When Vicky Hathaway took her youth advisory council to Rome in 2022, they were promised an audience with Pope Francis.
They were also instructed that they should present his Excellency with a gift of some sort, the Diocese of Gary’s Youth and Young Adult Ministry Coordinator said Saturday as she picked detritus from around a tree in the park across the street from Holy Angels Cathedral in Gary. They could’ve bought something, sure, but her kids wanted him to remember them, so they crafted the Catholic leader a friendship bracelet, she said, meticulously picking out colors and beads to make it perfect.
Pope Francis, she said, was pleased.
“He let them put it on him, and I just remember him listening so intently to them,” Hathaway said. “He took their words seriously — he wanted to listen to them and see what he could do to incorporate their views into the world, and he told them to never lose their joy. It was just a beautiful environment.”
One hundred or so faithful came to Holy Angels Cathedral Saturday morning for a special Mass honoring Pope Francis, who died April 21 after a long illness. The Diocese held the Mass to thank the man for his “witness of love and joy,” Gary Diocese Bishop Robert McClory said.
“This is a time to remember with gratitude and to bless him now,” McClory said. “The best way for us to live as he did is to live out what he lived out, and that is to be attentive to the needs of others and to share our love with others.”
To set an example of that, parishioners were invited to make acts of kindness to people in Gary by either serving a meal coordinated by the Secular Franciscans of Cedar Lake to residents at the Carolyn Mosby Senior apartments, packing 100 care packages of food for the Mosby residents or cleaning up the playground across the street from the cathedral. Appropriately enough, a young person came up with the idea of service to honor the pope, said the Reverend Mike Surufka OFM, of the Franciscan Fathers.
“Making a difference in the many, many people whose lives are in the margins, that was the spirit of Pope Francis,” Surufka said. “So much of Gary is untended, uncared for, but it’s a city whose 70,000 people are looking for signs of hope. We can’t do all of the city, but we can do these things.”
Miguel Martinez, of Chesterton, was happy to help. His lawn care company already does maintenance for the Diocese, so they came immediately to help manicure the little park.
“Pope Francis would’ve wanted us to help,” Martinez said. “You can take a weed whacker to some stuff, but once it gets this high, you have to have a mower.”
Stephany Mollo, of Beecher, Illinois, was glad she was there and not a child who could’ve found what she found – lines of nails tied together by twine just lying there in the weeds.
“I just about stepped on this, and then what would’ve happened? I haven’t had a tetanus shot in 10 years at least,” she said. “This is the scariest thing I’ve seen in my life. A kid could’ve really gotten themselves hurt.”
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
