St. Lambert Parish

Founded July 2, 1951

Sixtieth Anniversary Celebration

September 17, 2011, the Feast Day of St. Lambert

Our Patron Saint

Seventh-Century Europe had few definable borders. The ambitious Franks had managed to unify warring tribes into a state roughly approximating modern France, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Germany. The Frankish king Clovis (466–511) had accepted Christianity two centuries before. His successors, the Merovingian Dynasty, were generally weak rulers controlled by powerful retainers called “Mayors of the Palace.” It was a time of confused loyalties, which led to intrigues, assassinations, and bloody reprisals. The civil and religious leaders regularly struggled over their jurisdictions, setting the stage for martyrdom.

St. Lambert was born about 636 in Maestricht (also spelled ”Maastricht”), a city in the province of Flanders, now in the Netherlands. His family was devout and aristocratic. His virtue and lively intelligence made him an outstanding churchman and a protégé of his uncle, St.Theodard, the bishop of Maestricht. When Theodard was assassinated in 670, Lambert was popularly chosen to succeed him. Invested by Childeric II (662–75), the king of Austrasia (the northeastern part of the former Frankish kingdom), Lambert became an innocent victim of political change when this “patron” was assassinated three years later. The new ruler, Dagobert II (c. 650–79), and his “mayor,” Ebroin († c. 681), stripped Bishop Lambert of his estates and drove him into exile.

For seven years, Lambert lived in forced “retirement” at the Abbey of Stavelot, in Liège, now in the eastern part of modern Belgium. There he impressed the abbot and the whole community with his humility, obedience, and spiritual insight.

When Dagobert and Ebroin were assassinated, Pepin of Heristal (†714) seized power. He deposed the usurper-bishop of Maestricht and restored Lambert. Lambert labored tirelessly in his diocese and evangelized the pagan Taxandrians ( Salian Franks) in an area now divided between modern Belgium and the Netherlands.

King Clovis III (682–95) of Burgundy increased the land holdings of Bishop Lambert. It was both an honor and, some modern scholars would argue, the real reason for his assassination.

A very popular story casts Lambert as another John the Baptist. In this version, Lambert condemned the scandalous liaison between Pepin, his benefactor, and Alpaide. With her embittered and dispossessed kinsman, Dodo, she, as Herodias did to the Baptist, plotted the bishop’s death. More likely, Pepin and Alpaide had nothing to do with the plot to kill Lambert. Dodo had both the motive and the means to dispatch the bishop and reclaim land and wealth that his family had lost. This theory is less dramatic, but much more plausible. Alpaide would become the mother of Charles Martel (688–741), who would take power after his father’s death, end the Muslims’ inroads into Western Europe at the Battle of Tours, and become the grandfather of Charlemagne (742–814), the first Holy Roman Emperor.

After Dodo attacked Lambert’s nephews, Pierre and Indolet, his allies, Gall and Riold, were apprehended and executed. Although Bishop Lambert strongly disavowed his nephews’ “swift justice,” Dodo nonetheless targeted Lambert for revenge. On September 17, 696, Dodo, leading an armed guard, took Lambert by surprise. Instinctively, Lambert reached for a sword to defend himself. Upon reflection, he tossed away his sword and sought solitude, knowing his death was imminent. When his nephews intervened to protect him, they were routed and slain. Finally, one of Dodo's warriors climbed through the thatched roof of the bishop’s house and killed him.

After St. Lambert’s martyrdom, his body was entombed at Maestricht. Later, it was moved to Liège, in the eastern part of modern Belgium, where his relics are solemnly venerated today.
 

Dear Friends,

A week or two ago we had a parish council meeting. Everyone left with smiles on their faces. This may not strike you as anything much, but it certainly meant a lot to me. I've serve in lot of different places, and not all of them have meeting that end with smiles and laughter. St. Lambert's really is a family. I am always so impressed that, when people come back to visit, they speak with such fondness of their time here. People of every nation come to know each other and genuinely care for each other. Psalm 133 says, “See, how good and how pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on Aaron's beard.” Aaron was the first high priest, responsible for the sacrifices of the old law. It is still true that unity makes a sacrifice pleasing to God. It is such a blessing for me to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for people who so genuinely care for each other. I pray that our 60^th anniversary is only a prelude to many more happy years together. May the affection we share draw those around us to Christ. “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have lone one another.” john 13:35

Happy Anniversary

Father Simon
 

Priests that served St. Lambert

     
Fr. Francis Trainor         Fr. James Murtaugh           Fr. Andrew Luczak                Fr. Richard Simon

Eugene J. Ahern
David B. Ball
Joseph N. Brennana, CM
Richard P. Burke
Earl Frye
James F. Harris
James Heyd
Herman B. Kamlage
David J. Kinsella
James O'Brien
Henry Oppenberg, SVD
Patrick O'Reilly, SPF
Ron Plomillo
Robert Rizzo
Ralph S. Starus
Joseph Szabelski
Thomas A. Tivy
Eugene J. Trausch
William P. Welsh

Deacons

David Baez
Rick Mortiz
Chick O'Leary

History of St. Lambert Church

The church of St. Lambert stands at the corner of Cleveland Street and Karlov Avenue in Skokie. The parish boundaries are:

North: Greenleaf Street
South: Jarvis Avenue
East: McCormick Boulevard
West: Kostner Avenue from Greenleaf Street to Mulford Street, and Kenton Avenue from Mulford Street to Jarvis Avenue

Founding

The parish was organized on July 2, 1951, to serve the influx of Catholic families into the southeast section of Skokie. When Hilda Lotito moved to Skokie in 1949, its population was only 14,500, but it was rapidly expanding, thanks to many new families formed by soldiers back from World War II and improving economic times. St. Peter’s Church, which had been organized by German Catholics in 1868, when Skokie was called Niles Center, could no longer handle the influx of students into its school. In fact, Samuel Cardinal Stritch (archbishop of Chicago 1939–1958) formed St. Joan of Arc parish at the same time as St. Lambert’s, for the families living north of Greenleaf Street

Fr. Francis J. Trainor, a former assistant at St. Ambrose Church in Chicago, was appointed to organize the St. Lambert parish. At the invitation of Fr. Arthur J. Sauer, pastor of St. Peter’s Church, Fr. Trainor moved into its rectory the next day. He would remain there until he could move into the temporary rectory he purchased at 8101 N. Karlov Avenue on April 1, 1952.

During these early months, Fr. Trainor was busily engaged in meeting the members of the parish, taking a census--which revealed about 300 families in St Lambert’s—and establishing parish organizations. At its first meeting, in St. Peter’s school hall, the Catholic Women's Club elected Mrs. Frank J. Moosbrugger as its president. On the following evening, the men met with Father Trainor to form the Holy Name Society and elected Frank J. Holland as its president.

Three years later, according to an article in the New World (now the Catholic New World) of June 24, 1954, the parish had over 500 families. As in the other Skokie parishes, the heads of families were typically salesmen, business executives, doctors, and lawyers, many of whom commuted to the Chicago Loop. All owned their homes.

From September 16, 1951, until the new combined school and church was ready in July 1953, the Sunday Masses were held in the gymnasium of the Cleveland public school (now the site of the Elizabeth Meyer preschool and kindergarten), in the 8100 block of N. Tripp Avenue. Every Saturday, a crew of men and boy volunteers covered the floor with a large tarpaulin and set up a portable altar and folding chairs. They had to undo this on Sunday afternoon to ready the gym for school on Monday morning.

Approximately seven hundred people assisted at the first Masses, offered by Father Trainor and Fr. Joseph Brennan, C.M., a Vincentian teaching at DePaul Academy, who assisted on Sundays until July 8, 1952, when Fr. Eugene J. Trausch, newly ordained at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein (northwest of Chicago), was appointed the assistant at St. Lambert’s.

The new parish needed a school as well as a church. Its children continued at St. Peter's school during the 1951–52 school year, but overcrowding meant it could only accommodate the seventh- and eighth-graders the following year. One proposal was to temporarily send the St. Lambert students from the lower grades to another Catholic school, but this was ultimately ruled impractical because of such expenses as school uniforms and busing. Thus, most of the pupils of the first six grades were transferred to public schools. The Benedictine Sisters of St. Scholastica High School in Chicago helped out by giving after-school catechism instructions in private homes and in the basement chapel of the temporary rectory.
 

Building of the school with a temporary church

With the approval of the archdiocese, Fr. Trainor hired the architectural firm of Pirola and Erbach to design and supervise the construction of an eighteen-classroom building; the Schillmoeller and Krofl Company did the construction. It is built of reinforced concrete and faced with Lannon and Bedford stone, and bricks; the inner walls are concrete blocks partly covered with glazed tile, and the floor of the former church section (part of which is now Roberts Hall) has terrazzo floors. The first floor, which was eventually divided into six classrooms, was used as a temporary church that could seat six hundred. The second floor started out with two permanent classrooms and a parish hall that took up the area of four future classrooms. The third floor had six classrooms, two of which served as a temporary dorm for the school sisters, and a kitchen. The plans were approved on March 7, 1952, and Fr. Trainor turned the ceremonial first spade of earth on March 16, assisted by Fr. Brennan and Fr. Sauer. Eight months later, Fr. Trainor conducted the ceremonial laying of the cornerstone, assisted by Fr. Trausch and Fr. Sauer. A copper box placed in the cornerstone contains a document which reads:
 

          To the greater glory of God

• The cornerstone of this building, which is dedicated to God and to our Patron, St. Lambert, was placed on the ninth day of November in the year of our restored salvation one thousand nine hundred and fifty two, by the Reverend Francis J. Trainor, in the name and with the authorization of Samuel Cardinal Stritch of the Holy Roman Church, fourth Archbishop of Chicago; Pius XII being the Supreme Pontiff; Harry Truman the President of these United States of North America; Adlai Stevenson the Governor of this sovereign State of Illinois; George Wilson the President of the Village of Skokie. Praise be to God at all times, to His Holy Mother, and our to our Patron Saint Lambert.

Added to this were pictures of Pius XII and Cardinal Stritch; the history of St. Lambert Parish; a parchment bearing the signatures of the charter members of the parish; a record of the current parish (375 families, 1,443 individuals, 47 baptisms, 2 weddings, and 3 deaths); portions of the current issues of the New World, Chicago Daily News, and Chicago Tribune; a medal of St. Benedict; the names of the sisters from the Order of St. Benedict (O.S.B.) who taught catechism to our children (Sr. M. Xavier, Sr. M. Audrey, Sr. Mary Bernard, Sr. M. Aurelia, and Sr. M. Charlotte); four silver coins (dollar, half-dollar, quarter, and dime); the brochure distributed among the parishioners for the fund drive of April and May 1952; and two copies of the first and ninth St. Lambert Church bulletins.

