March 27, 2009
CFM honors chaplain, renews vows, elects officers
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
Father Tom Rzepiela, pastor of St. Thomas of Villanova Church in Palatine, Ill., and a long-time chaplain of the Christian Family Movement, has received the Hillenbrand Award, the highest honor given by CFM in the United States. The award ceremony was one part of a series of events and celebrations — which included a renewal of marriage vows, a reception for couples, a congratulatory ap-pearance by Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, and the election of new officers for the Christian Family Movement.
Father Rzepiela received the award Feb. 21 at Our Lady of the Wayside Church in Arling-ton Heights, Ill., where he and the local pastor, Father Edward Fialkowski, concelebrated Mass with Chicago Auxiliary Bishop George Rassas.
During the Mass, couples from the parish and visitors from six area parishes with active CFM groups renewed their marriage vows. Following the Mass, the parish hosted a reception for the married couples.
Cardinal Francis George greeted the couples at the reception, congratulating them on their commitment to marriage and noting that 2009 is the sixtieth anniversary of the establishment of the Christian Family Movement.
Members of the National Board of the Christian Family Movement conducted their an-nual winter board meeting in facilities provided by Our Lady of the Wayside Church, and participated in the marriage renewal Mass and reception.
Father Rzepiela was honored for his service as a CFM chaplain. He had been recruited for CFM while he was stationed as a seminarian at St. James Church in Arlington Heights. After his ordination in 1972, he became chaplain of a CFM group at St. Thomas of Villanova in Palatine, and served there until 1979.
Father Rzepiela resided at Our Lady of the Wayside from 1979 to 1987, while serving the Archdiocese of Chicago on the faculty of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein. During that time he remained active in CFM, and from 1982 to 1987, he served as chaplain of the CFM Chicago Federation. He currently serves as chaplain for CFM at St. Thomas of Villano-va.
The Hillenbrand Award is named after Msgr. Reynold Hill-enbrand, a priest and teacher of the Chicago Archdiocese who served as the first national chaplain of the Christian Family Movement, and worked to make the lay apostolate a reality.
Father Rzepiela is only the third recipient of the award. Previously, it was presented to Father Sam Palmer of Des Moines, now deceased, and Msgr. Michael Lenihan, now pastor emeritus of St. Lawrence Martyr Church in Redondo Beach, Calif.
The award was presented to Father Rzepiela by the current national president couple, John and Lauri Przybysz of Severna Park, Md.
New officers for the CFM national board, elected Feb. 22, include Bob and Anne Tomonto of Miami, Fla., as president couple; Tom and Mary Kay Halpin of Omaha as vice-president couple; Tom and Laura Toussaint of Arllington Heights, Ill., as secretary couple, and John and Mary Poprac of Torrance, Calif., as treasurer couple.
CFM pioneered the small group experience for Catholic families as a way to bring lay men and women into the life and ministry of the Catholic Church. Small groups of families meet regularly to support each other in their Catholic values. CFM groups use the method popularized by Cardinal Joseph Cardijn, called See-Judge-Act, to observe the world where they live, judge what they see in the light of Gospel values, and act to make the world better.
In his comments at the reception, Cardinal George noted that he had been active in Young Christian Students, another of the Cardijn movements.
CFM annually produces a book to guide the process for small groups. The current program book, “Marriage Makes a Difference,” was written to support the U.S. bishops in their initiative to strengthen marriage.
“Anyone — married, single, or single again — can Observe, Judge and Act for the future of marriage and family life,” according to CFM’s website. The book examines “marriage in contemporary American so-ciety, help us reflect on what makes marriage healthy and holy, and discover ways to en-courage anyone who has made a commitment to live this vocation.”
The national headquarters of CFM are located in Evansville, Ind. See www.cfm.org or call (812) 962-5508.