TERRE HAUTE —
It would be understandable, for most of us, if we were madder than the opposite of heaven if a beloved, historic, personal part of our lives was to be taken away against our will.
And that’s just the situation clergy and parishioners at St. Ann Catholic Church find themselves in, because next month the church will see its last services, as the larger church body consolidates its members here into other parishes. After being a parish since 1876, St. Ann’s, the church, will close.
In 1906, the church came to house a school, educating thousands in moral character and religious doctrine in addition to math, science, history, English and much more. Later came an orphanage, a food bank, a health clinic; more recently, a dental clinic and psychological services — services for many in our community who cannot afford to pay for care, but who perhaps need it most.
Gladly, even after the church closes, St. Ann’s facilities will continue to be used for the health clinic and offices for Catholic Charities and Bethany House.
Thousands of lessons have been taught within St. Ann’s walls over the church’s 136 years, and its people have borne witness to the larger community — Catholic and non — about faith, caring and service to others.
The congregation is now teaching another hard lesson about dealing with the pain of the church’s closing and taking a broader perspective than the bittersweet situation at first presents. “We are going to be organ donors,” Sister Connie Kramer told the congregation at its homecoming service on April 15, “and offer a transplant to others of the life we have here.”
As our Lisa Trigg told you in her April 16 story about St. Ann’s homecoming service, the church’s sacred items will see new life in new settings. Some are being divided among remaining local parishes, all of which have their own proud histories, traditions and communities. That’s part of the transplant.
But in a way, the more compelling transplant will be that this old, retiring church — St. Ann’s — is going to remain alive within a newer, resurrecting church 318 miles away in Salyersville, a town of fewer than 2,000 people in far eastern Kentucky, not far from the West Virginia border.
The Catholic Church there, St. Luke’s, was leveled in those March 2 tornadoes that also devastated southern Indiana.
Parishioner Helen Pennington was one of eight persons who sought — and found, providentially, if you want to believe that — safety from the storm in St. Luke’s downstairs, while most of the building was blown away.
“I love this church,” Pennington told a West Virginia television reporter. “I love this parish. I love the people. It’s just heartbreaking.”
In a different context, St. Ann’s parishioners might utter the same words. It is understandably heartbreaking for them to have the security and familiarity of their church pass away.
But in very real ways, the heart of St. Ann’s will beat anew some months hence at St. Luke’s, for when that church is rebuilt from the storm, it will feature St. Ann’s altar, baptismal font, pews, vestments and robes — which will be sent there to help that church re-establish itself.
As Sister Kramer said, “They will worship at our table, and we will transplant the faith of this community into this other church.”
In that, the good people of St. Ann’s can take pride — and solace.
Editorials
EDITORIAL: A transplant from St. Ann’s
Parishioners will know that church they love lives on
- Editorials
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EDITORIAL: Waging the ‘readiness’ campaign
Almost every Hoosier who starts college intends to finish. Unfortunately, those who arrive on campus unprepared in key academic areas are far less likely to fulfill that aspiration.
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EDITORIAL: Insult to an independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: Dashing finish for the Sycamores
It’s always thrilling to see Indiana State University’s athletic teams do well in high-level competition, and two specific teams rose to impressive heights last weekend in the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships.
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EDITORIAL: Better monitoring needed to prevent local environmental messes
The nasty, hazardous messes lurking in the community raise a bottom-line, red-flag question. Could these environmental problems have been monitored and, thus, prevented?
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EDITORIAL: Memo to U.S.A.: You can ‘SPPRAK’ just as we do in Vigo County
Our kids, truly, are ‘Making a Difference’
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Some words in praise of boring government — Indiana’s
A conservative Republican governor has super majorities in both branches of the legislature. One might suspect such one-party government leads to major changes in public policy. This did not happen in 2013 in Indiana.
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EDITORIAL: Doc’s prescient prescription
Viewed through a 2013 prism, Doc Bowen’s response to the AIDS epidemic looks merely prudent, routine.
