SPRING HILL, Tenn. (CNS) -- When General Motors filed the fourth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history June 1, the shock waves were immediately felt at production plants and dealerships across the country, as well as in parishes and around kitchen tables in middle Tennessee.

The 180 parishioners at St. Catherine Church in Columbia who are current or former GM employees were reacting to the news with anxiety and prayer, said pastor Father Davis Chackaleckel, a Missionary of St. Francis de Sales.

St. Catherine parishioner Linda Morales, a second-generation GM employee who retired last year after 30 years on the job, said the company has been good to her family. It's hard to see "the tall tower now flattened," she said, referring to company's stature.

Morales was not sure yet how much of a hit her pension might take by the bankruptcy reorganization, but "I may have to go get a job. I may be a Wal-Mart greeter, if that's available."

Watching the bankruptcy unfold has been an "eye-opener" for Morales. "You can't take anything for granted," she told the Tennessee Register, newspaper of the Diocese of Nashville.

But Morales, a grandmother of 16, remained upbeat. "I know the Lord's going to see us through," she said. She was hoping and praying they could stay put. "We love it here. This is our home."

Her husband, Rene, is a member of the United Auto Workers and an employee at the GM plant in Spring Hill, just north of Columbia, and needs about five more years before he can comfortably retire, but on June 26 GM announced it will close the plant.

Morales, who spoke to the Register a couple of weeks before the latest GM announcement, and others in the community were hopeful GM would choose the plant to produce a new compact car, but the company announced that car line will be manufactured in Lansing, Mich.

The Spring Hill plant, which has been sitting idle for several weeks, will go dark in November, and as many as 2,500 workers face termination. Many are expected to apply for early retirement or accept a buyout.

According to the Tennessean daily newspaper June 27, about 500 workers with the most seniority will continue to work on some jobs.

As it reorganizes, GM will cut approximately 21,000 jobs, about 34 percent of its workforce nationwide, and reduce the number of dealers by 2,600.

Like the Moraleses, Lee Swegles and his wife, Linda, moved to middle Tennessee to get in on the ground floor with a fresh new car company, Saturn.

Spring Hill was a Saturn plant from 1990 to 2007, when GM, the parent company of Saturn, retooled it for the production of other GM vehicles. In February 2008, it became the assembly point for the new Chevrolet Traverse, but this fall GM will shift production of the crossover vehicle to Lansing.

Lee, a member of the new parish in Spring Hill, Church of the Nativity, has been working at the Spring Hill plant as a repair technician for almost 20 years.

The Swegles have raised two children in the community, made good friends and love their quiet neighborhood. Linda recently found her "dream job" working at a pharmacy in Franklin. "We would hate to move," said Lee Swegles, "but you gotta do what you gotta do."

A second-generation GM employee and a member of the United Auto Workers for more than 20 years, Swegles said that he and his father "worked for everything we've got. ... Not everything has been handed to us."

Swegles, who also talked to the Register before GM's June 26 announcement, said he hoped to stick with GM until hitting the "magic number" of 30 years and retiring, and he wanted to remain in Spring Hill.

Just in case he would no longer have a job with GM, he had been taking some classes at a local technical college to learn to work on heating, ventilating and air conditioning, hoping new skills combined with his old skills would make him more marketable.

Father John Kirk, pastor of the Church of the Nativity, which is leasing temporary space in a new strip mall, said shutting down a plant affects an entire community.

"People don't have money to spend in businesses and restaurants," Father Kirk added. "Everyone suffers a little bit for it."

Times of financial upheaval can bring people back to the church, Father Kirk said, so they can "straighten out their lives with the Lord."

So far, there have not been many requests for financial or material help from the church, but "we'll respond as best we can as the need comes before us," Father Kirk said.

Copyright © 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops