HR1061 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1061 LRB098 21094 MST 58878 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to congratulate Reverend Monsignor John Pollard on the 40th anniversary of his ordination; and

WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese on May 8, 1974; and

WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard served as associate pastor of St. Albert the Great Parish from 1974-80 and of St. Julian Eymard Parish from 1980-85; in 1982, the President of DePaul University appointed him the executive director of the university's Center for Church/State Studies; 5 years later he was given the John Courtney Murray Award for distinguished contributions to the field of religion and government; and

WHEREAS, In 1985, Rev. Msgr. Pollard was appointed to the staff of the Office for Catechesis in the Archdiocese of Chicago, and, 2 years later, he was appointed to be director of the office; in 1988, he was appointed to serve on the Bishops' Committee on Doctrinally Sound Catechetical Materials, and, in 1989, he served as co-chairman of the National Catholic Educational Association's Convention, Exposition, and Religious Education Congress; 5 years later, after the conclusion of his service as director of catechesis, he received the Archdiocese of Chicago Award for Extraordinary Leadership and Service; and

WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard was appointed to the staff of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C. in 1992, where he served as assistant coordinator for Pope John Paul II's visit to the United States in 1993, and, that same year, was director of catechesis for World Youth Day; in 1994, he was appointed by Pope John Paul II to be a permanent member of the International Council on Catechesis, and, in 1995, he was appointed to be the founding director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for the Catechism; that same year he again served as assistant coordinator for the Pope's visit to the U.S.; and

WHEREAS, After 7 years of service to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Rev. Msgr. Pollard was appointed director of thew newly-created Department of Education, and, in 1998, he also served as a consultant to the Bishops' Committee on the Catechism; in 2000, he was appointed to serve as a member of the Bishops' Committee on Education; later that same year, he was appointed director of the newly-created Department of Evangelization and Catechesis; in 2001, he returned to Washington, D.C. to work with the Episcopal Oversight Board on the development of the new National Directory for Catechesis, and, in 2003, he served as a consultant to the Committee on Catechesis; and

WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard has received several distinguished honors over the years; in 1996, he was cited for his leadership in adult catechesis by the National Advisory Committee for Adult Religious Education; in 1997, Francis Cardinal George conferred the Archdiocese of Chicago Medallion for Excellence in Catechesis on him; Today's Catholic Teacher named him one of the 25 most influential leaders in Catholic education over the past quarter century; he received the F. Sadlier Dinger Award for Leadership in Catechetics from William H. Sadlier, Inc. citing his leadership, and the Our Sunday Visitor Foundation awarded a $500,000 grant to the Office for the Catechism during his tenure as its director; and

WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard has been a catechist and teacher for pre-schoolers, children with disabilities, high school, college and graduate students, teachers, catechists, and principals and priests; he has taught at the University of Illinois, St. Xavier University, and DePaul University, and has been a adjunct professor of catechetics at Mundelein Seminary; in addition, he has served as religious education consultant for the National Catholic Educational Association and as theological consultant for several publishers of catechetical texts and materials; he has frequently delivered papers and presented workshops at the meetings and conventions of the National Catholic Educational Association and the National Conference of Catechetical Leadership and has given presentations, directed seminars, and led workshops on the Catechism for bishops' staffs, diocesan educational/catechetical leaders, priests and parish leadership in over 100 dioceses in the United States; he has spoken to audiences at the Vatican, in Spain, Italy, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain, Guam, and several island nations in the Caribbean; and

WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard wrote "Exploring the Catholic Faith", an annotated edition of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin's "Growing in Wisdom, Age and Grace"; his numerous articles have appeared in books and journals such as the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Thomist, the Living Light, the Journal of Religion and Law, Chicago Studies, the Josephinum Journal of Theology, the DePaul Law Review, Momentum, Catechetical Sunday, Proceedings of the International Eucharistic Congress, and Proceedings of the Pontifical Council for the Laity; he wrote the general introductory essay for Liturgy Training Publications' The Catechetical Documents; his latest work, "Know, Live and Love the Catholic Faith" was published by Our Sunday Visitor Press in November of 2005; and

WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard has served as a member of the U.S. Bishops' Committee on Education and as a consultant for 2 Bishops' Committees: the Committee on Catechesis and the Committee on the Catechism; he also served on the Boards of Directors of the National Catholic Catechists' Society, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and De Paul University's Center for Church/State Studies; he has been the chaplain of the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago for over 20 years; he has served on the Editorial Board of the Living Light, the Board of Directors of the National Conference of Catechetical Leadership, and the Advisory Committee of National Catholic Educational Association's National Conference of Diocesan Directors of Religious Education; Francis Cardinal George appointed him a member of the Archdiocesan School Board in 2009; and

WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard was appointed pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Wilmette on March 15, 2003; 7 years later he was appointed to be pastor of Queen of All Saints Basilica; Pope Benedict XVI named him Chaplain of His Holiness with the title Reverend Monsignor in September of 2010; and

WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard holds a master's degree in Supervision and Administration from Loyola University of Chicago and a master's degree in Divinity and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from Mundelein Seminary; he is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Reverend Monsignor John Pollard on the 40th anniversary of his ordination; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Rev. Msgr. Pollard as an expression of our esteem and respect.