By Michelle Martin
Staff Writer

As troops began to move through the desert and bombs fell on Baghdad, members of St. Agnes of Bohemia Parish in Chicago’s Little Village took to the streets, not to protest, but to pray.

Father Diego Cadavid, St. Agnes’ associate pastor, carried the Eucharist in a March 20 procession through the neighborhood. In addition, the parish’s Prince of Peace Adoration Chapel is open every day, and those who have family members serving in the military can put their pictures there.

“We’ve been holding these Eucharistic processions for peace for nearly two years, Foley said. “But they’re usually to a place of violence within the neighborhood. This one was for the war, which affects us all. … We want to make sure Christ is in our midst, and we pray for the safe return of everyone.”

Foley, whose parish is in a police district that had 350 reported shootings last year, said he preached March 23 about the connection between domestic and gang violence at home and the war in Iraq.

“It’s all intertwined,” he said. “You can’t pray for peace in Iraq and discount gang shootings on the streets of Chicago.”

The people of St. Agnes joined Catholics from around the archdiocese in their prayer efforts, even as some anti-war protests in downtown Chicago blocked streets and snarled traffic.

“Since hostilities against Iraq have now begun, I ask Catholics and others to pray for an end to this war and for a lasting peace,’ said Cardinal George in a March 20 statement. “Such a peace is founded on the desire to protect the innocent, whether in Iraq or elsewhere, on respect for all peoples and religions, whether in the United States or elsewhere, and on the political will to establish structures of cooperation among peoples around the world.

“Let us pray that our armed forces can come quickly and safely home and that their efforts may help to bring about a just peace.”

Children in many Catholic schools have been praying for peace since before the war started. During Lent, several schools have designated a time for a student to ring a bell, calling the whole school to prayer.

“This program is a valuable tool to teach children the importance of praying for the good of all mankind,” said Phyllis Winter, principal of Children of Peace School on the near West Side. “Many people around the world need prayers for peace, especially now.”

Catholic schools also are trying to help children cope with ongoing media coverage and fears brought on by the war.

“Catholic school teachers have the luxury of being able to address many of their students’ fears and anxieties about war through prayer and meaningful dialogue within the context of their faith,” said Barbara O’Block, associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction for the archdiocese’s Catholic schools.

Among the suggestions offered by Carrol Cradock, a clinical psychologist and consultant to the archdiocese’s Office of Assistance Ministry, are: regulating children’s exposure to television coverage of the war, and not letting children under 7 watch any television news coverage; bring the topic up, then let children talk if they want to; ask children about their specific concerns and answer questions related to them; and be honest. (See the Archdiocese of Chicago’s web site for more information: www.archchicago.org)

The leaders of many religious congregations also issued calls for peace, saying they believed that diplomacy and weapons inspections should have had more time to work.

Leaders from other religious traditions joined in the call for prayer for peace, as members of the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago joined together for a special service at the Episcopalian St. James Cathedral March 24.

Chicagoan Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness, in Baghdad as part of an Iraq Peace Team, sent an e-mail following the first targeted bombings March 19.

“It’s almost impossible for me to imagine that bombings to the extent of what I heard last night and the previous morning—if they happened in Chicago—would result in people carrying on with ordinary days,” she wrote. “Part of it is people have been inured to warfare and it’s also a sign of a really particular kind of courage and dignity within the population here. … If Chicago were under attack—and people known to be from the attacking country were in Chicago—it’s hard for me to imagine they’d be sitting in a pleasant hotel tea room together.”

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