Parishioners of a Northwest Side Catholic church celebrated as a religious statue was unveiled Thursday morning.
The statue of Our Lady of San Juan de Los Lagos was brought through Humboldt Park in a pickup truck, arriving at a celebration behind the park’s armory, near Kedzie Avenue.
Songs, prayers and Bible readings blasted from a speaker strapped to the roof of a Toyota Sienna to welcome the statue, which had been brought all the way from Jalisco, Mexico.
The statue, inside a gold-and-silver-colored glass box, was moved from the truck to a table, where believers knelt in front, saying brief prayers, as others waited to lay their hands on the box.
The statue will spend the next four days inside the three churches that make up San Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio Parish.
After about an hour, the statue was carried to its first temporary home, Maternity BVM Church, 3647 W. North Ave. More than 100 people joined the march, taking turns carrying the box on their shoulders.
Organizers said the “pilgrimage” to the church represented the journey people take from other countries to enter the United States.
Other marchers carried signs with Bible verses relevant to the mistreatment of some immigrants in the U.S. and how Catholics should respond.
“All the violence against immigrants, inhumane detention centers, kids in cages, chronically ill kids being deported goes against every Christian principle,” said Rev. Kevin Hays, one of the parish priests.
Hays said church teachings defend the “dignity of the human person” and Catholics must apply that to immigrants.
Belen Morales, 25, said the community’s response to the statue should be an example of how every immigrant should be treated.
“We are here not only to say welcome to [Our Lady of San Juan de Los Lagos] but to show how we should welcome immigrants,” Morales said.
Those interested in seeing the statue can at:
- Thursday-Friday, Maternity BVM Church, 3647 W. North Ave.
- Saturday, St. Francis of Assisi Church, 932 N. Kostner Ave.
- Sunday, St. Philomena Church, 1921 N. Kedvale Ave.
Manny Ramos is a corps member of Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster Sun-Times coverage of Chicago’s South Side and West Side
