A smoky odor permeated Gethsemane Garden Missionary Baptist Church on Christmas Day as Rev. Joseph Payne preached to just a half-dozen of his South Side Chicago parishioners, all of them wearing overcoats and warm hats, in a room normally reserved for Sunday school.
Fire ravaged the 75-year-old building earlier this week. As a result, those attending Thursday’s mass were forced to huddle, without heat, in one of the only rooms that didn’t suffer serious damage.
Although the boarded-up windows and the heaps of ash-coated refuse in the entranceway evoked the trials of Job more than the Gospels, worshipers on this day seemed to draw strength from a spirit that did not suffer along with the church’s physical structure.
“This is a terrible thing, but we have to press forward,” said choir member Shirley Ashford, a church member for 17 years. “We’re going to make it, we’re going to build. This church is going to be stronger than it was.”
On Christmas Day, another Chicago church that recently endured losses also had occasion to assess what are true riches and to demonstrate that a church’s visible bounty needn’t be a measure of faith among its parishioners.
Rev. Richard Fragomeni, spiritual director at Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii, reflected on the lessons learned from a theft that offended those who frequent his Near West Side church at 1224 W. Lexington St.
Last week, two chalices and two candelabras were stolen, and an antique statue that hung above the altar was damaged, forcing Fragomeni to scramble for items to complete his Christmas liturgy.
“We can have Christmas without chalices, statues, even the church building,” he said. “When people come here, they come open to God, and that no one can steal.”
Many of Our Lady of Pompeii’s regulars commute from as far away as Oak Brook and Lombard. Some who have returned to the traditionally Italian church years after their families moved from the city said they were shocked by the burglary.
Most of the stolen items were priceless heirlooms dating from the church’s founding in 1911. But according to the police, they were pawned by the suspected thief for just a few dollars.
“We’re hoping to retrieve them. But if we don’t,” he said, his face brightening, “we’ll make other heirlooms.”
At Gethsemane Garden, 7756 S. Morgan St., Payne could not yet glimpse much of a silver lining in his church’s misfortune. He insisted on holding a Christmas Day service, as he has done every year since he founded the church 31 years ago.
“We’ve never missed a Christmas,” he said. “We sure weren’t going to miss one this year.”
The cause of the fire is still unknown, although authorities do not believe it was set intentionally. The blaze was devastating nonetheless.
Standing on a heap of rubble, Payne couldn’t help but reminisce about Christmases past. He recalled years when 75 people would fill the pews for a mass, not six.
“It put a big damper on things this year,” Payne said.
Yet Payne and other church members vowed it would be a minor setback. He scheduled a major cleanup effort for Friday.
“We’re trying to get it together,” Payne said. “It’ll look much nicer come Sunday.”
For members of Our Lady of Pompeii, the Christmas mood was dampened further by word that police believe the man they have charged with the burglary intentionally timed the crime for the week before Christmas.
“When I was a kid, churches were inviolate, no matter if you were the worst criminal,” Dominic DiFrisco, a member of the church’s board, said Thursday. “It seems that a lot of those boundaries of conduct have broken down, though this church is a rallying point to bring that spirit back.”
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Following the example of Jesus, many church members stressed the importance of turning the other cheek. Something that gave Fragomeni solace over the theft came not from Scripture but from Victor Hugo’s novel “Les Miserables.”
In a burglary similar to what happened at Fragomeni’s church, Hugo tells how the homeless fugitive Jean Valjean steals silverware and candleholders from a bishop who took mercy on him. When police bring Valjean back to the scene of the crime, the bishop humbly offers the robber two candlesticks he forgot to take.
Fragomeni said the tale reminds him of the need to balance justice with mercy.
It also suggests a way of softening the theft’s impact with the ideals that define Christmas.
“It’s the expectation of a better future, peace on earth,” he said. “That expectation can change an insult into a blessing and an opportunity for mercy.”