As Texas town reels from explosion, a turn to faith

WEST, Texas — The crowd that had gathered — lighting candles, offering prayers, crying as they tightly embraced family and friends — had streamed from the dimly lit sanctuary of Assumption Catholic Church, but Kelly Nelson lingered behind.

“The people who we lost, these are people I know, I see on a daily basis,” Nelson said. “Knowing that I’m never going to see these people on the earth again is very difficult for me to handle.”

On Wednesday night, a blast at the West Fertilizer Co. plant had rocked this small town. A day later Nelson and hundreds of others had gathered in the red-brick church building. Nelson wasn’t the only one to stay behind after the teary service concluded. A pair of young men sobbed as they knelt before the altar. Others just stared blankly forward as they sat in the pews. In a time when residents of West sought hard-to-find clarity, they’ve had to rely on faith.

“If this town didn’t have faith,” Nelson, 29, said, “it wouldn’t have anything.”

The people who know West well say it’s a little town known for many things: its Czech heritage; its kolaches, a Czech pastry that’s become something of a delicacy in the region; its ability to have a good time.

But, what’s proving most important now is its faith.

“Their faith is so strong here, and it can only get greater,” said Father Ed Karasek, pastor of Assumption Catholic Church.

Karasek encouraged those attending the vigil to grieve and to allow those around them to grieve as well. If that means being angry with God, so be it.

“It’s OK to be angry with God,” Karasek said after the service. “You’ve got to let it out, and He can take it. They lost their homes. They’re devastated. They lost loved ones. They lost family.”

Charlie Ferguson, 75, has lived in West his entire life, and he considers himself blessed because of the people.

West, he said, is typically a happy place, with hard-working people. They’re resilient and will weather this, he believes.

“They’re a strong people,” he said. “They have faith in God, I guess. Gives them strength. They’re pulling together.”

Don Cole, a Dallas-based pastor with Victim Relief Ministries, has traveled to disaster areas throughout the region to offer counsel. Beyond the trauma of what happened, Cole said, the experience stirs up difficult, existential questions that can be just as terrifying: Is there a God? Who created us? Why would God let this happen?

Turning to faith, as well as to their religious communities, serves as a comfort. “Their faith is what pulls them through,” he said.

In West, it’s a the tightknit community that has, in recent days, been drawn even closer together. Most everyone falls within just a few degrees of separation from someone killed, injured, who lost their home or were evacuated from theirs. As they try to take steps toward healing, Nelson said prayer will be critical to that.

“You know everyone’s name, you know of everyone’s family,” she said. “It’s going to be very difficult moving forward, but we’re going to do it because of faith.”

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