A much anticipated and thoroughly planned outdoor Mass to bring students from all the Catholic grade schools and the Catholic high school in Springfield together to ask God's blessing on this school year drew more news and social media attention than organizers could ever have imagined.
Monday, Sept. 9, dawned sunny and bright, with a steady breeze blowing out of the east. The temperature was 80 degrees at 9 a.m.
Already grade school and high school choir members and musicians from throughout the city were standing on temporary bleachers erected on the Sacred Heart-Griffin High School football field, rehearsing under the direction of Sister Linda Mary DeLonais, OP, Bill Bauser and Karen Danner, from SHG.
Processional banner bearers, altar servers, and gift bearers from the city's Catholic schools were there early too, to go over their responsibilities at the Mass with either Sister Joan Sorge, OP, St. Agnes principal, who chaired the planning committee, Father Brian Alford, master of ceremonies, or Father Robert Jallas, St. Agnes pastor, who was in charge of the liturgy. Bishop Thomas John Paprocki was the celebrant.
More students began to trickle in, and at 10 a.m. a steady stream of students, teachers and drivers began to file into the 1-year-old stadium, located in the 1600 block of West Washington, behind the Catholic Pastoral Center. Each school was responsible for providing transportation for its students.
SHG student ambassadors were in the school parking lot, and began escorting the grade school students to their seats in the stadium. By 10:30, over 2,200 third- through 12th-grade students and teachers filled the home bleachers.
Each school had collected food items for the needy, which were brought up at the offering, with the hosts for Communion.
A student from each school carried its banner in the processional into Mass, followed by concelebrants: Father Robert Jallas (St. Agnes), Father Joseph Ring (Christ the King), Father Jeffrey Grant (Blessed Sacrament), Father John Nolan (Cathedral), Msgr. John Ossola (Little Flower), Msgr. David Lantz (St. Aloysius), Father Clint Honkomp, OP, (St. Aloysius) and Msgr. Carl Kemme, vicar general, with Deacon David Erdmann (Blessed Sacrament) leading the procession.
Just behind where the entrance processional lined up, several ambulances, with EMT personnel standing nearby, were ready if needed. A bevy of SHG coaches and support personnel who are accustomed to conditioning athletes to deal with weather stood behind the bleachers, ready to respond if needed.
Bishop Paprocki thanked everyone who came out to celebrate Catholic education in Springfield. In his homily he told them about a young 13-year-old girl, Veronica, and her 9-year-old brother, Eugene, who asked to be baptized at their own initiative. Their motivation, he said, was to be able to go to the sacrament of reconciliation.
"She is an intentional Catholic," Bishop Paprocki said. "This has stayed with her all her life, and she is now in her 80s. Her faith means so much to her, she still goes to Mass every day." He told the Catholic schools students he knows her story well. "Veronica is my mother," the bishop said.
He encouraged the students to think about what their Catholic faith means to them.
"Do you believe God loves you?" he asked.
He speculated many people have a hard time loving themselves. "Many people are selfish, only wanting to please themselves. But selfishness is not the same as loving yourself," Bishop Paprocki said. "Sometimes people have a hard time loving themselves ... they feel they are not smart enough, nor athletic enough, not attractive enough. They wonder 'if I don't even love myself, how could God possibly love me?'
"The key to our faith is to believe that God truly loves us, even with our faults and imperfections. Practicing our faith is simply responding to God's love."
Even before the bishop began his homily, the temperature and heat index were rising, and despite a breeze, the metal bleachers were heating up.
First, a few students began feeling ill and were helped down from the bleachers by their principal or teacher. As the heat index soared others followed.
Within minutes an active triage center was set up in the shade behind the bleachers. "Every effort was immediately made to assess their needs, to help them get cooled down and comfortable. Paramedics were on hand, to assess those needing additional help, and they were taken by ambulance to either St. John's Hospital or to Memorial Medical Center," said Bill Moredock, an SHG counselor. Cold water was given out, and bags of ice offered to those experiencing discomfort in the heat.
Principals and teachers assisted students who were experiencing difficulties off the bleachers and into the shade. Many returned to the bleachers with bags of ice and water to give to students who remained in the stands.
"The purpose of having Mass together was to show unity of all the Catholic schools in Springfield. We just hosted it," said Sister Katherine O'Connor, OP, SHG president.
"In the light of what happened our Catholic community came together, and in very difficult circumstances responded with fervent leadership," said Sister Joan. "It was really a sacred experience that was planned for everyone; a way of coming together as a Catholic community to celebrate the gift that our Catholic education is. I feel that all those present truly exhibited discipleship and what it means to be God's messenger of kindness, care and deep respect for the needs of another.
"We want to express gratitude to our parents," Sister Joan said. "I commend SHG students and staff and our own elementary students and staff who were assisting with every need; America ambulance, our community emergency personnel and firemen who were so generous in helping with the care of our children.
"Although the Mass was not as we planned, God was present in this community. All reached out to one another with love and reverence. I am very proud of our Catholic community. It was all of our students and staffs that were in an unforeseen and difficult experience. We needed to respond in that moment. And all responded with love."
"It was 83 when Mass started. Had we known that the temperature was going to rise so quickly we would certainly not have done anything to place our children in harm's way. We do follow all the policies regarding heat advisory warnings given to schools. I certainly add my apology regarding an outcome that could not be foreseen."