Supplements

CURRENT ISSUE

holy angels memories prompt alumni to gather, dream

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

A small group of graduates gathered around the table at Catholic Urban Programs (CUP) office in East St. Louis to remember their days at Holy Angels School.
They passed around a book of photos to see their youthful selves among friends they haven’t seen for years.

Their “fierce loyalty” to a school and parish closed for more than 25 years has brought them together not only to reminisce but to make sure the care and support they once knew at Holy Angels continues into the future.
While the school and church property were sold, the convent was retained and turned into a much-needed shelter for women and children, now operated as part of the CUP outreach.

Joe Hubbard, CUP’s director, attended Holy Angels School as did the others at the meeting.
Pat Lewis, shelter director, listened as the graduates spoke of their loyalty to the school and their appreciation of the education they received there.

“I want to see the shelter continue and good things to continue to happen there,” Lewis said.
Holy Angels’ graduates feel the same way. They want to gather other graduates for a reunion, to share their memories and renew their friendships.

Eventually, they want to form a support network for the shelter that is housed in the convent building on the property of their former school.

“We had the best of the best teachers at Holy Angels,” Andy Gleeson said.

Marylynn Fontilla Becker said she not only retains happy memories from her school days at Holy Angels but realizes the education she received there instilled values that require her to respond to the needs of the poor today.
Hubbard said he went to work for the diocese because of the care and concern he saw expressed for the families who belonged to the parish.

When the parish saw a need, “everybody helped,” he said.
Hubbard said two elderly women who had graduated from the school eventually returned to Holy Angels, this time to seek shelter because they could no longer pay bills.

The alumni listened to the stories and said they wanted to learn more about those who need shelter so they can help.
Office aide Quin Wince-Logan can shed light on the reasons some of the people seek shelter at Holy Angels.
“Sometimes people come here because of house fires, loss of jobs, evictions or family disputes” among other reasons, she said.

Often people come without housing or doctors. One woman was brought to the shelter because she was living from one house or relative to another and eventually had no place to go.

“They’re giving me a roof over my head and a warm, safe place to be,” one shelter resident said.
Holy Angels will celebrate its 25th anniversary as a shelter soon, and some of those who stayed at the shelter have put their lives back together and moved ahead.

The alumni want to find out more about their school as shelter, but they also want to reconnect with their former classmates.

A meeting will be held at noon April 3 in the Peace Chapel conference room at Mt. Carmel Cemetery. All former students and graduates of Holy Angels School are invited to attend this meeting.

A reunion is being planned as well as a way to offer support to the shelter.
For more information, please call Marylynn Fontilla Becker at 235-0448.