St. Joseph Centennial Celebration

It's been a place of worship through sorrows and joys for 100 years and this coming weekend, parishioners at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Rowena will celebrate the history of their church. Nicole Sanchez has more.
 
It's been a union that has linked the community of families at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Rowena for a century.

"We came to church here our entire life, we were baptized, first communion, confirmation and we were married here," says Church Member, Tony Multer.

"I've been a member here all my life. My Dad was a member of it, my Grandparents started here in 1910, my Dad was a very active member, and my Mother too was active in the church and the choir, and everything they set by example, you know how we should act and what we should do," Church Member, Pat Vancil says.

Lifetime members Multer and Vancil are following the steps of their ancestors by acting as co-chairman's of the Centennial Celebration of St. Joseph Church. They along with several other parishioners are preparing to honor this gathering place of worship's years as an establishment.

"November 1907 they had the Church built, and the first mass was in 1907 and it happened to be a wedding, and that's how it all started," Vancil says.

The original church started with 13 families in 1907 and by 1923 it had grown to 130 families and as a result there was a need of a larger place of worship.

Multer says, "In 1923 they built this Church and it's been the rock of the community since."

This weekends celebrations includes everything from a mass at the cemetery in honor of the early parishioners to a parade through the streets of Rowena.

Multer along with his family made over 500 crosses for the Church members, that represent the wood that once held the original Church.

"We were very surprised that it worked very well, and there was a spirit that was coming a general spirit of probably of community and heritage," Multer says.

A spirit that the citizens from the past to the present of Rowena have keeped alive for the Church to celebrate this anniversary.

"I can't say it enough, its the faith, that keeps them together in the good times and the bad times. Two wars, three wars, and then the droughts. When the agriculture depends on rain, and it depends on the church at the same time, you always come back to the church, go back to your faith, it's an anchor," Vancil says.


The activities begin at the cemetery this Saturday morning at 7:30 A.M. and finish up Sunday afternoon with a lunch at the Church Hall. For more information you can phone either 365-2966 or 442-2034.