Jesus' Era, Relics, Church History All Part of Priest's Class

For years, Fr. Dennis O'Neill has spent years reading up on the history of the Catholic Church. He's also amassed a collection of 1,200 relics, which are physical items associated with saints--including their bones or pieces of their clothing.

To share his wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject, O'Neill, the pastor of in Morton Grove, is offering a 10-week series of classes, starting tonight at 7 p.m.

"I want to give an overview of 2,000 years of history--200 years in every class," O'Neill explained. 

Earlier:

Referring to the amount of material, he joked, "It's kind of like covering all of Shakespeare in an hour."

Catholics and non-Catholics alike are welcome to attend the class, which O'Neill plans to start with Christ and the apostles and the beginnings of the Church, at Pentecost, then cover how and why the church spread and how it emerged as a separate faith.

"It'll hit the highlights--some of the great moments and some of the terrible moments," he said.

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He's particularly interested in the topic of how Christianity broke into different denominations. He expects that may be of particular interest to non-Catholic Christians.

"Until 1054 it was one church, so it's a common history," he said.

He'll also talk about events that people may remember, such as the Second Vatican Council.

"It's easier to understand the Second Vatican Council if you have a point of view of what led up to it," he explained.

Along the way, he'll talk about and show the relics, which he has been collecting all his life.

They include the bones of saints, fragments of bones, teeth, pieces of their garments, photos, autographs and books. He acquired many of them from churches which closed their doors--several of them in Europe.

For more information on the classes, call St. Martha's at 847-965-0262.

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