RATCLIFF — When Bishop Anthony B. Taylor anointed the new altar at St. Anthony Church with sacred chrism at a dedication Mass May 30, he consecrated a small, vibrant parish’s labor of love.
The church’s new sanctuary is almost all parishioner-built. The sanctuary was painted by Earl Almond. Parishioner Debbie Hardwick painted the gold background behind the statues. The Kenny and Jim Stengel families built the altar and all the furniture. Kathy Caffey sewed the altar cloths. Other parishioners spent hours removing the old floor, fixing walls, hanging lights and moving the cross. Throughout the eight-month construction process, parishioners stopped and cleaned every week so that Mass could be celebrated each Sunday.
“The total cost of the renovation was about $25,000,” Deacon Robert Cowie, parish administrator, said. “This money was donated by members of the parish and we did not have to touch any savings to make these changes.”
Even the planning was a collaborative process. In February 2008 George Hoelzeman, a liturgical artist and member of St. Mary Church in Saint Vincent, conducted a series of liturgical workshops for the parish. At the conclusion of the series, Hoelzeman asked parishioners to make drawings of their ideal sanctuary. He took the drawings and used them to frame an overall design suggestion to make the sanctuary more beautiful and more conducive to liturgy.
“St. Anthony’s is a ’well-constructed and beautiful’ church,” Hoelzeman wrote to parishioners, “which is proven by your faithful dedication and many vocations. The beauty of your newly renovated church reflects the beauty of your community.”
The parish welcomed Bishop Taylor, the first bishop to visit St. Anthony Church in 30 years, with pews filled with current and past parishioners and a choir loft of singers, guitar players, an organist, trumpeter and flautist. The Mass was concelebrated by Abbott Jerome Kodell, OSB; Fathers Mark Stengel, Eugene Luke and Bruno Fuhrmann, OSB; and Father Don Tranel, GHM, the parish’s sacramental minister. Cowie assisted in the liturgy.
In his homily, Bishop Taylor told parishioners, only partially in jest, that if the 50-family congregation received one more vocation they would have more vocations per capita than any other parish in the diocese.
St. Anthony Church, established in 1879 with an 80-acre and $400 donation from the railroad company, was staffed by Benedictine priests until 2007. The small parish operated a school, staffed by Benedictine sisters, from 1891 until 1960. There have been four vocations in the parish’s 131-year history. Sister Mary Josepha Wilhelm, OSB, who died in 1907, was a member of St. Scholastica Monastery. Sister Mary Palarino, OSB, is a member of Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kan., and a clinical social worker. Father Mark Stengel, OSB, entered Subiaco Abbey in 1964 and was ordained in 1972. He currently is the editor of the Abbey Message.
Deacon Josh Stengel will be ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Little Rock at Subiaco Abbey on July 17 and will celebrate his first Mass on the altar built by his family July 18.
The dedication began with the placement of the Book of Gospels on the altar. Bishop Taylor sprinkled the altar and the congregation with baptismal water. Following the profession of faith, he led the congregation in the Litany of the Saints and recited the prayer of dedication. He poured sacred chrism on the center and all four corners of the altar and rubbed the chrism into the altar. He placed a brazier of incense on the altar. After the incensing, the altar was covered with altar cloths and candles were lighted. The celebration of the Eucharist completed the dedication.
Father Tranel told the parishioners, “Your sweat equity, sacrificial love and generosity demonstrate the great love you have for your Catholic faith, as well as your future commitment to share this precious gift of faith in a spirit of welcoming hospitality.”
Following Mass, the parish prepared a barbecue luncheon, triple layer cakes and homemade pies for visitors and presented a basket of homemade goodies to Bishop Taylor.
The congregation ended its celebration at Cowie Wine Cellar in Carbon City, where Bishop Taylor blessed Cowie’s bell collection. When Cowie founded the winery in 1967 on the grounds of the former St. Anne School, he built a small chapel on the grounds to thank and honor God. In 2008, with his seven children grown, he built a more substantial chapel with 5-by-7 stained-glass windows and pews to seat 40. He initially planned on buying seven bells, one for each of his children, but the number increased to more than 20, seated in one large and two small towers.