As the construction progressed in the spring of 1953, the “pew gang”--a small group of generous parishioners, including Tony Donofrio, Lynn Imhoff, and Bill Von Holdt--spent night after night repairing, rebuilding, and refinishing pews from St. Angela’s old church, on the west side of Chicago. Women volunteers spent weeks sewing altar linens and vestments. The first vestments used in the school church were sewn by Laura Gebhardt, Marguerite Hansen, Ann Kathe, and Ruth Jago.Mass in these new quarters was celebrated for the first time on July 5, 1953.
 

Building of the present church and rectory

When the red ink turned to black and the school needed added classrooms to accommodate its increased enrollment, plans were made for a permanent church and rectory. Albert Cardinal Meyer (archbishop 1958–65) approved the plans on January 1959, and ground was broken on May 3, 1959. On Sunday, August 7, 1960, the first Mass was celebrated in the new church.

Because the school needed the space formerly used as the temporary church, the new church was put into service before its construction was complete. The next day, workers began converting the former church area into classrooms for the opening of school on September 7. Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Hillinger consecrated the church on September 3. The new parish hall, in the basement of the church, was opened on October 12 with a parish card party and the raffle of a Cadillac automobile (the hall was renamed for Fr. Trainor in 1980). Two weeks after that, the priests moved into the new rectory. The church was solemnly dedicated on Sunday, June 4, 1961, by Cardinal Meyer.

Of course, the new buildings entailed new debts, which the early parishioners heroically paid off through further rounds of card parties, car raffles, pledge drives, and tithing.

By 1964, St. Lambert parish numbered nearly 1,000 families with 635 children enrolled in the school. In 1978, 1,080 families belonged to St. Lambert parish and 270 children were enrolled in the school under the direction of 13 lay teachers. The parish included a mixture of Irish, German, Polish, and Italian families and had a School Board, a Home-School Association, a Men's Club, a Women's Club, and a scouting program.

On June 27, 1976, John Cardinal Cody (archbishop 1965–82) presided over the celebration of St. Lambert parish‘s twenty-fifth anniversary. The silver jubilee Mass also marked the retirement of Fr. Trainor, who was named pastor emeritus and retired to the former temporary rectory, which had been rented to a family until then; he remained there until his death on October 18, 1981. After his death, the parish sold the building.

Expanded participation by the parishioners

Vatican II had called for the laity to assume a more active role in the Church. This and the decline in religious vocations gradually led to parishioners assuming new duties. Early implementations of this were the beginning of the lector program in 1964, the Advisory School Board in August 1966, the Home-School Association in September 1974, and extraordinary ministers of Communion on December 1, 1974.

On July 1, 1976, Fr. James J. Murtaugh took charge as the new pastor. He had served in both the archdiocesan office and in a number of parishes, most recently as the associate pastor at St. Edward’s Parish in Chicago’s north side. Relying upon the gifts liberally bestowed by the Holy Spirit, Fr. Murtaugh encouraged the formation of new parish groups. He sent a survey to all members of the parish seeking their opinions and desires for St. Lambert’s, then convened a general meeting on September 22, 1976. The result was the formation of the following groups: Spiritual and Social Activities, Liturgy, Adults and Senior Citizens, and Youth.

The Finance Committee was also created at this time. It helped oversee such formidable tasks as keeping the buildings in good repair and paying the salaries of those who worked for the parish. This committee was replaced by the Finance Council, announced on January 30, 1994. Its members included Ed Garcia, George Mohrlein, Joe Taylor, and Emer Ducduc, and it had subcommittees.

In 1983, Fr. Murtaugh gathered twelve couples, known as “The Twelve Apostles,” to promote Filipino involvement in the parish. By the next year, they had grown to twenty-one couples, and in 1985 they formally organized as the Filipino Families of Skokie (FFOS). The group has grown through the years and sponsors a wide variety of activities, including special devotions like Simbang Gabi (a novena leading up to Christmas), liturgical music by its choir, fund-raising for the parish (e.g., dinner-dances, cotillions, anniversary celebrations), and social activities like the quadrennial dances in Trainor Hall. A highpoint was the concelebration of a special Simbang Gabi Mass here by Francis Cardinal George (archbishop since 1997) and Auxiliary Bishop Francis Kane.

Fr. Murtaugh retired in 1993 but was not forgotten. The parish had planned a big celebration on May 17, 1998, to mark his fiftieth anniversary as a priest, but he died suddenly on April 29.

Fr. Andrew Luczak, whose previous position was the associate pastor at St. Edward’s parish, was installed as pastor on June 26, 1993. Under his leadership, the parish’s lay boards continued to evolve.

In 1991, Diane Barr and Sally Clark Arden had organized the Social Club, which assumed such tasks as hospitality Sundays, welcome breakfasts, the heritage dinner, and the Good News, a quarterly parish newspaper published in the mid-1990s. In 1994, the Social Club was formally chartered as the Parish Life Commission, chaired by Deacon Chick O’Leary, who was succeeded the following year by Al Glueckert. This advisory board was one of four commissions (the others were Faith and Culture, Education, and Social Justice) composing the Parish Pastoral Council. The Parish Life Commission included representatives from many other parish organizations, including the School Board, the Senior’s Group, the Women’s Club, the Filipino Families of Skokie, the Youth Group, the Bratfest Committee, the Finance Council, and the Hispanic Prayer Group.
 

In 1998 began the transition to the present forms:

Parish Pastoral Council: the primary advisory body for the pastor. It oversees the other commissions and such groups as the representatives to the vicariate (regional groups that channel local questions and concerns to the archbishop).

