‘I Am from Vis!’
by Bernadine Karge, OP
Visitation Church, Chicago
On Sunday, March 10, the Catholic community at St. Basil/Visitation Parish, Chicago, welcomed former Visitation parish members and grade school and high school alums to their 9 a.m. Mass.
The church was aglow with the bright morning light beaming in from the east through the glorious stained glass window. The class of ’64 celebrant, Father John Sullivan, expressed gratitude for the opportunity to worship in this sacred space which was home to generations of Irish immigrants and now is home to the African American and Hispanic communities. He remarked how wonderful it was to be in this glowing gothic church building that did not resemble a Pizza Hut. The gothic structure on the corner of Garfield Boulevard and Peoria Street was built 125 years ago, 13 years after the founding of the parish on July 2, 1886, the feast of the Visitation.
The Gospel of the day reminded us of God’s love for all and our mission to extend that love into the world for all God’s people, not only to the privileged and entitled, but to the poor, handicapped, elderly, sick, immigrants, etc. Fr. John reminded us of the lesson we learned from the Sisters and the priests of the parish was to take care of each other in the spirit of the Visitation. The decades of the ’60s and ’70s were turbulent, transitional times with the flight of the white population from the parish and the arrival of African Americans. Decades later, the mission of Visitation persists.
What a joy to celebrate with the vibrant music which invited us to praise, love, and serve God through our neighbors. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is now the shrine of Mary to the left of the main altar. The Spanish-speaking Mass at 11 a.m. was preceded by the rosary. They urged alums to repair the lower level for coffee and conviviality, or they will be on their way to celebrate elsewhere. What a wonderful welcome by the current community and what a joy to share the Vis spirit.
In 1891, six Sisters came from Sinsinawa to start an elementary school in the basement of the first church. In 1905, the grade school was built. Ten years later, the high school was founded as a co-ed school and then became an all-girls school in 1922. The high school moved to St. Theodore’s in 1976 then transitioned into Aquinas Catholic in 1980 and then into Unity Catholic until closing after the 1982–83 school year. The former high school building currently serves as the grade school at 900 W. Garfield Boulevard, serving the needs of the current immigrants and residents of the Back of the Yards/Englewood neighborhoods.
St. Basil Parish was founded in 1904 about a mile west of Vis on Garfield Boulevard. Sinsinawa Dominicans arrived in 1905 to open the school to serve German and Irish immigrants. The parish was consolidated with Vis in 1990. St. Basil Church was demolished, and Visitation Church became the worship site.
Mark your calendars for the reunion Mass in March 2025! Check out the Facebook page, “I am from Vis!”
