Allow me to speak on Siebert's Pub and then St. Raphael's Catholic Church - Greeting a New Wave of Catholics With the Grandeur of West Side and South Side Icons

If you’re looking for a family friendly place with a unique menu, full bar and 12 draft beers then... 
Siebert's Pub is the place for you!

This is why I left you in Crete, that you might amend what was defective, and appoint presbyters in every town as I directed you (Titus 1:5).


Last weekend, Terry Sullivan and I spent some long planned quality time with two of the most impost important people in my life - Kate and Charlie Olson. Both of these people got me through the toughest times in my life and made the happiest ones beyond special.

Charlie and I taught at Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, IL.  Kate was senior the year I began there and was one year junior to my wife Mary Cleary Hickey.

In 1988, Mary and I went to La Lumiere School in Laporte, Indiana and shortly after Charlie and Kate moved up to Lake County, Illinois where Kate worked as an engineer for Baxter and later Abbott Labs and Charlie taught and coached at Grayslake North.

When Mary was diagnosed with brain cancer, Charlie and Kate would drive to our home in Griffith, Indiana and often take the three kids with them.  They were with us all through that horrible time.

They helped me recover from loss and regain my balance - sort of.  They are delightful friends.

Though last weeks Arctic Chill and blizzardy road conditions turned Lake County into a scene from Dr. Zhivago we soldiered out to Salem, Wisconsin just over the State Line and had a great dinner at Sieberts Pub, which seems to have shanghaied a four star chef from somewhere, because the sea food and other dishes made more happy Packer Fans, than the Bears did the next day. Charlie and I both had the grilled Ahi Tuna steak, lightly seasoned with a side of homemade wasabi mayo. Most places do to tuna steaks, what TGI Friday's and Chili's do food in general.  
You eat it with all gusto and passion of David Mamet strapped to chair and subjected to 48 hours of Bill Moyers on PBS loop tapes -"We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie." In the absence of a fine pie, go to Siebert's*.

Siebert's prepares ( Medium rare tuna – Cooking temperature 132°F (56°C) – Cooking time 30 minutes) the fish and presents it with care.

Kate and Terry had pasta and pulled pork, but I am so self-absorbed that I only can comment on what I had for dinner.

Siebert's is and old timey road house on Antioch Road above the Chain of Lakes.  The staff are very welcoming to south of the border FIPS. Never once, did I feel the need to comment on the Packer wear, nor the fried cheese curds getting vacuumed up at the bar, by all and sundry.

We were stated and satisfied.

The next morning We went to 11A.M Mass at St. Raphael the Archangel Catholic Church, before the trip home and my daughters Christmas gathering in Oak Lawn.

St. Raphael the Archangel is a work of genius.  This original place of worship was a typical post-WWII era, cookie-cutter modern American barn-like ecumenical design - externally indistinguishable from the the 11th Day Unitarian Temple of Coexistence, or an interior not unlike a rock concert venue.

Some people think that Catholic Churches are empty, only because of the scandals, or that the liturgies are too traditionally Catholic.

Nonsense, the Catholic Church has had scandals ever since Acts of the Apostles.  The Catholic Churches in the Catholic Church that are unashamedly Catholic - not Episcopalian/Methodist Lite, or Unitarian Book Club variety - are packed on Sundays.  If it looks Catholic, it more than likely is that.  Try and get a seat at St. John Cantius, or St. Odilo's three minutes before the Gospel and then try and reserve parking in front of City Hall.

We took Little Grassy Road east to Route 45 and then north for about a mile and there on our left ascended a blast from the past.

St. Raphael the Archangel was the dream of the late Francis Cardinal George, a Chicagoan steeped in our towns faith and history.In 2006, knowing the ever increasing population of Lake County, Cardinal George ordered Father John Jamnicky to assess the need for and begin the planning for the construction of a traditional Catholic Church.  On April 30th, 2007 Father Jamnicky became the first pastor of St. Raphael the Archangel. It was a barn - literally.

"An old barn, on the Alfred and Florence Pedersen farm in Antioch, converted into the temporary St. Raphael the Archangel Catholic Church.
Liturgical artifacts and furnishings salvaged from various shuttered Chicago Catholic churches and recycled in the temporary church."

Unlike too many houses of worship, it did not stay a Catholic barn.

