St. Catherine Parishioner Thanks Her Young ‘Guardian Angels’

OAK LAWN, IL -- An Oak Lawn woman credits two “guardian angels” from St. Catherine of Alexandria School with saving herself and others from serious injury after experiencing a mishap with her car last month.

Claire Bergnach was leaving her house to do some shopping on Dec. 21 just as St. Catherine students were leaving school for Christmas vacation. As Claire started her car, she realized she forgot something in the house. Claire opened the car door, put one leg out of the car, and thought she put the car in park. Unfortunately, the car was still in neutral.

What happened next could have been a tragedy. Claire’s car proceeded to slid down the driveway, with her one leg outside the car. Claire knew she was in trouble, so she immediately screamed for help. Along came her first guardian angel, St. Catherine eighth-grader Matt Buschman. Matt put Claire’s car in park, and called sixth-grader Joshua Torres -- the second guardian angel -- to come and assist. The two young men proceeded to help Claire up and into her home. Had they not come along when they did, the incident could have been much more serious.

Last Friday, Jan. 11, Claire’s two “guardian angels” were recognized at the 8 a.m. school Mass at St. Catherine’s. Claire spoke to the student body after Mass about guardian angels and how lucky she was that Matt and Joshua had been there to help her. She talked about acts of kindness and how we could all be each other’s “guardian angels.” What an awesome way to start the new year.