Though he spent years outside the city teaching and becoming active in other church activities, even serving in Rome from 1974 to 1986 as Vicar General of the Oblates, he remains a true Chicagoan. As he tells Terry Savage, the spirit of giving cannot be overwhelmed by commercialism in this holiday season. The answers left me comforted, and thinking in new directions. The obvious reason for requesting the interview was to solicit inspiration in the midst of the hectic shopping season that characterizes the holiday for many. But I was to be disappointed if I expected the cardinal to reject the commercialism of the holiday.
Finances are something else.
They're reconciled in us. Financial concerns are certainly legitimate. It's body and soul together. I pressed further. I think the way to rescue this idea of transactions at the end of the year is what we call the Christmas spirit.