Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.
Matthew 19:14-15
To put this as clearly as possible: St. Alexander will close its school at the end of this year if we cannot come up with a plan supported by enough money to cause the bishop to ignore the recommendation of the Diocese’s School Consolidation Committee.
St. A’s would close - likely forever. 84 years of forming our youth in the Faith, 84 years of excellence, 84 years as a bedrock for Villa Park, all becomes a memory.
This would be a true loss - for Villa Park, for future generations of young Catholics, for the Parish, for our past and for our future.
In the mid 20’s, the parish church was located where the parking lot next to the Library is now. It has been described as “the tar paper shack,” in the shape of a quonset hut. Founding pastor Father Kennedy was certain of the priorities of the Church - a school was more important than the building at which we offered the holy sacrifice of the Mass. Educating the next generation of Catholics couldn’t wait, and this sacred task was of utmost importance. The permanent church was not built until 1954, when the parish finally had the funds to complete it, NEARLY 30 YEARS AFTER THE SCHOOL WAS BUILT.
Father Kennedy was described as “a tough old Irishman.” If only our Church was filled with the likes of him today. The 20’s were a period of a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in America, driven by the release of the blockbuster movie “Birth of A Nation.” This resurgence was suprisingly strong in the cities and to a great portion directed against Catholics and Jews as much as its traditional target of Blacks. In Villa Park, someone burned a cross right next to the new church, approximately where the long jump pit is today. Father Kennedy doused the fire, and soon built the Mary Grotto in that very spot to not only make the ground hallow, but to defiantly show that the Catholic presence in Villa Park would remain and grow.
A few years ago, a young family moved into the north side of Villa Park. Like so many in Villa Park, the father was a contractor with a small construction company. The parents were soon blessed with a blond haired boy and a petite, smiley girl, who was three years older. Both had been baptized, as had the parents. The parents had not attended Catholic school, and their religious formation ended in 2nd grade with First Communion. For all four, their faith did not extend much farther than Christmas Mass.
Across the street lived the Gorskis and the Prentices next door to each other. The father of the new family told me how impressed he had been with the children of both families, and how decent and helpful (Christian?) their families were. He decided to send his own children to St. Alexander School, because it had to be doing something right to help produce such children.
Years later, the family moved out of town into a new house the father had built. They still commuted back to Villa Park for school. When the younger boy was about to enter 5th grade this year, the parents had to make a decision. A recommendation would be made by the Diocese whether the school should remain open, and it seemed like the right time to move him with less disruption just as he entered middle school. They settled on St. John’s, a Lutheran school. The Lutheran pastor is a strong evangelist, and the parents began to attend services at St. John’s. The older daughter was aghast, and asked if she could remain at St. Alexander as a Catholic. Both answers were easy, as she was in 8th grade and her faith was her responsibility. She asked my older daughter Mary to be her confirmation sponsor, and wants to attend Catholic high school.
Another recent similar situation concerned a boy who lived down the block from my parents. That two block-long street - Astor Court - is known as a St. A’s block because virtually everyone there is in the parish, and most of the children attended the school. The boy was exceptionally bright. He was an only child of parents who were not religious at all, but they too were influenced by their neighbors and sent their son to St. Alexander, more for its academic excellence than its character formation. The parents eventually divorced and the son stayed to live with his father on Astor Court.
In 8th grade, the boy was intellectually honest enough to decline the sacrament of Confirmation, as he wasn’t sure he could fully accept the teachings of the Faith. He had also been disgusted with the previous pastor and those in the church who defended him. John Furdek, in a highly publicized case, ended up in a Wisconsin prison for attempting to molest someone he had met online and thought was a young boy.
By sophomore year at Willowbrook high school, he still mostly had the same friends he had at St. A’s. My son Jimmy and my brother James were two of them, and they spent a good deal of time together playing video games and arguing religion. James was, and is, a great defender of the Church and her teachings at Willowbrook. At some point during one of their endless discussions, the Holy Spirit spoke, and the boy joined RCIA and entered the Church as an adult Catholic. James was his sponsor, helping bring another soul into unity with His Church.
This is how our Church has always evangelized - neighbors and families bringing one person to the altar, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I suspect that many people feel that parents will just send their children to other parish schools that are nearby, and that will make those schools stronger. That is true to a degree. Those left at St. A’s are staunch believers in Catholic education and will see that their children complete their primary education in a Catholic school. But Villa Park will quickly lose its Catholic character, as new parents avoid a community with no Catholic school, and as our great evangelical tool is no longer in use. The illustrations above are just two of many, and it will sadly become much less likely that they will be repeated.
Just as Father Kennedy did, we have to act as though there is no greater bulwark than a parish school against a non-Catholic society and no better instrument for assisting parents in passing along the Catholic Church to the next generation.
But if such men no longer fill the Church, then it’s left to us to carry on that message. We have to pass the true Faith to our children as our first priority like Father Kennedy. We have to answer the burning cross with a defiant work of charity that shows that miracles still happen, and a small easily overlooked parish in a humble town can still do the work of our Savior.
Matthew 19:14-15
To put this as clearly as possible: St. Alexander will close its school at the end of this year if we cannot come up with a plan supported by enough money to cause the bishop to ignore the recommendation of the Diocese’s School Consolidation Committee.
St. A’s would close - likely forever. 84 years of forming our youth in the Faith, 84 years of excellence, 84 years as a bedrock for Villa Park, all becomes a memory.
This would be a true loss - for Villa Park, for future generations of young Catholics, for the Parish, for our past and for our future.
