Cardinal Blase J. Cupich

Then-7-month-old Aidan Oganovich was hoisted up by his parents to sit in the Stanley Cup when the trophy visited Incarnation Parish in Palos Heights in 2013. Mike Gapski, who is the Blackhawks’ head athletic trainer and a parishioner at Incarnation for many years, brought the NHL trophy to his parish. Below, a couple enters St. Leo Residence. If the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup, Florida Bishop Robert Lynch will ship grapefruit to the residence. (Karen Callaway/Catholic New World, photo provided by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago)

The leaders of the home Catholic dioceses for the Chicago Blackhawks and the Tampa Bay Lightning have bet iconic foods from their cities on the outcome of the National Hockey League championship.
Archbishop Cupich has promised enough Chicago deep dish pizzas to feed the 300 guests of Pinellas Hope, a shelter for home-less individuals in Clearwater, Florida, if the Blackhawks lose their race for the Stanley Cup.
“Heaven knows there is no ice in Tampa,” said Archbishop Cupich. “So while it is a long shot, we promise to send our real pizzas south in the unlikely event Chicago loses.”
Bishop Robert Lynch has answered the challenge by offering to ship cases of Florida grapefruit to St. Leo’s Residence for Veterans, a Chicago Catholic Charities ministry, if the Tampa Bay Lightning team is defeated.
“Chicago could use some Florida sunshine,” said Bishop Lynch. “If by some miracle the Black-hawks win, we will send our beautiful grapefruit to the veterans at St. Leo’s Residence.”
Bishop Lynch is the head of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, which includes five counties on the west central Gulf coast of Florida. The Catholic population of the diocese is nearly 400,000 and the principal cities are Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater.
Pinellas Hope, a ministry of Catholic Charities, is a temporary emergency shelter that offers its residents privacy and a safe place to sleep and leave their belong-ings while they are at work. This program facilitates the transition from homelessness to self-sufficiency.
Since its inception in December 2007, Pinellas Hope has assisted more than 1,800 individuals.
The Archdiocese of Chicago is the third largest archdiocese in the United States with more than 2.3 million Catholics in Cook and Lake Counties.
St. Leo’s Residence, located in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood, keeps veterans safe, off the streets and treated with dignity. The innovative integration of services offered there helps to stabilize and improve the lives of formerly homeless veterans. They leave the long-term transitional housing facility with restored self-sufficiency.

Prelates Bet on Stanley Cup

By Catholic New World
Jun 14, 2015 3:47:00 PM

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