Church on list, she found new home
Kathy Chappell stood just inside the St. Columbanus food pantry, a small building next to the Gothic-style Catholic church with a sparkling rose window. A line of the parish’s Park Manor neighbors ran out the door and down 71st Street as they waited to receive turkeys, potatoes, vegetables and dinner rolls — all the ingredients needed to fix up a Thanksgiving feast.
For some, volunteering at the parish’s holiday food drive is an annual tradition, but Chappell started coming to St. Columbanus only in August. Her former church, St. Joachim’s on 91st Street, was named last winter as one of the churches set to close as a part of the archdiocese’s Renew My Church program. It will shut its doors for good by July.
Chappell likes the choir at her new parish and the sermons given by the young red-haired pastor, the Rev. Matt O’Donnell. She and her mother trek there each Sunday from the Chesterfield neighborhood. “We never felt like outsiders,” she said, “even though we were new members.”
Still, it’s painful to see St. Joachim’s close, particularly for some of the older parishioners, Chappell said. Some of them still attend Mass at the church each weekend. She doesn’t know what they’ll do when July comes. “I don’t want to say they were angry, but they were hurt. It’s like leaving your home.”
Chappell has been Catholic her whole life, and the closing of St. Joachim’s didn’t make her question her religion. In fact, she said, she appreciated the efforts the parish made to discuss options and update the people in the pews. The process seemed thoughtful. “When you’re strong in your faith, something like that is not going to alter it,” she said.
She smiled at another volunteer, perhaps a familiar face from her new South Side parish. Then she flipped one end of her gray scarf over her shoulder and went back toward the shelves of food to hand out boxes of pasta to the people filing into the bustling room.