$1-Million Fund Drive Saves Historic Church

Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, which survived the Great Chicago Fire more than a century ago, has been saved once again through a nationwide fund-raising drive, parishioners said Tuesday.

Church bells rang out, a fire engine horn sounded and tears of joy were shed after Father George Lane announced the church’s reprieve from the wrecking ball before about 40 parishioners gathered on the steps in front of the church’s massive oak doors.

“I want to tell you this morning we not only made our $1-million cash goal--we surpassed it,” Lane said through a chorus of cheers. “We have $1,011,000 cash and another $990,000 in good pledges.”

The Society of Jesus, which owns the church, threatened two weeks ago to raze the Gothic Victorian structure and sell the property unless the parish could pay a third of a $3-million renovation bill by midnight Monday.

On Sunday, church officials said they were $65,000 short of that $1-million goal. Lane said that television talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey and other donors who requested anonymity had offered to make up the difference.

Pledges and money poured in from across the nation, Father John Moorman, the church’s pastor, said. He said the donors included a disabled man who sent pennies wrapped in foil.

The church was closed six years ago because of water damage to the roof and interior plaster. It later was determined to be structurally sound, but the congregation has been meeting for services in a nearby chapel, originally a vestry room.

“It’s not like our church,” parishioner Clarice Brewer said of the makeshift chapel.

Lane said that restoring the church could take five years. He said that further donations are needed to raise the $2 million still needed to complete the job. He said he expected that amount could be raised within the next several weeks.

When Holy Family was completed in 1860, it was the nation’s third-largest church, with vaulted ceilings and unique carvings. Its 226-foot bell tower was Chicago’s tallest structure, and its stained-glass windows were believed to be the first of their kind in the city.

The church was one of five buildings left after fire swept the city on Oct. 8, 1871. The fire, which killed at least 300 people and left about 90,000 homeless, wiped out the downtown area and most Northside homes.

During the fire, the parish’s founder, Father Arnold Damen, vowed that, if the church was saved, the congregation would always burn seven lights at the church’s shrine to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

The seven lights, now electrified, still burn at the shrine, and church officials credited part of their latest success to the faith embodied in them.

“We promised to keep those seven lights burning, and they’re still burning,” Father Jack Lane said. “Our Lady was in our prayers in 1871, and was in them again.”