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EDITORIAL: Education remains worth the cost
Within the next few weeks, each of the local colleges will have conducted graduation ceremonies. A few days later, a different Class of 2013 will don caps and gowns for commencement — the seniors at five Vigo County high schools. It is still a smart, worthy aspiration for those high school grads to replicate the achievement of those college students by earning a higher-education degree.
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EDITORIAL: Good news for downtown
For decades, it seems, downtown Terre Haute has been in the throes of change
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EDITORIAL: Overall, state budget step in the right direction
For average Hoosiers uninterested in political point-scoring, the budget crafted by the Indiana Legislature inspires only muted, if any, fanfare.
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EDITORIAL: The lessons of organ donation
The range of emotion surrounding life-saving transplantation of a vital organ is extreme. It is the ultimate “good news-bad news” scenario.
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READERS’ FORUM: April 26, 2013
• Pence’s tax cuts benefit wealthiest
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
This does not qualify as a surprise in any way. But the Wabash Valley’s response to widespread flooding of recent days has been nothing short of impressive, even inspirational.
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EDITORIAL: Still waiting for the jobs reward
The forces in control of Indiana government for most of the past decade need to show some results to Hoosiers in one primary category.
Good-paying jobs. -
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
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EDITORIAL: Doing the dirty work to clean up tossed trash
A first-of-its-kind, coast-to-coast project to remove litter from U.S. roadsides brought the Pick Up America crew through the Wabash Valley two years ago.
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EDITORIAL: Keep school security a local issue
The decision to provide armed security inside a schoolhouse should be made locally.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
Indiana’s parks need your help.
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EDITORIAL: The return of terror
Emotions today remain strong and raw in wake of Monday’s terror bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
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EDITORIAL: A solution to distracted driving … stop it … now
You’ve got to stop. You know you do it. It’s a miracle you haven’t caused a tragedy already.
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EDITORIAL: ‘Women of Influence’: 2013 selectees have given much to their communities
For the second year, United Way of the Wabash Valley has teamed up with local sponsors to select and honor a group of women who have made outstanding contributions to their communities, professions and families.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: A new honor for our veterans
A commendation goes out today to state Rep. Clyde Kersey, a Terre Haute Democrat who led the charge this week in the Indiana House of Representatives to pay tribute to the nation’s Purple Heart recipients.
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EDITORIAL: Shifting view on marriage
One could argue, as many have, that Sen. Joe Donnelly did the right thing last week when he dropped his support of government-sanctioned opposition to same-sex marriage. It wasn’t a radical move, considering most Democrats have now made the switch.
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MAX JONES: The American Newspaper: Changing? Yes. Dying? No way!
It happened again this past January when all those “looking at the year ahead” stories started popping up on Internet “news” websites and broadcast “news” programs. Under a provocative headline reading something like “Five industries/businesses doomed to tank in the coming year,” there it was, a prediction based on an unsubstantiated “expert” analysis that the newspaper industry will continue in 2013 to suffer its slide into oblivion.
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EDITORIAL: A chance to change our bad cultural habits
The sight of diligent, eager young people dragging trash out of the Wabash River wetlands is both inspiring and sad.
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EDITORIAL: Maintaining high standards
Standards
It’s the raging buzzword in education circles these days. Everyone insists that higher standards must be met. Anything less is, doggone it, unacceptable. -
Noteworthy in the news
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EDITORIAL: Crack down on dumpers
There is a reason it’s called “illegal” dumping. It’s against the law. And there is a very good reason illegal dumping is against the law.
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Season of Day 2s arrives
Calendars in Cincinnati contain one extra holiday — Opening Day, traditionally the first Monday in April.
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Congress fails to recognize problem of education costs
Who hasn’t gotten this message yet? The cost of a college degree has become unaffordable for a wide swath of middle-class America.
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EDITORIAL: Waging the ‘readiness’ campaign
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