The beauty of the immigrant built churches of Chicago reflected the authenticity and power of the devout who labored and penny'd - up the pew money to build St. Adalbert's, St. Patrick's and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Chicago.  The parish cut out a fine Mission:

St. Raphael the Archangel is a young parish, only 6 years old, of approximately 600 families. We are currently holding Mass in a remodeled barn, which we believe to be the most beautiful temporary church you will ever see, while our permanent church is being built in Old Mill Creek.
We are a traditional Roman Catholic Church that teaches the Gospel and the Bible with clarity and enthusiasm. We are loyal to the Magisterium – the teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church. It is important to us that we live our beliefs, that we are witnesses of the compassionate love of Jesus for all people, that we share his message with others so that they may grow in spiritual life and find salvation. It is our goal to affirm and advance the Catholic faith.

St. Raphael the Archangel took the best of Old Catholic Chicago - the facade of St. John of God and the interior of St. Peter Canisius - matched the 'welcome home' mission sparked by Cardinal George.

His spirit rises above the prairies of Lindenhurts with the Bell Towers and Stained Glass windows of St. Raphael the Archangel.



The place was packed.  There were many young families, especially Mexican and Filipino, as well as former Chicagoans.  A south side priest Father Michael McGovern is pastor of St. Raphael the Archangel.  Father grew up in  Christ the King parish. His homily reflected the many signs demanded of God by weaklings like me and the daily signs that blow by my notice.  An angel told Mary and Joseph to expect the unexpected. They did not blink.  I get whacked between the eyes with two by four and I ask when lunch is served.

St. Raphael the Archangel is a sign that Cardinal George is very much with us, renewing Christ's Church by pointing to the signs of our faith in history. Pretty good weekend trip north of Madison Avenue.

Food for the soul can come with wasabi mayo or a parish that dedicates itself to renewal without erasing tradition, beauty and history.


* Siberts Pub: 8403 Antioch Rd, Salem, WI 53168
Phone: (262) 843-4621:  Aaron & Kim Edmonds owners

Blago Trial - D-Day Minus One: Tamara Holder and Jimmy Breslin on Fitzy's Case

The Adams Gents get their say and Fitzy's Team will try to compel the jurors to convict Milorad Blagojevich - Illinois's Impeached, Indicted, Tried and . . .we shall see former Governor.

Columnist John Kass, a guy with as sharp a political sense as my own is opaque - I thought George Ryan would dodge a politically concocted and played out trial, has called Blago Governor Dead Meat from the get-go.

It seemed to me that, unlike the George Ryan case for which Patrick Fitzgerald was custom fitted to manage, Fitzy pulled the trigger way too fast on Blago. It seemed to me that he did so in deference to our newly elected President.

It also seemed to me that Congressman Jesse Jackson was being staked out as the Judas Goat on this one. I am no huge fan of Jesse,Junior to say the least, but he never seemed like the porch-climbing hustler that his Old Man happens to be.

Blago? They guy was and remains a political gate-crasher and dim bulb. He was given the pie that is Illinois, because of fear of a Paul Vallas Broom-A-Palooza on politics as usual, were the Attic Brainiac to become Governor of Illinois.

my Pal,Attorney and Fox News Legal Contributor Tamara Holder, who could kick my ass the best day I ever lived, and I agree that Blago just might walk on a conviction.

Here is an excerpt from businessman Al Lewis' site Tell It to Al.com

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that I talk too much,” Blago said.

“This was the smartest move they could have done,” said Tamara Holder, a criminal defense attorney and Fox News analyst who has been covering the trial. “The moment you open Blagojevich up to cross examination, you never know what you are going to get.”

Holder has called the government’s case weak from the beginning. That’s more of a boost than Blago ever gave her.

When Blago was governor, Holder sent him letters pleading for pardons for some of her clients. “He left all of them on his desk when he was impeached,” Holder said.

I wish I could count how many times an editor once asked me, “How would Jimmy Breslin cover the story?”

The legendary columnist is renowned for dodging the mob of reporters assigned to JFK’s funeral and interviewing JFK’s grave digger instead.

Well, there was Jimmy Breslin, covering the trial. But there was no gravedigger for Blago.

“These charges wouldn’t get you five cents in New York City,” Breslin huffed. “I can’t smell money.”

Legendary Newsman Jimmy Breslin is long-in-the teeth that can still gnaw up a storm; Tamara Holder is long-in-the legs and smarter than the Medill School of Journalism - I think that they are on the money - Blago will walk because Fitzy can not Show Us The Money!