The Oblate
Cardinal-Archbishop of Chicago, Francis GEORGE, has asked his friends
and the faithful to pray for him as he confronts a serious health
problem. Doctors have determined that he suffers from cancer of the
bladder. He underwent surgery to remove the cancerous bladder on July 27
at a Chicago hospital.
As he was leaving his home for the hospital, he remarked to the press:
“You meet the Lord in prayer every day. The idea of meeting him is,
while disquieting, not something I think I am afraid of,” he said. “I'm
more afraid of the operation and the complications of life without a
bladder than I am of death itself at this point.”
Cardinal George was Vicar General of the Oblates from 1974-1986. In
1990, Pope John Paul II named him the fifth Bishop of Yakima,
Washington, an area where the very first Oblate missionaries in the
United States had worked. In 1996, he became the Archbishop of Portland,
Oregon. Less than one year later, he was named Archbishop of Chicago,
the second largest diocese in the United States. In 1998, he became the
fourth Oblate Cardinal when he received the title of Cardinal Priest of
San Bartolomeo all’isola.
Before leaving his residence, Cardinal George received the Sacrament of
the Anointing of the Sick. Present for the sacrament were the auxiliary
bishops who laid hands on him and called upon the Holy Spirit to give
him strength to heal.
Updated information about the cardinal’s progress will be posted on:
http://www.archdiocese-chgo.org/index.shtm.
