“This … is … America,” my mother’s elderly cousin Barbara exclaimed.
Mom had brought her from her suburban Chicago home to attend Mass with me here at St. Patrick’s in Dixon.
It was autumn. As we drove down to the River’s Edge Inn for lunch after Mass, she looked out at the classic stately homes and at the local businesses, surrounded by the red, yellow and orange hues of changing leaves, all of it gently leading down to the mighty Rock River.
It was here that cousin Barbara exclaimed, “This is America! This is what the rest of our country is supposed to be!”
You see, I have been here only two years, so I thought I would share with you my first impressions of our wonderful region.
Oh, right. Sorry. I should make an introduction, shouldn’t I? Yes. My name is Father John Evans. I am a Roman Catholic priest of our Diocese of Rockford, which includes 11 counties, all in northern Illinois, including our own Lee and Whiteside.
I grew up an only child raised by a single mother, who worked for a hotel company and was frequently promoted, so I have seen my fair share of moving around. As one who attended grade school in two different places, high school in another, college in another, and seminary in yet another, it fascinates me to meet people here whose great-great-grandparents started the family business and/or farm!
One of our flock proudly told me that she can claim an ancestor who hosted a “station” in the Underground Railroad, and a year ago, I was able to meet a woman who remembers riding to school in a horse-drawn bus.
People here in the Sauk Valley are kind, intelligent and forthright. They know the purpose of their lives, and they know that family and friends will be there for them always, so they return the favor. These are just some of the many reasons I hope to be able to stay here for a decade at least.
Having lived here only two years now, I have developed a theory. Feel free to challenge me on this. It is not insignificant that a president who was instrumental in ending the Cold War grew up in this part of the country.
My college years were spent in Washington, D.C. Friends told me that the FBI agents who want to be able to detect counterfeit money do not study counterfeit money. They study real money and know it so well that they can recognize what’s fake.
President Ronald Reagan grew up in a place that values local businesses, farms and families, a place where people work hard and help those unable to work, a place where community is tight knit, but not so tight knit as to be unwelcoming.
He knew the “real money” that is the Sauk Valley. So when he learned about communism, he was able to see it for the counterfeit that it is/was, to stand up to it and, ultimately, to be a help toward its demise.
When my fellow priests ask me what life is like here in the Sauk Valley, I always tell them, “It’s wonderful! We are big enough that we have theaters (both movie and the older kind) and a junior college (Go SVCC!!), and small enough that people ask me to bless their crops both before planting and after the harvest!”
Jesus would have gladly called the people here “the salt of the earth.”
My brothers and sisters in Christ, and all people of good will, please keep being the “real money” that you are!
The Rev. John R. Evans is the pastor of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Dixon.