Parish Life: oversight of social activities--Women's Club, Seniors, Men's Club, etc. It oversees organizations of social events like the Heritage Dinner, Bratfest, hospitality Sundays, receptions after liturgical events, Superbowl Sunday, and Lenten fish fries.

Faith and Culture (or Spiritual Life): faith life, including scheduling of major liturgical events, small-group faith-sharing and ecumenical activities. It works with the Liturgy Committee, the Arts and Environment Committee, Pro-Life, Inter-faith Dialogue, and the Ministry of Care.

Education Commission: school, religious education, RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults), Baptismal preparation, Bible study. During most of Fr. Luczak’s tenure, it arranged special Lenten speakers, and it sponsors the Youth Group and the book-discussion group.

Social Justice: serving others. It works on the sharing-parish program, St. Thomas of Canterbury food and clothing drives, the blood drive, and volunteer work in area soup kitchens and hospitals.

Another sign of the laity’s increased role is the Ministry of Care, coordinated by Carol Glueckert, whose members take Communion to sick members of the parish.
 

Celebrating St. Lambert’s diverse cultures

Fr. Luczak stressed the importance of making people from different cultures feel welcome at St. Lambert’s. One prong of this effort was to celebrate special feasts and ceremonies, such as the Irish feast of Our Lady of Knock; the Hispanic devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe and the formation of the Spanish Prayer Group under Jesus Montero; and the Filipino celebrations of the Feast of San Lorenzo Ruiz (the first Filipino saint), Simbang Gabi, and Santo Niño (the Filipino celebration of the Infant of Prague). Fr. Luczak also began the tradition of having various groups set up altars representing their traditions (including Italian, German, Hispanic, Irish, Filipino, and Haitian) as stations on the Eucharistic procession following the 10 a.m. Sunday Mass for the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. There were also special occasions, as when Bishop George Alencherry of the Syro-Malabar rite of the Eastern Catholic Church (India) celebrated a liturgy from his rite.

The second prong was arranging educational sessions, notably through two series of talks. Bridges to Understanding dealt with non-Christian religions. It began on January 4, 1996, with a presentation by James Yellowknife, a Hocak Indian from Black River Falls, Wisconsin, who, spoke on “Native American Peoples and the Global Community,” and sang native songs accompanied by his guitar. Dialogues in Sacred Cultures dealt with other Christian groups.
 

Current trends

In July 2006, Fr. Richard Simon became the fourth pastor of St. Lambert’s. He had been the long-time pastor of St. Thomas of Canterbury on Chicago’s north side and had taught Greek and Latin at the former Niles College in Niles (it has been replaced by St. Joseph Seminary, a school of Loyola University’s north Chicago campus). He has continued his teaching here through his weekly columns in the Sunday bulletin and his Bible classes.

He has stressed the importance of being open to divine inspiration to build faith (trust) in God, get to know him, and put one’s beliefs into practice. In keeping with this, he has held services for a Charismatic Renewal (Pentecostal) group, and has told advisory groups that he is very open to plans that depend upon their efforts for execution. Formal groups, like the commissions, have tended to meet much less often, but many groups dedicated to particular projects have taken hold, like the new Youth Group formed in 2005 and guided by Pablo Montero, who is also the chairman of the Parish Council.

Also busy are the teams who provide coffee and snacks every week after the 10 a.m. Sunday Mass; they are coordinated by Frances Napoleon, who has been prominent in preparing food for special occasions for many years. Another group that has provided many special meals, including pancake breakfasts, spaghetti dinners, and Lenten fish fries, is the Parish Life Commission, led by Don and Marge Davis and Larry and Barbara Dionne.

Fr. Simon has also striven to reintroduce some customs from older traditions of the Church. Notable instances are the monthly Latin Masses and the option of receiving Communion while kneeling at the rail in front of the sanctuary (on pads made by Alice Melecio).

Currently, there are about 800 active families in the parish, down from the peak of about 1,400. However, this represents an increase from a few years ago, and the more active status of these families is reflected in the higher weekly offerings, which, with some economies, have met the parish’s normal operating expenses. Fr. Simon has used his radio show to invite people to participate at St. Lambert’s.
 

Fund-raising

The three-story school cost $350,000, and the land, temporary rectory, and other expenses cost an additional $100,000 (note that $450,000 in 1953 is equivalent to about $3,700,000 in 2011). Fr. Trainor urged that this be paid off quickly, to avoid the forty-year plan of some parishes, which, at a rate of 3.5%, would cost an additional $391,939 in interest. He also argued against leaving the burden to future generations.

To address the debt, Fr. Trainor assembled a fourteen-man board, headed by Edward F. Keating, who formulated a five-year plan that emphasized pledges from the parishioners. The Women's Club assumed the task of visiting each family to obtain a pledge.

Independently of the Women’s Club, five seventy-five-member guilds, coordinated by Dorothy Doetsch, took turns sponsoring card and bunco parties. When these events overflowed the parish hall, the guilds joined forces, under Marie Bergman, to focus their efforts on one big annual party. The first took place on November 30, 1955, at the Edgewater Beach Hotel, the former tall pink building on Sheridan Road and Berwyn Avenue (only the architecturally similar Edgewater Beach Apartments survive from the complex). This and car raffles were especially helpful in raising money during the early years. Other endeavors included pledge drives and tithing.

