From Chicago, with prayers

By Michelle Martin
Staff writer

Students at scores of New York Catholic schools are receiving encouragement from their Chicago counterparts in the wake of the World Trade Center disaster.

Kathryn Tomlin, principal of St. Nicholas of Tolentine School, 3741 W. 62nd St., Chicago, said her students were writing to children at New York’s St. Columba School, about a mile from the site of the tragic attack Sept. 11.

“We’re sending cards with the hope that students will write back and we can place their names on a special prayer board,” Tomlin said. The prayer board also will include reminders of people involved in the tragedy, either as victims or rescue workers, she said. “We will remember them every day as we say our morning prayers together as a school.”

The St. Nicholas of Tolentine effort, dubbed “Project New York City,” was sparked when New York native Sister Margaret Farley of the Catholic Schools Office told Tomlin that she often stayed at St. Columba. Tomlin said Farley could see the towers from the school window.

So St. Columba was chosen. “Cheer up, friend,” reads a card from a fifth-grader. Reyna Martinez wrote: “I’m so sorry for what happened. I wish that we could erase the day of the accident. My family and classmates are praying for you. I hope your family is all right.”

Other classes, too, participated, Tomlin said. A series of cards from third-graders carries the theme of helping hands.

Judy Silekis, executive director of the Big Shoulders Foundation, which helps support 111 Catholic inner-city schools, inaugurated a similar program at other schools. Students there are preparing and sending cards of encouragement to New York students.

“It’s an opportunity to connect faith and people in this time of tragedy,” Silekis said.