-trump-pastor-church-origwx-allee.cnn”]
The pastor who hosted Donald Trump at her church in Flint, Michigan interrupted the Republican nominee as he began attacking Hillary Clinton.
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
The pastor who hosted Donald Trump at her church in Flint, Michigan, interrupted the Republican presidential nominee during his speech Wednesday to ask him to refrain from attacking his rival Hillary Clinton.
“Mr. Trump, I invited you here to thank us for what we’ve done in Flint, not give a political speech,” Rev. Faith Green Timmons of the Bethel United Methodist Church told Trump after walking to the podium while Trump was speaking.
“OK. That’s good. Then I’m going back onto Flint, OK? Flint’s pain is a result of so many different failures,” Trump said.
Timmons, in a statement provided at the event, noted her church welcomes “all people.”
“This public event is open to all and today Donald Trump came to observe. Trump’s presence at Bethel United Methodist in no way represents an endorsement of his candidacy,” she had said.
Moments before Timmons interrupted him, Trump had begun attacking Clinton for supporting free trade agreements, which Trump argued had caused Flint economic pain.
“Hillary failed on the economy. Just like she’s failed on foreign policy. Everything she touched didn’t work out. Nothing. Now Hillary Clinton –,” Trump said before he was cut off by the church’s pastor.
The awkward moment was just one of several uncomfortable ones during Trump’s visit to the majority African-American city of Flint on Wednesday, which marked Trump’s latest effort to appeal to black voters. Trump was also heckled during his visit to the church. His visit to Flint came less than two weeks after he attended a church service at a predominantly African-American church in Detroit, where about 200 protesters gathered outside.
One woman heckling Trump Wednesday interrupted him to raise allegations that he “discriminated against black tenants,” an apparent reference to the Justice Department’s 1973 civil rights lawsuit against Trump and his father’s landlord practices in New York City.
“No, I never — never would never would,” Trump said before the church’s pastor stepped in to defend Trump.
“This is my church and you will respect him,” Timmons said.
Another heckler accused Trump of having called black people “lazy.”
Trump made his first visit to Flint on Wednesday, home to a water crisis that contaminated the city’s water supply, rendering it toxic.
Trump also visited the city’s water plant, but in his remarks at the church, he focused on the decline of US manufacturing and outsourcing that he claims has hurt Flint’s economy.
The real estate mogul’s visit to Flint is the most attention Trump has devoted to the city whose water crisis rose to national prominence earlier this year.
Throughout most of his campaign, Trump has rarely addressed the crisis or offered his views, including whether Rick Snyder, the state’s Republican governor, should resign amid mounting pressure.
When he was asked in January as the crisis gained national media attention about the situation, Trump said he “shouldn’t be commenting.”
“Well it’s a shame what’s happening in Flint, Michigan. A thing like that shouldn’t happen, but again I don’t want to comment on that. They’ve got a very difficult problem,” Trump had said.
And in an interview with a local Michigan TV station on the morning of the state’s primary, Trump called it a “catastrophic event,” but declined to say whether he believed Snyder should resign.
The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
Suit: Parishioners took more than $100K worth of jewelry from Melrose Park church
(CHICAGO) The Archdiocese of Chicago is suing several members of a west suburban parish who, a new lawsuit alleges, took jewelry and other adornments from the church valued at more than $100,000.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court against three members of the Society of the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, based in Melrose Park.
The Archdiocese alleges that some time “prior to and during 2013,” dozens of gold rings, chains, crosses, crowns, broaches and several statue adornments were taken from the church by the three parishioners.
The combined value of the items taken “is not ascertainable; however, it is in excess of $100,000,” the suit stated.
Despite several verbal and written requests from the church to return the items, the property has not been returned, the suit stated.
A representative from the Society of the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
The complaint is asking the court to order the return of the items to the parish.
Cupich names woman to new COO role in Chicago Archdiocese
(CHICAGO) For the first time ever, a right-hand man to a Chicago archbishop will be a woman.
Archbishop Blase Cupich announced on Thursday the appointment of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s first chief operating officer, Betsy Bohlen, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
Bohlen is one of 11 new leaders of the archdiocese announced Thursday. All are part of a vision for the archdiocese that Cupich described to the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board as one of collaboration, decentralization of power in the archdiocese and partnership with the broader community.
“She is a strong person. She comes with huge qualities and abilities, and I respect that,” Cupich said.
“If you want to know something about me: I know what I don’t know. I look for the people with the expertise to come in and do that.”
Bohlen is not the first woman Cupich, as a church leader, has appointed to a prominent position. The chancellor he appointed to run day-to-day operations in his former Diocese of Rapid City, S.D., and the chief finance officer of the Diocese of Spokane both were women, he noted.
Bohlen, who starts her new job July 1, has spent most of her career in the business world, she said.
She has a Harvard MBA and was a management consultant at the prestigious McKinsey & Company for 16 years, working at times in its Chicago, Beijing, Hong Kong and New Delhi offices. She was elected a partner of the firm in 2003.
She also has worked with the archdiocese as a consultant and staff member for more than a decade, most recently as its chief financial officer, according to the archdiocese. And just this week, she said, she met with the archbishop to review what she called the archdiocese’s “first break-even budget in recent memory.”
“We’re working to make the operations of the archdiocese more effective so we can make the mission of the church broadly more effective,” she said.
Previously, Bohlen was an investment officer for the Slovak American Enterprise Fund in Bratislava, Slovakia, and a financial analyst at the First Boston Corporation. She received her bachelor’s degree in economics, with a minor in theology, from the University of Notre Dame.
Despite the high-ranking appointment of a woman, the archbishop said Thursday he didn’t see a day when women could become priests in the Catholic church; rather, that would be “settled” when men and women both were brought to the table and given decision-making power in the church.
“I think that there is something very important to keep in mind in regard to priesthood in terms of the celebration of sacraments and imaging Christ in the Eucharist,” he said.
Alongside Bohlen, Father Clete Kiley will oversee the mission of the archdiocese in the traditional role as moderator of the curia.
Other notable appointments include Father Ronald Hicks as vicar general overseeing parishes and other faith-related matters and Father Adan Sandoval Duron as head of the newly created Consejo Hispano. The Consejo – a committee of men, women and laypeople – will be located at Our Lady of the Mount Parish in Cicero, where Duron is pastor.
~Chicago Sun-Times
Two charged with burglary at Barrington church
Photo from Barrington Police
(BARRINGTON) Two men have been charged with breaking into a northwest suburban Barrington church Sunday afternoon.
John Ference, 38, and Steven Olcikas, 36, tried to break into a safe at St. Anne Catholic Church about 4:20 p.m., according to a statement from Barrington police.
Police were called to the church, and the men were still at the scene when officers arrived, police said.
Ference, of McHenry, and Olcikas, of Island Lake, were each charged with one felony count of burglary to a place of worship, police said. They were ordered held on a $100,000 bond each.
© Copyright 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC
