Positivity: St. Wendelin Parish celebrates 150 years
The church is near Fostoria, OH, and has been a positive presence for a century and a half:
St. Wendelin Parish celebrates 150 years
German traditions still present in proud community
By Mary KnapkeST. MARYS DEANERY - Parishioners who worship at St. Wendelin Church in the northern part of the archdiocese are reminded daily of their history as they celebrate their 150th year.
The present church, with 68 families and 255 members, dates to 1870. Its eight-stop pipe organ, which was installed in 1908, still provides music. The Stations of the Cross, with inscriptions written in German below each station, were given in 1915, and donated bells installed the following year are rung by hand before Mass, at 6 p.m. on Saturdays and before weddings and funerals. Last year, there were four baptisms, three first communions and four weddings.
Four daughters and seven sons of the parish entered religious life. And for the past 150 years, Missionaries of the Precious Blood have ministered to the faithful.
“We have a wonderful parish and community spirit at St. Wendelin,” said Missionaries of the Precious Blood Father Larry Wyen, pastor of the five churches in the St. Henry Cluster in the St. Marys Deanery. “It’s a very warm parish that takes a lot of pride in (its) heritage.”
A banner that hangs from the choir loft features a drawing of the church, the outline of each parishioner’s hand and the theme of the anniversary year, “Many Hands Together Have Built Our Church Family.” The banner is symbolic of the many hands that organized celebratory events that began in January, including a silent auction, children’s Way of the Cross, Easter egg hunt, May crowning, parish picnic, ice cream social and living rosary, culminating with the celebratory Mass, at which Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk was the main celebrant.
In his homily, the archbishop addressed the “implications and ramifications for every facet of our life” when Christians acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah.
First, as individuals, “we must have Jesus at the very center of our lives,” the archbishop said. Christians must also remember that belief in Christ goes hand-in-hand with connecting with a community of believers, that faith implies suffering and that Christians are called to action in support of the poor and oppressed.
“Acknowledging the lordship of Jesus, then, is a pretty heavy thing,” Archbishop Pilarczyk said. “It implies centering Christ in our lives . . . active participation in the church . . . effort and even suffering. And it implies obligation to witness to the world at every point in which we come into contact with that world.”
In relation to St. Wendelin’s anniversary, the archbishop said, the implications of acknowledging the lordship of Jesus extend to the parish community as a whole. A parish must see itself as part of the worldwide church community; parish life calls for constant effort and suffering in order to succeed and thrive; and parish life has to bear fruit in the service of others.
“What we are aiming for in the life of a parish is a flowering of the lordship of Jesus in the hearts of these particular people in this particular parish,” he said.
“I’m glad and grateful for the life of the Lord that has been growing in this part of our diocese for 150 years,” he said. “The Lord has been in our midst here for many years and in many ways. The Lord is present and active here now. For all that, we offer God our thanks.”
Helping the archbishop were members of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, including Father Wyen; Father Tony Fortman, associate pastor; Father Angelo Anthony, provincial director of the Missionaries’ Cincinnati province; Father Linus Evers, a native son of the parish; and former pastors, Fathers Matthew Jozefiak, Milton Ballor, David Hoying and Robert Reinhart. Following the Mass, a dinner was held at the St. Henry American Legion Hall. Parish afghans and history books are available for purchase through the parish office.“The archbishop was very open and kind in his presence and in interacting with the parishioners, and they were very appreciative of that,” said Father Wyen.
St. Wendelin Parish was founded in 1856 when nine pioneer members secured permission from Archbishop John Baptist Purcell and nearby pastors to start a church. They pooled their money to purchase five acres of land with an unfinished frame building for $200. A general store was on the first floor and the second story redesigned as a mission church. St. Wendelin, a popular saint in central Europe, was chosen as the parish’s patron. During that time, a Precious Blood priest visited every four weeks.
