2020: When things closed down, Catholics reached out

A message to parishioners in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and churches being closed says "We Miss You Too" and hangs outside St. William Church, 2600 N. Sayre Ave., on April 1, 2020. The school also displayed a sign saying "We Are E-learning." (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Signs communicating that large gatherings are prohibited could be seen at the entrance of Maryhill Catholic Cemetery in Niles throughout the pandemic. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, burials and visits at the cemetery looked different in 2020. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Mothers and clergy from St. Agnes of Bohemia Parish (Little Village), St. Agatha Parish (North Lawndale) and other community organizations marched for peace on June 5, 2020. Mothers led two groups of 50 starting from each parish separately to meet at 2100 S. Lawndale in front of a mural of César Chávez and Martin Luther King, Jr. They were marching in response to city-wide rioting and looting following the murder of George Floyd. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

St. Agatha Parish, located in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, co-sponsored the “In the Spirit of King” Westside peace march June 12, 2020. The multicultural, interfaith march gathered Christian, Catholic, Muslim and Jewish community members, clergy, law enforcement, health service providers, business leaders, educators and students. Marchers called for better schools, housing, health services, employment and business opportunities. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Staff from the archdiocese’s Office of Radio and Television record a Mass at Holy Name Cathedral on March 13, 2020. Throughout the pandemic, the office has recorded Sunday Mass at the cathedral that can be viewed on the archdiocesan YouTube channel and on ABC-7 on Sunday mornings. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Kathleen Ingram, principal and Maria Ochoa, assistant principal at Our Lady of Tepeyac High School hand out lunches to school families at Our Lady of Tepeyac Elementary School in Little Village on April 17, 2020. While schools were closed for the pandemic families could still receive free lunches. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

One thousand pre-packed boxes of non-perishable food were distributed by volunteers at St. Mary of the Lake Parish, in Chicago’s Buena Park neighborhood, on April 19, 2020. In collaboration with the Greater Chicago Food Depository, the pop-up food pantry, which was held for many weeks, served the needs of at-risk residents, especially immigrants. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Tim Surges, IT staff at Mount Carmel High School checks over the process of the 3D printer on April 4, 2020. Mount Carmel High School STEM teachers used the school's 3D printers to create protective masks for senior home workers. The school began the effort after schools were closed due to the pandemic and there was a shortage of PPE equipment for first responders and hospital workers. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

St. Thomas the Apostle student Darius Mason assembles packages of protein snacks on his front porch on May 2, 2020. He gave the packs to emergency room workers at area hospitals. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

A student from St. Celestine School in Elmwood Park smiles as he holds a sign out of the sunroof during the school’s “reverse parade” on May 1, 2020 where teachers and staff stood outside the school, spaced six feet apart holding signs for their students. Families were invited to drive around the block to honk and wave at their teachers and the school’s priests, all of whom wore face masks. Schools across the archdiocese held car parades so students and teachers could see each other during remote learning. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Carl Grebenor takes the temperature of a woman coming for Mass. His father, Thomas Grebenor, is standing off to the left checking people in. St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Orland Hills welcomed people for Mass June 13, 2020. A team of volunteers sanitized the church between Masses and helped maintain other regulations like taking temperatures of parishioners upon entry and safe social distancing during the service. Volunteers also distributed Communion to parishioners in their pews. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Students at Queen of the Rosary School in Elk Grove Village make their way through the first week of school while being safe following the Archdiocese of Chicago's guidelines for COVID-19 on Aug. 17, 2020. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Students at Queen of the Rosary School in Elk Grove Village make their way through the first week of school while being safe following the Archdiocese of Chicago's guidelines for COVID-19 on Aug. 17, 2020. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Volunteers and staff at Most Blessed Trinity Parish in Waukegan prepared and served hot meals to people in need on Aug. 28, 2020. The parish soup kitchen has been operating continually during the pandemic. With social distancing measures in place, the soup kitchen offers a hot meal, a drink and dessert plus a "goodie bag" to each person who comes to the kitchen door. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist of Chicago Stephanie Baglia runs on a treadmill in the basement of her community's convent on Aug. 15, 2020. On Aug. 23, Sister Stephanie ran a marathon on the treadmill to raise money for the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels and set a world record for women's treadmill marathoning. She decided to do the treadmill marathon after the Chicago Marathon was cancelled due the pandemic. Sister Stephanie organizes Team OLA, a group of people who run the Chicago Marathon to raise funds for the mission each year. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Father Michael Bradley, a 67-year-old resident priest at St. Gertrude Parish, takes a practice run around the parish grounds on Oct. 9, 2020. Since the cancellation of the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 11 he ran a do-it-yourself-marathon 26.2 miles through the streets of Edgewater. It was his 49th marathon in 25 years. Bradley ran to raise funds for St. Gertrude’s Heart to Heart Ministry that serves vulnerable senior citizens in Edgewater. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

A young volunteer pushes a cart of food during a COVID-19 drive-thru food giveaway the Quinn Community Center at St. Eulalia Parish in Maywood on July 28, 2020. The drive-thru event has replaced a weekly soup kitchen at the center. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

The Black Catholic Deacons of Chicago, in partnership with priests, deacons and clergy of the Archdiocese of Chicago, hosted the 10th Annual Sunrise Prayer Service for Nonviolence and Peace on Sept. 12, 2020 at 6:30 a.m. Due to COVID-19, the annual service moved from the lakefront to the parking lot of St. Katharine Drexel Parish as a drive-in ceremony where worshipers gathered together to pray for peace, the healing of families, schools and communities. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

The newly ordained Auxiliary Bishops Kevin Birmingham, Jeffrey Grob and Robert Lombardo, CFR, share a lighthearted moment after the sign of peace during their ordination Mass on the feast of St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, Nov. 13, 2020, at Holy Name Cathedral, 735 N. State St., Chicago. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

Volunteers at St. Mary of the Lake Parish lit 231 candles that represented the 231,000 lives lost to COVID-19 in the U.S. in front of the church on All Souls Day, Nov. 2, 2020. The candles were lit each night for seven days to burn overnight to honor those that have died. Given COVID19 restrictions, in lieu of a prayer service, printed prayers in English and Spanish were placed around the fence and people could stop by and pray quietly. The idea was to create a place where people who are Catholic and not from the neighborhood could publicly mourn the loss everyone has all suffered as a neighborhood and as a country. People of all faiths and of no faith were encouraged to stop by and bring flowers to lay in the lawn. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was temporarily removed from the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines on Friday, Dec. 11 at 10 a.m. Only the Shrine clergy, staff and some volunteers, led by Father Esequiel Sanchez, were present for the solemn removal of the image followed by a short procession to the Marian Chapel. A bouquet of roses was left in place where the image rested. The image of the Virgin was returned on Dec. 13 at 7:30 a.m. during a morning prayer service. The previous week, Cardinal Cupich, Sanchez and Mexico City’s Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes asked pilgrims, because of the ongoing pandemic, to celebrate this feast day in the safety of their own homes. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)