MIRACLE FALLS SHORT FOR CHURCH

KASKASKIA, Ill. -- They came to mass Saturday afternoon hoping for a miracle, a way to save their historic church.

But there was no miracle. Bishop Wilton Gregory of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville told the 125 people gathered in the 150-year-old Church of Immaculate Conception for the 4 p.m. mass that the church will cease to hold regular services at the end of August.

"I understand this is a painful, painful moment for people," said Gregory. "I want to be sensitive to that. This is not an easy decision."

Gregory said arrangements have been made for Perryville, Mo., area priests to celebrate Saturday mass at the church through August.

Parishioners like Ben Picou voiced concern Saturday about the church's future.

Picou is the sheriff of Randolph County, Ill., and lives in Chester. But he still owns land on Kaskaskia Island, as do his brothers and father.

"We would like to see our parish remain and the church restored," Picou said.

He said that while the congregation may be small, there's money available to restore the church.

He said the church's Labor Day picnic and tractor pull annually raise about $15,000 to $20,000.

Picou said there's insurance money that could be spent to repair the church.

The diocese spent about $50,000 of a $250,000 insurance settlement last fall to dry out the church's bricks to keep them from freezing over the winter.

Picou said that still leaves $200,000 in insurance money, plus another $30,000 in private donations, that could be used to repair the church, and two vacant, aging brick structures on the grounds.

But the diocese, he complained, won't spend the money.

"It's basic theft by the diocese," he said.

In deciding to discontinue regular services, Gregory noted that few people generally attended mass at the church on Kaskaskia, a 15,000-acre island in the Mississippi River.

Although it's part of Illinois, only a narrow channel of water separates the western side of the island from the Missouri town of St. Mary's.

The church, like other structures on the island, was battered by floodwaters last summer that broke through an earthen levee and forced the approximately 160 residents from their homes. So far, only about 15 of the them have returned to homes on the island.

"It was just like a big bowl of water," recalled Herb Klein, a levee commissioner. Floodwaters heavily damaged 48 houses and mobile homes.

Water filled the church last summer. The floodwaters are gone now, but they left behind a legacy of peeling paint, damaged bricks and wood, and flaking plaster. Plastic sheeting covers the window frames.

"The impact of the floods and the increasing demands on our limited number of priests have caused us to re-evaluate the pastoral situation at Kaskaskia Island," Gregory said.

The result is that no priest will be assigned to the church, he said.

Gregory said the diocese isn't selling the church. It will spend parish funds to prevent further damage to the brick building, but it won't restore the church to its pre-flood condition.

Parishioners and reporters crowded around the bishop as he left the church.

Gregory, who presided over 34 parish closings in the Chicago area, said he hoped some middle ground could be reached with the Kaskaskia congregation over the future of the church.

"We can talk," he said. "I am a reasonable man."

Picou said only about 25 to 30 people regularly attend mass at the church. But he said the building is more than a church, it's the heart and soul of the farm-field-covered island.

The island used to have a public school, but it closed down in the 1980s, he said.

The church and the "Liberty Bell of the West," housed in a state-maintained building near the church, are the featured attractions of the island.

Picou said as many as 10,000 people a year visit the church and bell. The 650-pound, bronze bell is 11 years older than the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.

Cast in 1741, it was a gift to the church from King Louis XV of France.

Picous have lived on Kaskaskia for generations, dating back to the 1800s.

Picou said there's plenty of history here. Kaskaskia served as the first capital of what was then the territory of Illinois.

The parish itself was founded in 1675 by a French Jesuit priest who ministered to the Indians and early white settlers.

The current church dates back to 1843. As a result of floods, it was moved brick by brick and rebuilt at its present location in the center of the island in 1894.

"It's sad to see these buildings fall down."

Picou and others are also unhappy about Federal Emergency Management Agency regulations that are making it difficult for people with heavily damaged homes to move back on the island.

"It's a sad mess," he said.

Among those attending Saturday's mass were John and Ela White of Calhoun County, representing the four Illinois tribes.

Dressed in Indian garb, they chanted and danced down the aisle before presenting a white, altar cloth to the bishop.

John White urged the bishop to remember the church's missionary history in the area. "Roots are precious," he said.