Through the years, various groups have sponsored events like Las Vegas Nites (the first was held on April 29 and 30, 1977). Another long-running method was SLAM (St. Lambert’s Association of Men) raffles, which entered the ticket-buyers into monthly drawings for cash prizes. These raffles began with the Grand SLAM, founded around 1975 by a number of founding fathers, including Jack Kelly, Ed Mikos, Ron Richter, and Bill Von Holdt. The Grand SLAM raffles ultimately raised $300,000.

The Women’s Club also put on bake sales and conducted it first annual Christmas Boutique, in December 1972. A special seasonal feature was cookie houses, a project spearheaded by Felzitas Sudendorf and Josef and Margaret Soehn. These could be elaborate—for example, a replica of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna.
There were special appeals, too, for such items as buying a new boiler, repairing the parking lot, and removing asbestos in the mid-1990s, which totaled $150,000. An anonymous donor, referred to as the “Angel,” matched special donations up to a total of $20,000; this appeal netted $42,000.

Through the years, there have been many short- and long-term fund-raising efforts. One example was a Musical Chuck Wagon social to pay for the $2,500 portable organ in the original church-school. The event was held at the home of Ruth and Art Jago and featured food and a performance by the choir, directed by Jane Grant. This became an annual event for some years and grew to include street dancing.

To pay for the 2008 expansion of the pipe organ (see “Music programs,” below), the initial effort was listing this cause on the envelopes for special donations. Most of the money came from a special raffle offered by the Filipino Families of Skokie (FFOS) and from an anonymous donor. There was enough extra money to pay for new flooring in the choir loft.

Of special note are the Bratfest Festivals, which began in 1967 with Otto Waage supplying his homemade sausage from his butcher shop; Al Hantel, John McKay, and Bill von Holdt helped organize the affair; in later years, George and Donna Mohrlein took over the reins. Dealing with the area’s rainiest month (August) culminated one year in a torrent that drove everyone into the basement hall, where they were confronted by flooding. This led the organizers to hire large tents for shelter at future Bratfests. Eventually, the event grew to a three-day affair (Friday night through Sunday evening) and featured a variety of ethnic foods as well as brats, roasted corn, desserts, popcorn, and drinks, plus a pull-tab booth, kid games, and a big band for listening and dancing. In its peak years, the festival, including its raffle, netted over $50,000. Gradually, growing costs and declining participation led to its being retrenched to a one-night indoor food and band event with a raffle in 2010.

Another long-sought addition was an elevator to convey handicapped (or tired) people between the main floor of the church and Trainor Hall. Once again, special appeals and a spot on the special-donation envelopes were greatly boosted by a special raffle led by the FFOS.

St. Lambert’s was the surprised recipient of a large bequest from a former parishioner who had been living in London for many years, Nancy Roberts. This money helped pay for such projects as long-deferred maintenance in the rectory and the conversion of part of the former church area in the school to an adjunct parish hall, named after her.

Music programs

From the earliest days, the parish had what is now officially named the St. Lambert Choir and commonly referred to as the traditional choir. Among its directors were Joe Micheletti; Soong Fu Yuam, who composed a special Mass to celebrate the inauguration of the present church; Eleanor Swanson; James Biery, whom Steve Folkers calls the most famous musician and composer to hold the position here, though it was only for a short time; Gloria Keeley; and our current director, Steve Folkers, who began here in August 1988.

Folkers formed the school’s children’s choir and he continued with it for a couple of years after the school closed in 2003. Several of its former members still sing with the traditional choir, most notably on special holiday celebrations, and with the family choir. For Christmas Eve, the choir has been augmented with professional string and brass players.

The family choir was organized by Maureen Kaucher in 1994 with the goal of offering contemporary music sung by adults and children. It sometimes brought in musicians from the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Old Town School of Music, and sang at 5 p.m. Saturday Masses and special Masses honoring family and youth. It is currently directed by Chris Gualberto.

The Filipino choir was founded around 1998 by Lu Alog, who still directs it. Besides singing at St. Lambert, it performs at special Filipino festivals and liturgies outside the parish.

As noted above, the school church began with a portable organ. The permanent church included an electronic organ, whose speakers were mounted behind the tall grilles of the chambers on either side of the choir loft. On August 31, 1989, St. Lambert inaugurated its present pipe organ, which the Bradford Organ company of Evanston rebuilt using pipes from St. Willibrord, a south-side parish that closed in 1988. The pipes were installed in the north chamber. The organ was gradually improved with a new console that has three manuals (keyboards) and with additional pipes installed in the south chamber, which increased the ranks of pipes from seventeen to thirty-one. The north chamber was also fitted with shutters that can be gradually opened to “swell” (increase) the loudness of these pipes—hence the south chamber’s designation as the ”swell division.” These improvements were completed in 2008.

St. Lambert’s School and the Benedictines

Finding a staff

At least as big a challenge as constructing a building was procuring teaching sisters to staff the school. Upon arriving in Skokie, Fr. Trainor began contacting the mothers superior of many teaching orders. On August 19, 1951, Sr. M. Adelaide, the mother prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery, Chicago, responded:

Benedictines are real home folks. We find it hard to pull up anchor and sail very far from our Motherhouse. But since your new parish in Skokie is to be so close to St. Scholastica, I am very glad to be able to say “yes” to your request for our Sisters. We'll have hands on deck for you in September, 1952.

“Close to home” reflects the structure of this order: each monastery operates as an autonomous unit, so its members do not move from house to house. As at St. Lambert’s, those who taught in a parish often occupied a nearby convent during the school season, but they returned “home” for vacation periods.

