After Church Destroyed By Fire, Woodlawn Parish Finds Temporary Home Thanks To Neighboring Church
(CBS) -- Members of a Woodlawn parish gathered for mass this morning in a new space after a fire last month severely damaged their church.
In a week, members of the Shrine of Christ the King converted the gym at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago into a space for worship.
They brought pews from a Catholic church in Cleveland and played a recording of the bells from the Shrine.
The smell of the fire still lingers outside the churches, which stand across an alley from each other on 64th street.
Rev. Canon Matthew Talarico says finding and transforming their temporary home has made it feel like Easter.
Parishioner Deloris Weber helped with the move and say it's been chaotic, but she's felt God's presence the whole time.
Chicago firefighters attended the mass, handing off a 300-year-old statue of Christ as a child that they rescued from the fire.
Rev. Talarico gave the firefighters rosaries and thanked them for saving the symbol of the Shrine and a backdrop for the altar.