On Sunday, November 30th, Our Lady of Czestochowa arrived at the church of the Holy Angels in Bronzeville, Chicago. With great enthusiasm and joy, this noteworthy congregation received the holy icon. This place is famous nationwide for the work of Fr. George Clements who years previous spearheaded the building of a new church and developed an excellent school. Now, Fr. Andrew Smith, a former Chicago police officer, is the pastor.
This weekend was so meaningful. The author of King Rules, Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., sent greetings and blessings as we brought "the Black Madonna" to the church. President Emeritus of Notre Dame, Fr. Ted Hesburgh blessed the visit before she arrived and we recounted the work he did with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Angels of AIDS, a ministry dedicated to assisting HIV-infected people, introduced their new quilt in solidarity with those suffering and calling attention to the need to address this issue. Fr. Andrew blessed the quilt in the presence of Our Lady of Czestochowa accompanied by the Native American peoples at the Anawim Center in Chicago. As Therese Henderson of this ministry told the congregation the quilt was stitched together by the Angels, but also, a Native American woman from Michigan lovingly assembled the back of the quilt.