Chicagoland

Local Catholics help those affected by devastating tornado

By Joyce Duriga | Editor
Thursday, June 24, 2021

Local Catholics help those affected by devastating tornado

Catholics from the Archdiocese of Chicago are among the many people reaching out to those living in Woodridge and Naperville whose homes and businesses were destroyed by a E-3 category tornado on June 20, 2021. The Chicago Catholic visited the area on June 23, 2021. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Jim McIlvan from Christ the Servant Parish in Woodridge helps Hope’s on the Way members unload 5-gallon buckets of cleaning supplies to be distributed by the parish to tornado victims. Hope’s on the Way is a ministry of deacons from the Archdiocese of Chicago that includes a bucket ministry that supplies 5-gallon buckets filled with necessary cleaning supplies to victims of natural disasters around the country. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Don Krengiel (foreground) from St. Patrick Parish in Lemont assists Deacon John Vidmar (left) and Deacon Joe Winblad (right) from the Archdiocese of Chicago Hope’s on the Way as they unload buckets filled with cleaning supplies on June 23, 2021 at Christ the Servant Parish in Woodridge in the Diocese of Joliet. The buckets would be given to tornado victims in Woodridge and Naperville. The deacon group has a bucket ministry that supplies 5-gallon buckets filled with necessary cleaning supplies to victims of natural disasters around the country. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
A boy walks past a pile of collected debris next to the rectory at St. Scholastica Parish in Woodridge on June 23. The rectory garage was destroyed by the storm and the rectory suffered severe damage. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
The EF-3 category tornado touched down near the rectory at St. Scholastica Parish in Woodridge late on June 20, 2021 and decimated the garage and blew out windows and caused major damage to the rectory, where two priests were inside at the time. This photo shows the damage and clean-up efforts as of June 23. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Part of the garage and damage to two vehicles can be seen on June 23. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
A trailer for the church Boy Scout troop can be seen in the foreground on June 23. In the background, a damaged garage and rectory can be seen. Crews and volunteers have been cleaning up the area since June 21. Volunteers flocked to the parish the morning after the storm to help clean up the parish grounds and ruined rectory. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
A trailer belonging to the church’s Boy Scout troop was tossed and overturned by the storm. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
A statue of Mary, which was pushed off a pedestal in a small prayer area in front of the church by the tornado, had minimal damage to her crown. The parish groundskeeper turned her upright when he arrived at the parish at 3 a.m. on June 21. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
A statue of Mary shows minimal damage to her crown after the storm knocked her form her pedestal in the outdoor prayer space. The parish groundskeeper turned her upright when he arrived at the parish at 3 a.m. on June 21. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Tammy Kozar, a teacher at St. Scholastica School, carries debris as she, her children and other parishioners helped in the clean-up effort on June 23, 2021. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
A damaged statue of St. Francis of Assisi stands near the curb in front of house where the second floor was destroyed. The house is located on Janes Avenue across the street from St. Scholastica Church in Woodridge. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Ruined belongings of tornado victims are seen scattered across lawns in Woodridge ready for trash pickup. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Fallen trees are debris are seen scattered across neighborhoods in Woodridge. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
A home on the 1800 block of Princeton Circle in Naperville was completely leveled. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Debris from some of the more than 200 homes damaged by the tornado fill up neighborhoods in Naperville, Ill., on June 23, 2021. After touching down in Naperville, an EF-3 tornado ripped through Woodridge and Darien late on June 20. An EF-3 category tornado can bring wind gusts of up to 165 mph. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Cars parked along Spice Circle and debris from some of the more than 200 homes damaged by the tornado fill up neighborhoods in Naperville on June 23, 2021. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
A home on the 1800 block of Princeton Circle in Naperville was completely leveled. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
Debris from some of the more than 200 homes damaged by the tornado fill up neighborhoods in Naperville, Ill., on June 23, 2021. After touching down in Naperville, an EF-3 tornado ripped through Woodridge and Darien late on June 20. An EF-3 category tornado can bring wind gusts of up to 165 mph. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

In the aftermath of a category EF3 tornado that ripped through Woodridge and Naperville on June 19, Chicago-area residents have been offering assistance to those whose homes and businesses were damaged by the storms.

One group joining the effort is Hope’s on the Way, which is run by deacons from the Archdiocese of Chicago. The ministry provides 5-gallon plastic buckets filled with supplies to people affected by storms, flooding and other natural disasters.

On the morning of June 23, members of Hope’s on the Way delivered buckets to Christ the Servant Catholic Church in Woodridge. The parish, which has been receiving donations since the day after the storm, distributed the buckets to those in the community who needed them. Members of the group returned the following week to drop off buckets at St. Scholastica Parish in Woodridge.

The staff of St. Scholastica saw the Gospel in action on the morning of June 20, when more than 200 people came out to begin cleaning up damage on the parish grounds and at the rectory, which was destroyed by the tornado.

High winds tore off part of the rectory’s roof, knocking down the front entryway, and blew out windows. The garage was left with 1½ brick walls still standing. Roofing shingles were ripped from both the church and school. Age-old trees were uprooted around the parish campus and the outdoor Mary statue was toppled.

Both the pastor, Resurrectionist Father Norbert Raszeja, and the parochial vicar, Resurrectionist Father Ed Howe, were in the rectory when the storm hit. Neither was hurt.

“Without calls, without anything, people started to come,” said Sue Gosewehr, communications coordinator for the parish. “Parishioners, Boy Scouts, the Knights of Columbus, school families, parish families and people from the community started coming Monday morning to start the cleanup.”

People have been dropping off donations of food and water at the parish administration center, which did not lose power because it is on a different grid than other church buildings.

After the storm passed late Sunday night into early Monday, Raszeja opened the center to first responders and people needing shelter, and the parish kept the center open for 48 hours. Later, it was open from 7 a.m. through the evening and neighbors and workers come in to charge their phones, use the bathroom and grab some food.

“Our doors have been open non-stop since the storm,” Gosewehr said.

The storm hit the Woodridge community hard, with 156 homes suffering major damage and 29 destroyed.

The outpouring of love and care from the community has been evident the whole time, Gosewehr said.

Parish volunteers have been organizing the donations of food and beverages and distributing them to those who need them.

“One of the families who came in to use our electricity — they came in a couple of times — they registered as parishioners. They said, ‘This is such a welcoming community. We want to be a part of this community,’” Gosewehr said. “It was very touching.”

Tammy Kozar, a teacher at St. Scholastica School and a school parent, said she has also seen the Gospel in action.

“We had a whole bunch of teachers who came out here on Day One helping because this is our family,” said Kozar, who was cleaning up debris with her family outside the rectory on June 23.

“We’ve had a majority of the teachers come. We’ve had families come in and out just helping out,” Kozar said. “What I keep focusing on is something so devastating came out to be an amazing thing because, for example, you have people come from Chicago saying, ‘We heard that this happened to you. What can we do?’ It’s just witness to what our plan is [to live the Gospel].”

In an email statement, Bishop Ronald Hicks of the Diocese of Joliet said, “If we truly see ourselves as a family of God, then when one person suffers from a natural disaster, we all suffer.  My heart and prayers go out to all those affected by this tornado.”

Topics:

  • tornado
  • storms

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