In the mid 20’s, the parish church was located where the parking lot next to the Library is now. It has been described as “the tar paper shack,” in the shape of a quonset hut. Founding pastor Father Kennedy was certain of the priorities of the Church - a school was more important than the building at which we offered the holy sacrifice of the Mass. Educating the next generation of Catholics couldn’t wait, and this sacred task was of utmost importance. The permanent church was not built until 1954, when the parish finally had the funds to complete it, NEARLY 30 YEARS AFTER THE SCHOOL WAS BUILT.
Father Kennedy was described as “a tough old Irishman.” If only our Church was filled with the likes of him today. The 20’s were a period of a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in America, driven by the release of the blockbuster movie “Birth of A Nation.” This resurgence was suprisingly strong in the cities and to a great portion directed against Catholics and Jews as much as its traditional target of Blacks. In Villa Park, someone burned a cross right next to the new church, approximately where the long jump pit is today. Father Kennedy doused the fire, and soon built the Mary Grotto in that very spot to not only make the ground hallow, but to defiantly show that the Catholic presence in Villa Park would remain and grow.
A few years ago, a young family moved into the north side of Villa Park. Like so many in Villa Park, the father was a contractor with a small construction company. The parents were soon blessed with a blond haired boy and a petite, smiley girl, who was three years older. Both had been baptized, as had the parents. The parents had not attended Catholic school, and their religious formation ended in 2nd grade with First Communion. For all four, their faith did not extend much farther than Christmas Mass.
Across the street lived the Gorskis and the Prentices next door to each other. The father of the new family told me how impressed he had been with the children of both families, and how decent and helpful (Christian?) their families were. He decided to send his own children to St. Alexander School, because it had to be doing something right to help produce such children.
Years later, the family moved out of town into a new house the father had built. They still commuted back to Villa Park for school. When the younger boy was about to enter 5th grade this year, the parents had to make a decision. A recommendation would be made by the Diocese whether the school should remain open, and it seemed like the right time to move him with less disruption just as he entered middle school. They settled on St. John’s, a Lutheran school. The Lutheran pastor is a strong evangelist, and the parents began to attend services at St. John’s. The older daughter was aghast, and asked if she could remain at St. Alexander as a Catholic. Both answers were easy, as she was in 8th grade and her faith was her responsibility. She asked my older daughter Mary to be her confirmation sponsor, and wants to attend Catholic high school.
Another recent similar situation concerned a boy who lived down the block from my parents. That two block-long street - Astor Court - is known as a St. A’s block because virtually everyone there is in the parish, and most of the children attended the school. The boy was exceptionally bright. He was an only child of parents who were not religious at all, but they too were influenced by their neighbors and sent their son to St. Alexander, more for its academic excellence than its character formation. The parents eventually divorced and the son stayed to live with his father on Astor Court.
In 8th grade, the boy was intellectually honest enough to decline the sacrament of Confirmation, as he wasn’t sure he could fully accept the teachings of the Faith. He had also been disgusted with the previous pastor and those in the church who defended him. John Furdek, in a highly publicized case, ended up in a Wisconsin prison for attempting to molest someone he had met online and thought was a young boy.
By sophomore year at Willowbrook high school, he still mostly had the same friends he had at St. A’s. My son Jimmy and my brother James were two of them, and they spent a good deal of time together playing video games and arguing religion. James was, and is, a great defender of the Church and her teachings at Willowbrook. At some point during one of their endless discussions, the Holy Spirit spoke, and the boy joined RCIA and entered the Church as an adult Catholic. James was his sponsor, helping bring another soul into unity with His Church.
This is how our Church has always evangelized - neighbors and families bringing one person to the altar, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I suspect that many people feel that parents will just send their children to other parish schools that are nearby, and that will make those schools stronger. That is true to a degree. Those left at St. A’s are staunch believers in Catholic education and will see that their children complete their primary education in a Catholic school. But Villa Park will quickly lose its Catholic character, as new parents avoid a community with no Catholic school, and as our great evangelical tool is no longer in use. The illustrations above are just two of many, and it will sadly become much less likely that they will be repeated.
Just as Father Kennedy did, we have to act as though there is no greater bulwark than a parish school against a non-Catholic society and no better instrument for assisting parents in passing along the Catholic Church to the next generation.
But if such men no longer fill the Church, then it’s left to us to carry on that message. We have to pass the true Faith to our children as our first priority like Father Kennedy. We have to answer the burning cross with a defiant work of charity that shows that miracles still happen, and a small easily overlooked parish in a humble town can still do the work of our Savior.
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Posted by: Rata_chen | 05/26/2011 at 02:15 AM
Let's not let this light from this community, from this school, and from the family go out.
Posted by: Raphael Garcia | 01/01/2010 at 09:49 PM
Please keep the home of faith alive. What would Jesus do?
Posted by: Raphael Garcia | 01/01/2010 at 09:46 PM
What will happen to our Catholic faith if a major part of its formation is done away with? In both of these anedotes it is the people who grew up in the Catholic school system, who were able to help two other people find their faith in the Catholic Church.
With the first story, a Catholic family, but without a strong foundation in the faith, (my opinion based on the no Church after 2nd grade), encounters some witnesses to the faith. This leads them to rediscover their faith and have their children enroll in a Catholic School. However, faulty leadership and no commitment from the supposed leaders of our faith lead to doubts and a turn to a more dynamic congregation.
The 2nd story is perhaps the greatest downfall of our current Catholic existence. How many Catholics have turned away due to the utter lack of leadership and moral conviction in our supposed leaders? Luckily it is the witness of his peers that leads this young man to commit to the Catholic faith.
In my opinion, the closing of a viable school ( which St. A's is) is moral and logical outrage, and an another cut against our Catholic faith.
Posted by: not a proud parishioner | 12/21/2009 at 01:59 AM