Dear Readers--
Exciting announcement! Sr Alicia, Sr. Stephanie, and myself went on air-- that is, we were interviewed by Fr. Greg of Chicago's Relevant Radio! The interview can be listened to online, simply click on the following link:
http://files.archchicago.org/podcastfiles/podcastccof/20130816-CCOF.mp3
In the interview, we talked about the history of Our Lady of Angels' church and school, the development of our community, and finally our efforts to fund raise through the marathon.
A quick synopsis:
Our Lady of the Angels is a name that rings a bell for most Chicagoans: it is remembered as the location of the terrible school fire on December 1, 1958. The school was originally staffed by the Blessed Virgin Mary Sisters (BVM's), and enrolled many children from the predominantly Italian and Irish neighborhood. A fire started in one of the stairwells, quickly rising to the third floor and spreading quickly throughout each floor and blocking exits. Many children jumped from the windows to save themselves, and many did; however, 92 children and 3 nuns perished during the event.
Many people moved out of the neighborhood in the wake of the fire, and after a series of historical and economic events, the neighborhood had completely changed by the 1970's. The West Humboldt park neighborhood now struggles with the symptoms of deep poverty: housing blight, underemployment and unemployment, lack of grocery stores and lack of a strong local economy, charter schools, gangs and drugs, etc.
The Our Lady of the Angels parish dried up, as did the majority of the other local parishes. The school was rebuilt and became a charter school, and still is one today. The BVM sisters long ago moved out, and the church fell into disrepair, until....
2005: Cardinal George of Chicago asked Fr. Bob Lombardo, CFR, to start a Mission at the abandoned Our Lady of the Angels. After much hard work and a lot of answered prayers, the rectory, convent, nearby YMCA, and finally the church were rebuilt, and are now actively serving the community under the guidance of a new religious community, the Franciscans of the Eucharist. There is much, much more to the story-- however, it is much better explained on our website:
http://www.franciscansoftheeucharistofchicago.com/history/
The Franciscans are growing in the number of vocations, opening the doors to expand the work with the community and to develop their anticipated apostulate (line of work) of teaching and perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
.... and.... this is where the Chicago Marathon comes in! Sr. Stephanie was a cross country runner at her alma mater the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and combining her love for running with Sr.Alicia's need to pay off her college debt, they formed the 2011 Mission of Our Lady of the Angels team.
Two years later, the team has grown to 45 runners! The marathon is a beautiful way that people are giving back to this neighborhood.
More blogs to come !
Tune in!
Jess
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