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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are pleased to congratulate Reverend Monsignor
4John Pollard on the 40th anniversary of his ordination; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard was ordained a priest for the
6Archdiocese on May 8, 1974; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard served as associate pastor of
8St. Albert the Great Parish from 1974-80 and of St. Julian
9Eymard Parish from 1980-85; in 1982, the President of DePaul
10University appointed him the executive director of the
11university's Center for Church/State Studies; 5 years later he
12was given the John Courtney Murray Award for distinguished
13contributions to the field of religion and government; and
 
14    WHEREAS, In 1985, Rev. Msgr. Pollard was appointed to the
15staff of the Office for Catechesis in the Archdiocese of
16Chicago, and, 2 years later, he was appointed to be director of
17the office; in 1988, he was appointed to serve on the Bishops'
18Committee on Doctrinally Sound Catechetical Materials, and, in
191989, he served as co-chairman of the National Catholic
20Educational Association's Convention, Exposition, and
21Religious Education Congress; 5 years later, after the
22conclusion of his service as director of catechesis, he

 

 

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1received the Archdiocese of Chicago Award for Extraordinary
2Leadership and Service; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard was appointed to the staff of
4the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington,
5D.C. in 1992, where he served as assistant coordinator for Pope
6John Paul II's visit to the United States in 1993, and, that
7same year, was director of catechesis for World Youth Day; in
81994, he was appointed by Pope John Paul II to be a permanent
9member of the International Council on Catechesis, and, in
101995, he was appointed to be the founding director of the
11United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for the
12Catechism; that same year he again served as assistant
13coordinator for the Pope's visit to the U.S.; and
 
14    WHEREAS, After 7 years of service to the U.S. Conference of
15Catholic Bishops, Rev. Msgr. Pollard was appointed director of
16thew newly-created Department of Education, and, in 1998, he
17also served as a consultant to the Bishops' Committee on the
18Catechism; in 2000, he was appointed to serve as a member of
19the Bishops' Committee on Education; later that same year, he
20was appointed director of the newly-created Department of
21Evangelization and Catechesis; in 2001, he returned to
22Washington, D.C. to work with the Episcopal Oversight Board on
23the development of the new National Directory for Catechesis,
24and, in 2003, he served as a consultant to the Committee on

 

 

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1Catechesis; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard has received several
3distinguished honors over the years; in 1996, he was cited for
4his leadership in adult catechesis by the National Advisory
5Committee for Adult Religious Education; in 1997, Francis
6Cardinal George conferred the Archdiocese of Chicago Medallion
7for Excellence in Catechesis on him; Today's Catholic Teacher
8named him one of the 25 most influential leaders in Catholic
9education over the past quarter century; he received the F.
10Sadlier Dinger Award for Leadership in Catechetics from William
11H. Sadlier, Inc. citing his leadership, and the Our Sunday
12Visitor Foundation awarded a $500,000 grant to the Office for
13the Catechism during his tenure as its director; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard has been a catechist and
15teacher for pre-schoolers, children with disabilities, high
16school, college and graduate students, teachers, catechists,
17and principals and priests; he has taught at the University of
18Illinois, St. Xavier University, and DePaul University, and has
19been a adjunct professor of catechetics at Mundelein Seminary;
20in addition, he has served as religious education consultant
21for the National Catholic Educational Association and as
22theological consultant for several publishers of catechetical
23texts and materials; he has frequently delivered papers and
24presented workshops at the meetings and conventions of the

 

 

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1National Catholic Educational Association and the National
2Conference of Catechetical Leadership and has given
3presentations, directed seminars, and led workshops on the
4Catechism for bishops' staffs, diocesan
5educational/catechetical leaders, priests and parish
6leadership in over 100 dioceses in the United States; he has
7spoken to audiences at the Vatican, in Spain, Italy, Canada,
8the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain, Guam, and several
9island nations in the Caribbean; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard wrote "Exploring the Catholic
11Faith", an annotated edition of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin's
12"Growing in Wisdom, Age and Grace"; his numerous articles have
13appeared in books and journals such as the Catholic
14Encyclopedia, the Thomist, the Living Light, the Journal of
15Religion and Law, Chicago Studies, the Josephinum Journal of
16Theology, the DePaul Law Review, Momentum, Catechetical
17Sunday, Proceedings of the International Eucharistic Congress,
18and Proceedings of the Pontifical Council for the Laity; he
19wrote the general introductory essay for Liturgy Training
20Publications' The Catechetical Documents; his latest work,
21"Know, Live and Love the Catholic Faith" was published by Our
22Sunday Visitor Press in November of 2005; and
 
23    WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard has served as a member of the
24U.S. Bishops' Committee on Education and as a consultant for 2

 

 

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1Bishops' Committees: the Committee on Catechesis and the
2Committee on the Catechism; he also served on the Boards of
3Directors of the National Catholic Catechists' Society, the
4National Conference of Christians and Jews, and De Paul
5University's Center for Church/State Studies; he has been the
6chaplain of the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago for over 20
7years; he has served on the Editorial Board of the Living
8Light, the Board of Directors of the National Conference of
9Catechetical Leadership, and the Advisory Committee of
10National Catholic Educational Association's National
11Conference of Diocesan Directors of Religious Education;
12Francis Cardinal George appointed him a member of the
13Archdiocesan School Board in 2009; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard was appointed pastor of St.
15Joseph Parish in Wilmette on March 15, 2003; 7 years later he
16was appointed to be pastor of Queen of All Saints Basilica;
17Pope Benedict XVI named him Chaplain of His Holiness with the
18title Reverend Monsignor in September of 2010; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Rev. Msgr. Pollard holds a master's degree in
20Supervision and Administration from Loyola University of
21Chicago and a master's degree in Divinity and a Licentiate in
22Sacred Theology from Mundelein Seminary; he is a doctoral
23candidate in the Department of Theology at the Catholic
24University of America in Washington, D.C.; therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
2NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
3we congratulate Reverend Monsignor John Pollard on the 40th
4anniversary of his ordination; and be it further
 
5    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
6presented to Rev. Msgr. Pollard as an expression of our esteem
7and respect.