St. Charles Parish in Milan has been like family for 100 years

Members of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Milan in the Batesville Deanery share a meal together on Aug. 23 after a Mass that celebrated the 100th anniversary of the parish’s founding. (Submitted photo)

By Sean Gallagher

For 100 years, St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Milan has been a family.

So when its members came together on Aug. 23 to celebrate their centennial with Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, they did what any ordinary Catholic family would do on such an occasion— they went to Mass then sat down together for a meal.

For the past few years, retired Father Francis Eckstein has lived at the Batesville Deanery parish and cared for the sacramental needs of its members.

“To me, they’re just ordinary folk,” Father Eckstein said. “There’s nothing high and mighty about them. I just feel comfortable in their midst. They’re very friendly.”

Parishioner Gerrie Driggers said members of the parish are more than just friendly. They’re also dependable in times when people really need help.

A year and a half ago, Driggers needed that help and support when John, her husband of 42 years, died.

“My parish has just been my whole backbone,” said Driggers, 63. “Had it not been for the parish, I don’t know what I would have done.”

The Driggers moved to Milan in 1974 from their original home in Cincinnati.

Driggers said during the late 1960s and early 1970s many families from Cincinnati moved into the area and joined the parish, which today consists of 165 households.

In contrast, Rita Ester, 71, a lifelong member of St. Charles, recalled growing up when the parish was about half its current size and made up of families that had lived in and around Milan for generations.

Because it has been a relatively small parish throughout its history, St. Charles has always had to share a priest with at least one other parish.

Over the years, St. Charles has shared a priest with St. Lawrence Parish in Lawrenceburg, St. John the Baptist Parish in Osgood, St. Anthony Parish in Milan and St. Pius Parish in Ripley County.

Currently, Father Gregory Bramlage is the pastor of St. Charles, although he lives at St. Nicholas Parish in Ripley County, where he is also pastor.

Ester said these ongoing relationships with other nearby parishes in the Batesville Deanery have strengthened the family nature of her parish.

“It makes us more compatible, congenial, considerate and more open to our neighbors,” Ester said. “We don’t all stay so secluded.”

One of the ways that St. Charles parishioners helped members of other parishes was at the nearby parish picnics and dinners.

Some 50 or 60 years ago that literally meant getting your hands dirty to help each other out.

“One family of the parish owned the slaughterhouse here,” Ester said. “And all the ladies would go down there and they’d dress those chickens. And then a lot of the men helped fry the chickens, and they’d get together and cut up their cabbage for the coleslaw. It was just a joint effort.”

Driggers recalled how later on she and her husband took over organizing St. Charles’ parish picnic and needed the help of the old-timers.

They were hesitant to help because of their age so she invited them to sit in the parish hall’s kitchen and give orders.

“God love them, they’d sit there and say, ‘Oh no. Don’t do it that way. Wait a minute. Stop. Do this. Do that,’ ” Driggers said. “And I was thrilled because they made my whole job a lot easier. And they were involved. It made them [feel] important, too.”

Helping each other out. Making someone else feel important. Steve Knecht, 40, said that is a hallmark of St. Charles Parish.

“The people here aren’t materialistic,” he said. “They look out for each other. They do not call attention to themselves. They step up and help each other. That’s the way it should be.”

Knecht has been a member of St. Charles Parish since 1999.

The family atmosphere in the parish became apparent to him soon after he began attending Mass.

“I noticed on Sunday mornings [when I first came to the parish], people are not in a rush to leave …,” Knecht said. “People tend to stay afterward and catch up with each other.”

Driggers talked about the deeply ingrained sense of family at St. Charles Parish when asked about what the faith community meant to her. But she was also quite blunt.

“What does the parish mean to me? Probably salvation at times,” she said. “[It has] the most marvelous people that I can just bear my burdens on and laugh with and cry with. I can share joys and sorrows with them.

“It’s so much like family.” †