Since St. Lambert School was not ready for occupancy that fall, the Benedictine Sisters did not report for duty until August 16, 1953. The following sisters from the Order of St. Benedict (O.S.B.) formed the first faculty of the school: Mother M. Adelaide, who served as the superior, the principal, and first-grade teacher; Sr. M. Stanislaus; Sr. Mary Charles; Sr. M. Joanna; Sr. M. Cornelia; and Sr. M. Regina. There were 306 students.

Establishing a convent and helping out

In the beginning, the sisters endured a number of inconveniences in their living quarters. During their first year, two of the third-floor classrooms served as their dormitory and common room; a janitor’s closet was converted into a shower (there was no bathtub); they hung their habits in lockers; and they had a kitchen, which they continued to use for breakfast and lunch and as a faculty room after they moved into a separate convent. Their privacy was sometimes compromised by having children in the adjoining classrooms and sharing bathrooms with the schoolgirls.

When the enrollment for the following year jumped by 84, to 390, the school needed the two classrooms where the sisters were staying, so the parish bought a two-flat at 8145 N. Harding Avenue. On first inspection, some shortcomings stood out, including the small size of some bedrooms that would have to be shared. Nevertheless, the building was a significant improvement over the classroom dormitory, and remedies were supplied by volunteer founders’ renovations during the summer of 1954 and by the purchase of furnishings that snuggled into the available space. The sisters also periodically raided their monastery’s basement to supplement the furnishings from the parish.

The remodeled upstairs flat comprised the chapel in the former living room, the community work room in the former dining room, and bedrooms, both the original ones and new ones made from the converted kitchen. The first floor comprised the living room (doubling as the office), the dining room, the kitchen, and more bedrooms. Their recreation room was in the basement.

The sisters remember how, at many parishes, they had to spend days cleaning the convent to make it habitable—but not at St. Lambert’s. The women’s-club officers, starting with the school convent and continuing every year after that in the Harding Avenue one, cleaned the premises, stocked the larder, and left a welcoming meal on the day in August when the sisters moved back for the new school year.

The sisters recall other kindnesses from the founding families: Mrs. Hilda Lotito, who volunteered as the school secretary from its opening until Fr. Trainor’s retirement in 1976; Mrs. Richard Joyce’s clam chowder, which became a Christmas Eve tradition for the sisters; Adam Koch’s driving them to school on blustery winter days; the Mudds; the Madsens; Joe Drowinski; the grateful Fr. Trainor, who made sure they had what they needed—from furnishings to meat to school supplies. Sincere appreciation was also felt for the capable maintenance men, John Mussar and Mike Liozeris, who cheerfully did “the dirty work” for many years.

Hilda Lotito recalls how the women’s club sponsored an annual Silver Tea on a Sunday afternoon early in the school year to honor the sisters by sharing with them a cup of tea and something from the sweet table, and to show gratitude by dropping an envelope in a silver container. The sisters, whose small stipend had to be shared with their motherhouse, found this a big financial help.

Their new convent was about a seven-minute walk from the school in decent weather, but the sisters had to make other trips, such as shopping and visiting the motherhouse, for which they had to beg rides. This problem was alleviated when the parishioners contributed enough S&H Green Stamps to buy them an International Harvester Travelall, one of the first modern SUVs (sports utility vehicles). (S&H trading stamps were an earlier form of rewards points, given out by retailers, especially grocers and gas stations; they survive as Green Points for online purchases.) The major hitch the sisters encountered was an archdiocesan rule that forbade nuns to drive in Chicago. This meant they could drive to Howard and Ridge, but not to their monastery about two blocks south of there. It also made it harder for those who were taking classes downtown at DePaul and Loyola. Eventually, they received a dispensation.

The years of expansion

Because each sister was paid a nominal stipend ($35 per month), the tuition was only $2 a month for each of the first two students in a family, and free for the many additional children. The sudden rise in births after World War II (the “baby boomers,” c. 1946–63) plus the desire to give children a Catholic education and its affordability led to a rapid growth in enrollment. The school opened with 306 students the first year and jumped to 390 the second year, when the second grade alone had 67 children. This required the addition of the first lay teacher. The completion of the present church and rectory in 1960 allowed the temporary parish hall and church areas in the school to be converted into classrooms, bringing the total to eighteen. The 1959–60 school year marked the peak enrollment of 651. For the opening of the 1960–61 school year, the school used fourteen classrooms and a staff of eight Benedictine Sisters and six lay teachers to serve 620 students. In 1964, St. Lambert parish numbered nearly 1,000 families and had 635 children in the school.

During these flourishing years, the school added to its facilities. In 1965, Lorraine Weimer, who would work there for 25 years, started the school library with 400 books in what became the principal’s office. Eventually, it moved to the second floor and accumulated over 4,200 books. The school music program began in September 1976. In 1978, the women’s club provided the initial funding for the Donofrio Learning Center to support a 15% jump in enrollment over the previous year. The center focused on reading and mathematical skills, offering accelerated material for advanced students, special help for slower students, and enrichment activities for students working at their own grade level. The center was named in honor of Anthony “Tony” Donofrio, a pioneer parishioner who generously assisted the first two pastors in many endeavors. In November 1982, the school began its computer training program.

The Benedictines leave

By the mid-1960s, the population of Skokie, including St. Lambert Parish, had stabilized, and the school population, both public and private, began to decline. To encourage parental involvement in their children's education, and in response to Vatican II, the first St. Lambert School Board was elected in 1967. To increase enrollment, the first kindergarten was opened in 1974, and the pre-kindergarten program in September 1981.

