When a Catholic church in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, was heavily damaged during Hurricane Maria in 2017, members of a Park Ridge parish were encouraged to help fund its rebuilding as part of their Lenten alms-giving.
Last month, more than a year after raising $85,000, two representatives of Park Ridge’s St. Paul of the Cross Catholic Church traveled to Vega Baja to see firsthand what their church community’s dollars were able to accomplish.
Adrienne Timm, director of social service ministry at St. Paul, and Erika Mickelburgh, principal of St. Paul of the Cross School, visited the restored Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in Vega Baja and met with its pastor and some members of the congregation in mid-May. The trip was organized by Chicago-based Catholic Extension, which arranged the connection between the two parishes.
“When I walked into the sanctuary, I cried,” Timm acknowledged. “I thought it was absolutely beautiful … It looked like a piece of Heaven.”
“To be there with Adrienne, who did so much of the work to raise the funds, and to be there with the parishioners who had seen the devastation and the rebuilding, it was absolutely moving,” Mickelburgh said.
St. Paul collected monetary donations for Our Lady of the Rosary during Lent of 2018, the 40-day period preceding Easter. The 18th-Century church’s final repairs were completed in November, said Natalie Donatello, manager of parish partnerships.
“We knew it was a good fit [for St. Paul] because of the pastor,” Donatello said of the church project. “He’s always putting his parishioners needs first, ever since the hurricane hit.”
The Rev. Jorge Morales, pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary, visited St. Paul during last year’s Lenten season and spoke to the Park Ridge parishioners about his parish’s needs, Donatello said.
In a letter of thanks to St. Paul, Morales wrote that the “signs of affection [and] solidarity on the part of St. Paul’s parishioners were immediate.”
“I am truly amazed at the beautiful parishioners and the staff, particularly the children of St. Paul of the Cross School,” he wrote. “During this time, they have contributed a great deal, not just financially, but also spiritually.”
Timm said Catholic Extension connected St. Paul with Our Lady of the Rosary after she expressed interest in the Park Ridge parish helping a hurricane-ravished church rebuild.
A goal of raising $60,000 was set, she said.
“To get $85,000 was unbelievable,” Timm said. “But the parishioners here are extremely generous and they want to make a difference and get behind something that is real.”
Mickelburgh said it was important for her to see the outcome at Our Lady of the Rosary so that she could share it with the students of St. Paul.
“I think it’s important, firstly, for our kids and families to see the impact they had on this community and, secondly, find out how we can continue to partner and assist people through community service and relationship-building,” she said.
Mickelburgh said the school is in the early stages of exploring an opportunity for seventh- and eighth-graders to travel to Puerto Rico for service work in the coming year. Our Lady of the Rosary School was still in need of clean-up and repairs when she and Timm visited, Mickelburgh said.
“We know that when students engage in service leaning opportunities they learn to give back in different ways,” she said. “It will also deepen their faith.”
In addition to visiting the church and school, Timm and Mickelburgh’s three-day trip to Vega Baja included time spent at a home for abused an neglected children, both women said. They also saw homes and buildings that still bore evidence of the hurricane, particularly the blue tarps that covered missing or damaged roofs on houses, Timm said.
“When you go out into the country a little bit, you definitely see people who are still living without water or electricity, making do,” she added.
The pair also learned about the acts of charity that Our Lady of the Rosary parishioners engaged in immediately following the hurricane. Amid the damage caused to their church, homes and community, members of the parish worked to collect food, clothing and other necessities for those around them — turning their church into a kind of “social service center,” Timm said.
“I am forever changed; I know that,” she said. “To see the big reveal of the church, knowing how the people there struggled so much, and knowing that their faith was not shaken … They just went out and gave until it hurt. And God did provide.”
This year’s Lenten alms-giving will help St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Warren, Ark., build a new church, also in partnership with Catholic Extension, Timm said. St. Paul parishioners raised approximately $90,000, she said.
“We’ll be going there to see that too, for sure,” Timm said of the future new church.
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune
