Missionaries ride out storm in Belize

The Rev. Chris Glancy has experienced a few tropical storms during his nine years in Belize, but never anything quite as devastating as Hurricane Dean.

"Driving through some of the villages today, it just looked like someone took a buzzsaw to the streets," the Viatorian priest said via telephone. "There are fallen trees all over the place, downed power lines and a lot of debris."

Glancy spoke Tuesday night from the rectory of St. Francis Xavier Church in Corazol, part of a district of more than 20 towns.

Since 1998, the Arlington Heights-based order has run a mission in the district which includes St. Francis Xavier, 23 village churches and 19 schools.

A Moline native, Glancy taught religion, mathematics and social studies at St. Viator High School during the 1980s. He is one of 14 members currently serving in Corazol.

The hurricane hit Corazol late Monday night. "We had the first downpour late (Monday) afternoon, and started to get some really strong winds around 9 or 10 p.m.," he said.

When the windows were blown out of the church a few hours later, Glancy and the two other priests who live at the parish retreated to another rectory farther from the sea.

"We stayed … up the hill; that got us out of the floodplain of the sea," he said.

Villagers displaced from their homes sought refuge in 15 of the Viatorian schools, which double as hurricane shelters. These shelters, at capacity Monday night, "will have many staying on for a day or two more," Glancy said.

Xaibe Roman Catholic School, in the village of Xaibe, had the roof blown off of one of its three classroom buildings.

"School starts Sept. 3," Glancy said. "We're going to need to figure out a way to fix that classroom before then."

The mission's priorities in the coming weeks will be twofold: getting more residents back into their homes, and getting the schools ready on time. "The schools are going to take a lot of work," Glancy said.

Donations of school supplies, roofing materials and money are desperately needed.

"A lot of families are going to be strapped for books and pencils and paper. Their savings for those things is now going to patching up their homes," he said.