In June 1972, the sisters left the school. In keeping with other changes in the post-Vatican II Church, the Archdiocese of Chicago no longer required religious communities to serve particular parishes but allowed their members to apply for jobs anywhere. With fewer new vocations, orders found themselves with diminishing numbers of working members supporting increasing numbers of retired and infirm members. Thus, those still working had to earn more than the nominal stipends paid by parishes. They were also in demand for other ministries. So the sisters moved out, and the building was sold.

However, their connection with the parish continued for some time. Through the years, many girls who graduated from St. Lambert’s continued their education at St. Scholastica High School, often being taught by sisters who had taught them at St. Lambert’s. In addition, a number of Scholastica students assisted with CCD at St. Lambert’s.

Final years and new directions

Five Benedictine had served as principals: Sr. Adelaide, Sr. Helen Stanislaus, Sr. Georgine, Sr. Joanne, and Sr. Mary Frances. In 1973, St. Lambert School hired its first lay principal, Walter D. Walsh. Al Glueckert, a member of the school board during that period, remembers Walsh as an excellent principal who brought a lot of spirit to the school, including an enthusiastic athletics program. He was succeeded in 1979 by Kenneth Smentek, who had taught seventh grade at the school. He was succeeded by Kerry Foderaro. Its last principal, Ron Berger, a classmate of Fr. Luczak, was hired in 1994.

In 1978, 1,080 families belonged to St. Lambert parish and 270 children were enrolled in the school under the direction of 13 lay teachers. In the early 2000s, enrollment was down to around 130. Rising costs and a continuing decline in enrollment finally forced the closure of the school after the 2002–2003 school year, 49 years after its opening.

The parish continues to offer religious education classes for the elementary grades. They are taught by volunteers from the parish under the religious education director (currently Liz Frake). Fr. Richard Simon, the pastor since 2006, is striving to expand religious education for adults through his weekly Bible classes and through special seminars with such presenters as Dr. Scott Hahn and Mike Aquilina. For younger members, he has begun offering a summer session, taking steps to encourage greater family participation in their children’s religious education, and planning special classes for members of the youth group.
 

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Observation by the architect­­

St. Lambert Church is designed in the contemporary style and forms a unit with the rectory, school, and site. Both the exterior and the interior are constructed in Norman-sized brick, with prominent exterior trim in Bedford and weathered Lannon stone. The entrance steps are granite. The roof is supported by nine laminated wood beams that span 70 feet. The ceiling is covered with pecky cypress wood arranged in a diagonal pattern. The church aisles are carpeted.

A prominent exterior and interior feature is the sanctuary wall. It is 44 feet high and 30 feet wide, and is made up of 85 blocks of precast concrete containing a mixture of granite chips; 77 of these blocks are pierced with diamond-shaped, jeweled, mosaic, stained glass graduated in color to form a halo around the 18-foot crucifix, which hangs above the altar from a beautiful baldachino.

The altars are of Crema Perla marble, with a retable of French Rouge Antique and a base of Negro Marquina. The sanctuary floor is of Verde Antique Palladiana, a dark-green marble laid in random pieces in a mixture of terrazzo cement. Both the sanctuary and altar steps are of Verde Antique marble. The communion rail is of Negro Marquina marble and bronze.

The crucifixes, statues, and Stations of the Cross are carved of linden wood by Ermanno Moroder of Bolzano, Italy. The altars, crucifixes, benediction candelabra, altar candlesticks, sanctuary stalls, communion rail, sanctuary lamp, Baptismal font, lectern, sedilia, statues, and the bronze symbols on the confessionals were designed, executed, and installed by the Moroder International Statuary and Altar, Inc., of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The two images of St. Lambert in bas relief on the facade of the church were carved in stone by Mr. Willy Klopfenstein of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The mosaic stained-glass windows in the church were executed by the celebrated French artist, Mr. Gabriel Loire, in his studio in Chartres, France. They are set in cement 1/18" in thickness; portions of the glass are chipped to catch and intensify the light.

The stained-glass windows in the southwest entrance to the church, sacristies, and auxiliary rooms were designed and executed by Mr. Erhard Stoettner of the T.C. Esser Co. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Interesting and practical features include the placing of the priests’ entrance to the confessionals in a passageway at the rear of the confessionals; the convenience of a confessional immediately adjacent to the priests’ sacristy for early morning use; the substitution of sanctuary choir stalls that seat 24 in place of prie-dieus for the clergy participating in church functions; and the lighting of the church by recessed downlights serviced from the roof.

The seating capacity of the church and choir loft is 950. The choir loft is reached by two stairways leading from the narthex, one of which is free-standing and constructed in aluminum with tile treads.

Below the church is a large meeting hall, complete with a stage, a kitchen, cloakrooms, and a projection booth. The hall has been attractively finished with recessed lights, an acoustical ceiling, and multi-colored glazed enamel walls. Large windows flank the north side of the hall looking out on the Shrine Garden featuring the Our Lady of Fatima grouping in Carara marble. Two stairways lead from the street level to two additional entrances to the meeting hall.

A great deal of thought was given to the location of the church, meeting hall, rectory, and school in reference to the parking and to each other. The church entrance was set back from the street to create a landscaped setting. The loggia connecting the church with the rectory provides protection in inclement weather for weddings and funerals. The entrances have been placed near the parking lot, which also doubles as a playground for the school. In planning the church, the thought of achieving both a warm feeling of dignified solidity and a practical, functional arrangement was kept uppermost in mind.

