PBMR: the New Creation
Crosses made by Greg Zanis for the 762 lives lost to gun violence in 2016 in Chicago
An Emotional Memorial by Sr. Donna Liette, c. pp. s.
It was December 31 st and nearly 1000 persons marched down Michigan Avenue in the cold to remember the 762 lives lost in Chicago in 2016— mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandmothers, crying as they searched for their loved ones cross:“ My brother, that’ s my baby, that’ s my mother.”
The 800 crosses were made by Greg Zanis, a man who said,“ My heart is broken.” He wanted to do something, and so he began making a cross for each victim of gun violence. What love! He marked each three feet tall wooden cross with a name( mostly young black males!). Beside the victim’ s name, he marked the date of their murder and their age at the time of death. He started with cross # 1— killed January 1— all the way to # 762.
As the march began, Fr. Denny Kinderman picked up Korry Roger’ s cross( one of our very own Precious Blood youth killed on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, # 485). As the group walked down Michigan Avenue in silence, the name of each victim was read starting with January 1 st. Each name was precious: they were not called gangbangers, as the media often names the victims, rather they were people with families, with talent, with a God-given future, their flame extinguished suddenly by violence.
It was the hope of the organizers that people out walking the“ Magnificent Mile” of the City of Chicago would feel the pain and know that this
Fr. Denny Kinderman holds Korry Rogers’ cross
12 • The New Wine Press • February 2017