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August 14, 2020MADILL – On April 22, parishioners at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Madill were looking forward to celebrating the first anniversary on May 4 of their beautiful new church and rectory when tragedy struck.
An EF2 tornado destroyed the rectory with Father Oby Zunmas hidden in a safe room. The storm also did extensive damage to the church, blowing out stained glass windows and doors and sheering away part of the roof.
For the past several months, the parish has been working on repairs. If everything goes as scheduled, the church will re-open by the end of September.
The church is made up of almost 350 families. Father Oby has been the pastor at Holy Cross for 14 years. He spent more than two years raising money for the church and the rectory.
Father Oby was one of eight children and came from Nigeria, where tornados are very rare. He now has seen two tornadoes in Oklahoma. His parishioners recommended he build a safe room in his rectory. He made it into the safe room within seconds of the tornado hitting his house. He was uninjured.
The church is built in the form of a cross and its windows have the Mysteries of the Rosary. Many windows were destroyed by the tornado. However, one item of note was an undamaged hanging glass portrait of Blessed Stanley Rother. Both windows on either side of the glass portrait were destroyed but, remarkably, no damage to Blessed Stanley’s portrait.
If anyone is building a home in tornado alley, “They need to consider having a safe place. It might be your closet. It might be your bathroom. It might be your safe room, which my safe room is my laundry room. I recommend that people think about not just a pretty home, but a home that is safe,” Father Oby said.
Father Oby has a number of future projects for the parish once the church and rectory repairs are finished and rebuilt.
“I have been working since I was 7 years old, with God’s grace, I am looking forward to eventually retiring and spending half of my time with family in Nigeria and continuing to work for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.”
Charles Albert is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.
