The exterior of St. Ignatius College Prep on Nov. 14, 2022. (Cynthia Flores-Mocarski/Chicago Catholic)
St. Ignatius College Prep students, faculty and staff gathered with community members Nov. 14 at the Church of the Holy Family, 1080 W. Roosevelt Road, to pray for members of the school’s JV hockey team who were injured in a bus crash Nov. 12. Sixteen members of the team were hurt when a semi-trailer truck went through a red light and hit the rear of the school bus the team was on in Warsaw, Indiana. Twenty-three players and two coaches were on the bus, returning to a hotel after dinner in a restaurant. The team had played in a tournament in Culver, Indiana, earlier that day. Three of the students were listed in critical condition after the accident; by the evening of Nov. 14, two remained in the hospital and were expected to be released in a few days. The other students who were hurt were treated and released. All of the injured students are between 14 and 17 years old. Warsaw police said on Nov. 14 that the truck driver, Victor Santos, 58, of Brooklyn, New York, was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, causing serious bodily injury, a Level 5 felony. The driver was arrested when the truck was found in a ditch less than a mile from the crash site shortly after the incident. Police were already responding to reports of the truck driving erratically when the crash occurred. According to a statement from St. Ignatius College Prep, coaches were able to speak with the three hospitalized students Nov. 13, and “were heartened to hear the young men ask about their brothers on the team,” the statement said. Hockey director and varsity head coach Spencer Montgomery expressed gratitude to JV coaches Mike Rigatano and Ryan Haraldsen, as well as the emergency workers who responded to the crash. Many people and organizations, including the Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago Wolves hockey teams, expressed support, and Cardinal Cupich and Jesuit Father Karl Riser, the community’s provincial, offered Masses for the team. “We are thankful and grateful for the hockey community, and looking forward to better days ahead. Please keep our boys in your thoughts,” Montgomery said in the Nov. 13 statement. St. Ignatius Athletic Director Mike Hurley added, “Our hearts, our thoughts and our prayers remain with our courageous student-athletes, coaches and families of our JV hockey team after last night’s accident. Our care and support extend to our entire school community during this time. We very much appreciate all of the loving messages and well wishes we have received for all of those affected.” Students also will be offered counseling, the school said.
Jesuit Father Arnold Damen provided critical aid after Great Chicago Fire The efforts of Jesuit Father Arnold Damen and his confreres in the Society of Jesus in the wake of the Great Chicago Fire were neither the first nor the last word in the Jesuits’ efforts to provide social services to the immigrants who populated the West Side of Chicago in the late 19th century, but they do provide a remarkable illustration, according to Chicago historian Ellen Skerrett.
Local historian compiling history of St. Ignatius Prep Ellen Skerrett has taken over a table in the corner of the Brunswick Room on the top floor of St. Ignatius College Prep, pouring over the archives of the school and the Jesuit community in Chicago as she works on a book to be published in honor of the school’s 150th anniversary.
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