Frank Polito
 

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Notes about the church

The altars contain relics of St. Lambert and the martyrs St. Constance (third century A.D.) and St. Candidus (nineteenth century A.D.). (Canon law stipulates that an altar stone contain a “relic,” a part of the body of a canonized or blessed saint, typically a bone chip; lesser relics, for lesser purposes, are items touched by a saint, such as a piece of clothing.)

Modifications

Trainor Hall, in the basement of the church, suffered extensive water damage in the 1990s, but this proved a blessing in disguise, because Fr. Luczak was able to use the insurance payments to both fix the leak and renovate the hall, from new light fixtures to a new tile floor.

Some modifications were made to satisfy newer Church norms. For example, in a change begun under Fr. Luczak and completed under Fr. Simon, the baptismal font was moved from the baptismal room to the rear of the central aisle because baptism represents one’s entry into the community of the Church. To make room for the font, the doors were moved further back. The former baptismal room, at the rear epistle side, which had become an informal storage space, was refurbished as a chapel for special private devotions, as indicated by its reliquaries (including those of some famous saints), statues, and picture.

Fr. Luczak donated a new statue of St. Lambert, which is on the left front wall, between Mary’s altar and the sanctuary. The statue of the Virgin, which had occupied that spot, was moved to the wall above the south stairs to Trainor Hall.

Fr. Simon had the tabernacle moved back to the center of the wall behind the main altar on the premise that both tradition and symbolism demand this prominent location.

Stained-glass windows

The large stained-glass window at the rear of the church depicts Jesus’s Passion and Resurrection. The lower sections, above the vestibule’s center outside doors, depict the Last Supper and the Agony in the Garden. The main part, visible above the choir loft, shows Jesus carrying his cross (lower left); the Crucifixion, with the Virgin Mary, Mary of Cleopas, and St. John at the foot of the cross (center); the Resurrection, with the risen Christ, the angel, and the three women going to the sepulcher (center left); and, finally, the Ascension, where only Christ’s feet and lower legs are visible (upper left).

One side window shows St. Lambert (see “Our patron saint”) about to be killed with a spear.

The family is emphasized in five side windows, four of which include children: (1) the birth of Jesus, with Mary and Joseph looking upon him, and with the star of Bethlehem above; (2) the rite of marriage, with a couple exchanging rings; (3) St. Pius X (1835–1914), the “pope of frequent Communion,” who allowed younger children to receive Communion; (4) St. Maria Goretti (1890–1902), the patroness of children, who was killed by multiple knife wounds as she fought off a would-be rapist, crying out against the sinfulness of the contemplated act (she forgave her murderer as she lay dying); and (5) Christian education, featuring children in their St. Lambert uniforms, a priest, Jesus, and a Benedictine nun.

Mercy is the main subject of two side windows: (1) the return of the prodigal son and (2) Mary, the Queen of Mercy, enfolding the human race within her robe. Somewhat related is the window that shows Jesus blessing Skokie, with St. Lambert’s church represented in the lower right corner.

The remaining pictorial side window shows Christ holding a ledger of human deeds, headed by Roman numbers one through ten (the Commandments), as he appears in his second coming as the judge of the human race.

Other religious art

The marble pieces on the fronts of the confessionals hold symbols of penance. On the eastern confessional, the three crosses represent the scene of the Crucifixion; being juxtaposed with the rooster, they also suggest Peter’s three denials.

The center confessional shows the keys of the kingdom, which represent the power to forgive sins, and a scourge, which brings to mind both the whipping of Christ and, more generally, the need to do penance.

On the western confessional is another scourge, a cross, and a crown of thorns.

There are two reliefs of St. Lambert on the outside rear wall of the church, flanking the main entrance and the large stained-glass window. The left (southern) one depicts him rebuking Pepin and Alpaide for their extramarital liaison, and the right one shows him being martyred (see “Our patron saint”).

The statue in the garden behind the church is of the Good Shepherd.

The statue in the grotto outside Trainor hall represents the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima to the three children.
 

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Acknowledgements

This book was produced as part of the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of our parish’s founding. All the activities have been under the aegis of the anniversary committee, headed by Ester Folkers, who also helped in researching some facts and in proofreading. Special thanks are due to the rectory staff, Debbie Morales and George Mohrlein, for their continual support in this project.

The text was edited and written by Joe Dunne, who drew heavily on accounts by such earlier historians as Sr. M. Cornelia, O.S.B., Dorothy Mark, Al and Carol Gluekert, Toni Mengarelli, Hilda Lotito, and Chick O’Leary, plus many people who supplied various pieces of information during interviews, including the Benedictines Sr. Joanna, Sr. Mary Frances, and Sr. Hilary; Otto Waage; George and Donna Mohrlein; Ed and Mary Brunner, Joe Taylor; Julia Linzer; Steve Folkers; Maureen Kaucher; and Fr. Richard Simon.

Photographs came from earlier publications and from many individuals, including Hill Chamerlik, Pat Urbanus, James Nasby, Luisa Penepacker, and Joe Dunne. Joe and Hill edited many of them, and Pat took on the task of culling our selections from the hundreds we accumulated and of specifying their placement in the book. Although space limitations precluded our using most of the photographs here, they and other memorabilia were very helpful in giving us a fuller sense of the history of St. Lambert’s.

Hill Chamerlik designed the book, typeset it with the help of Rita Chamerlik, and saw it through the printer. Rita also helped with proofreading.

The text is set in Palatino, a twentieth-century old-style font designed by Hermann Zapf.
 

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