Longing for healing, high school students turn to peers and God

Story and photo by John Shaughnessy

As the tragic news of the plane crash spread, Father Gerald Kirkhoff’s phone started ringing constantly—bringing pleas for help that surprised the pastor of St. Pius X Parish in Indianapolis.

The phone calls came from young people who had ties to the northside parish and the community of nearby Bishop Chatard High School, young people reeling from the sketchy reports that long-time parishioners Joseph and Barbara Krier had been killed in a small plane crash and their three children—all recent Chatard graduates—had been seriously injured.

“I learned what happened at seven-thirty that evening,” Father Kirkhoff recalled. “At eight o’clock, people started calling me and asking, ‘Are we going to have a prayer service?’ I said, ‘I’ll go over and open the church, turn on the lights and we’ll see what happens.’ ”

As Father Kirkhoff left the rectory and made his way to the church, he was stunned by what happened next on New Year’s Day—a response that he believes reveals a great deal about the faith of young Catholics.

Cars were already in the parking lot. Young people huddled together and used their cell phones to start calling their friends as they watched the priest head toward the church.

“By eight-thirty [p.m.], there were 100 people coming into the church,” Father Kirkhoff recalled. “It was all spontaneous. They were talking in small groups and praying. I decided we’d say the rosary. After those people left, about 75 more people came in. I said another decade of the rosary, and they stayed and talked.

“I thought it was a great commentary on the young people and their faith. Number one, they wanted to be together. Young people grieve with their peers. But the fact that they wanted to come together in the church—this symbolic place—shows their connection with God. They needed some place to turn. They needed some kind of reassurance that God was still part of their lives and God was in the midst of the tragedy.”

Searching for God

That search for reassurance—and God’s presence—has been a constant in the past year as some high schools in the archdiocese have particularly struggled with tragedies that have rocked their communities of students, parents, alumni and friends.

Cardinal Ritter Jr./Sr. High School in Indianapolis has faced the death of a popular baseball coach.

Cathedral High School in Indianapolis has mourned the loss of a student.

The Bishop Chatard community has been tested by the deaths of 12 people connected to the school.

Consider the list of tragedies that have touched Chatard:

One young graduate committed suicide. Another young graduate died as the result of an accidental shooting. A young man who was a member of this year’s senior class was killed in a traffic accident before the school year began. Parents of current students and parents of recent graduates succumbed to long-term illnesses. Other parents died suddenly.

The Kriers died when their small plane crashed in Dawson, Ga., as they traveled to their vacation home in Florida. Their three children—Theresa, Matthew and Andrew—survived the crash.

“There’s been a lot of sadness,” said Chatard’s president, Holy Cross Brother Joseph Umile. “It’s been one death after the other.”

Brother Joseph recalled one moment that overwhelmed him. It happened when he attended the funeral of a recent Chatard graduate, who committed suicide last May.

“I got to the Mass early and sat on my own,” he recalled. “I was praying and not paying attention to who was in the church. It got to be Communion time. I received Communion and as I turned around, there were about 200 Chatard kids. I was just floored by the support. That’s been the case every single time. The former students supporting the former students. The current students supporting the current students.”

Saying farewell to a friend

The community reeled again in the summer, just before the beginning of this school year, when a senior-to-be, Ben Fillenwarth, died in a traffic accident.

The news spread quickly. The tears flowed even faster. People struggled with the reality of another person dying too young. Yet a church was once again filled with young people, who faced the sorrow of saying goodbye to a friend who had touched their lives.

A similar scene unfolded at Ritter after the Jan. 22 death of John McCracken, the head baseball coach and study hall teacher. About 3,500 people attended his viewing, which was held in the school’s gymnasium, according to Jessica Lambert, Ritter’s campus minister.

“When anyone suffers a loss, especially a teenager, it’s hard to find your faith and believe in God,” Lambert said. “But I’ve noticed how our students are able to find Christ in their fellow classmates in these moments of loss and despair. They depend on each other and each other’s faith.”

That reality has also marked the reaction of Cathedral students to the death of Jeramy Schmitt, a senior and a football player who died in September.

“The night of Jeramy’s death, probably half the class was united in prayer here at Cathedral,” said Charlene Witka, the school’s campus minister. “I also direct senior retreats for the students. His death has changed the atmosphere on senior retreats this year. It’s just been very healing for the kids to open up and be together, to cry together. They have questions and it’s really hard for them to understand, but the way they’re going about it shows they have faith.”

Chatard students have turned to their faith traditions amid the tragedies, said Mary Schaffner, the school’s director of campus ministry.

“All the rosaries and Masses for people have been packed,” Schaffner said. “It’s just a great witness to where we go when we’re hurting as a community. The priests in the North Deanery have welcomed us with open arms through everything.”

Standing on holy ground

Schaffner noted that even before the tragedies, Chatard had decided to follow a year-long theme based upon a Bible verse from Exodus 3:5: “For the place where you stand is holy ground.”

“Its essence comes from an appreciation and respect for everyone who comes here—to respect the holiness and dignity of each of our lives,” she said. “The good Lord had a greater plan. With all the loss we’ve had, there’s been a tangible sense of that holiness.”

Chatard senior Erin McCalley has noticed a difference, too, among students.

“We’ve all grown in our faith and our whole community,” said Erin, a member of St. Pius X Parish. “A lot of people look out for each other now. We turn to God more than we ever had.”

“Most 17- to 18-year-olds won’t have to go through so much death this early in their life,” said Aidan McKiernan, a Chatard senior and member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Indianapolis. “Ben’s funeral set the stage for the year. People aren’t holding back from each other. It’s made the senior class much stronger as a whole.”

The impact can be seen in adults, too, according to Brother Joseph. After one funeral, a parent waved to him and said, “I’m going to go home and hug my kids.”

The parents of Ben Fillenwarth set the example for everyone, according to Chatard senior Lauren Fohl.

“Initially, it was hard to understand, especially Ben,” said Lauren, a member of St. Pius X Parish. “Then Mr. Fillenwarth got up at the prayer service and said he knew Ben was in a better place. We thought that was a powerful profession of faith.”

That response seemed to set a mood in the school community.

“If you say you’re a community of faith, there are just sometimes in life’s cycle where you really need to walk the talk,” Brother Joseph said. “The circumstances have all been tragic. The responses have just been uplifting and inspiring.”

Healing the wounds

Two days after the plane crash led Father Kirkhoff to open the doors to St. Pius X Church—so young people would have a place to meet and pray—he celebrated Mass, asking God for “the emotional and physical healing” of the Krier children.

More than 1,000 people attended the Mass, many of them young people home from college or home for the Christmas holidays.

The crowd was so large it flowed outside the doors of the church and into the parking lot. Father Kirkhoff also noticed the overflow of emotion and faith from young people that evening.

“I think there’s a renewal of young people’s interest in the faith,” he said. “I don’t think you
ng people have written God off or the Church off. They’re renewing it with their own focus instead of what older people think they should do. Sometimes we think that if they aren’t at Mass on Sunday, they aren’t interested. I think even those who don’t go regularly are still interested in their faith.” †