'God is blessing you': Emotions evident as St. Anne parishioners break ground for new church in New Castle

Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein and Franciscan Sister Shirley Gerth, parish life coordinator of St. Anne Parish in New Castle, break ground for the new $4.4 million church on March 29 with help from, left to right, St. Anne parishioner Jack Basler, building committee chair, back to camera; New Castle Mayor James Small; Michael Witka, director of risk management for the archdiocese; and Father Joseph Rautenberg, sacramental minister for the Henry County faith community. (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)

By Mary Ann Wyand

NEW CASTLE—Cold wind gusts and rain mixed with snow couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of St. Anne parishioners in New Castle on March 29 as they watched the long-awaited groundbreaking ceremony for their new $4.4 million church.

Several hundred parishioners and guests huddled together under umbrellas on the parish campus at 102 N. 19th St. as Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein blessed the site of the former St. Anne Church, which was destroyed in an arson fire on Holy Saturday, April 7, 2007.

For two years, St. Anne parishioners have worshiped in the basement of the Parish Life Center, which is the former school building.

“Just consider the rain and snow as tears of joy from God,” Archbishop Buechlein told the gathering at the start of the emotional prayer service.

“Today we break ground for a new house of the Lord that will be a gift that keeps on giving for many generations to come,” the archbishop said. “This long-awaited occasion is a sign of hope that is always present in our Church because of our faith. Although challenged by the circumstances of the dreadful fire of two Easters ago, your community of faith has carried on, and today I come to commend you for your perseverance.”

As many parishioners wiped tears from their eyes, Archbishop Buechlein explained that “St. Thomas Aquinas once remarked that everything is grace.”

As Catholics, he said, “we believe that, but sometimes it is hard to discover that grace in difficult times. Perhaps the most obvious grace that comes with the tragic fire of your venerable church building is the strength of your community through the trials and efforts to rebuild.

“I knew from that Easter Tuesday two years ago, when I came to see the devastation and to be with you for a while, that you would overcome the tragedy,” Archbishop Buechlein said. “Why did I know that? When I arrived, there were parishioners praying the rosary outside the [gutted church] building and I saw their faith.”

That day, the archbishop met with Franciscan Sister Shirley Gerth, parish life coordinator of St. Anne Parish and St. Rose Parish in Knightstown, as well as lay leaders of the Henry County faith community.

“God is blessing you and will continue to bless you,” Archbishop Buechlein said. “Today I come to say thank you, and to pray with you for the blessings we continue to need to finish the great work begun this afternoon.”

Sister Shirley quoted St. Francis of Assisi in her remarks.

“ ‘Most high, all powerful, good Lord,’ ” Sister Shirley said. “ ‘Praise, glory, honor and every blessing are yours.’ … Together we will continue to praise and bless the Lord, give him thanks and serve him with great humility.”

She also thanked New Castle Mayor James Small and community residents, who “have journeyed with us in our loss, our grief, our sorrow, and so how wonderful to have you with us today to share our excitement and our joy.”

Father Joseph Rautenberg, pastor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish in Cambridge City and sacramental minister for St. Anne and St. Rose parishes, and Father Stanley Herber, pastor of St. Gabriel Parish in Connersville and priest moderator for St. Anne and St. Rose parishes, also participated in the ceremony.

“It’s a hopeful time,” Father Rautenberg explained after the prayer service. “It’s also a time with sad memories from two years ago on Holy Saturday morning when the church was burning.

“Today is another transition, certainly more hopeful than the work of demolition and clearing the site,” he said. “Now we’ll begin to see progress for the new church building. It will be nice to have a church to worship in next year, … another [stained-glass] rose window, a new landmark, and hopefully a new center for the parish and the community.”

As she greeted guests during the reception, Sister Shirley said, “It didn’t make a difference what kind of weather we were having today because we have sunshine in our hearts. It’s such a joy to finally break ground for the new church.

“Again this year, we will celebrate Mass at 8 a.m. on Easter Sunday at Bundy Auditorium at New Castle High School,” she explained. “We should be in the new church in time for next Easter.”

Sister Shirley said construction work was scheduled to begin on March 30, much to the delight of parishioners and parish staff members.

“We have raised over $40,000 for furnishings for the church,” she said. “The cross that the corpus will be mounted on will be donated by our parish children.”

Eight-year-old Destiny Reece of New Castle said she misses going to Mass at St. Anne Church. She remembers praying in the old church, and is looking forward to watching the construction of the new church as she rides by the parish campus in a school bus twice every week day.

Despite the cold, rainy weather, Destiny and other children in the 260-household faith community were excited about the groundbreaking ceremony for their new church. They also were happy about the homemade cookies for the reception.

Sister Shirley said the children in the parish have worked hard to help raise funds for their new church, and have been an inspiration for adult parishioners.

Archbishop Buechlein thanked Destiny for raising $580 for her parish by selling pocket pouches for rosaries that she made with her grandmother, Vickie Reece.

Sister Shirley said her fundraising project is yet another example of how a new generation will carry on the Catholic faith in New Castle.

Parishioner Jack Basler, who chairs the building committee, enjoyed breaking ground for the new church with Archbishop Buechlein, Sister Shirley and Father Rautenberg.

“It’s been a long two years,” Basler said. “It’s taken a lot of work on the part of a lot of parishioners to get us to this point, but we are on schedule. Our goal is to keep the project on schedule so that we’re finished in time for Easter in 2010. We’ve had tremendous support from the parish, people in the community and people at the archdiocese to get us to this point. Without that, we wouldn’t have gotten this far.”

He said project architects Kevin Stuckwisch and Toby Winiger of Entheos Architects in Indianapolis, Brandt Construction employees in Indianapolis, and building committee members from the parish and the archdiocese worked hard to complete the construction plans for St. Anne Church.

“We tried our best to blend in some of the old with the new,” Basler said. “I think there will be plenty of remembrances of the old church so that people will be able to relate to that very well, and it will be nice to have all the modern conveniences.” †