St. Maurice Parish in Decatur County celebrates 150 years
Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein prays the eucharistic prayer and is joined by several concelebrating priests during an Oct. 22 Mass at St. Maurice Church in Decatur County to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Batesville Deanery parish. (Submitted photo)
By Sean Gallagher
Today, St. Maurice Parish in Decatur County is a small faith community of 170 mostly farming families in the rolling hills of southeastern Indiana.
In many ways, it is not unlike many other similar parishes that make up the Batesville Deanery.
But this parish, which celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding earlier this year, could have easily been much different.
In the late 1850s, Bishop Maurice de St. Palais invited members of the Brothers of Christian Doctrine to come to the area to found a Catholic boys school and college seminary.
A church was soon built and named after St. Maurice to honor the bishop of Vincennes that had brought them there.
Within a few years, more brothers came from France to minister and teach there, and a growing number of students were being educated.
But the Civil War and the inability of the brothers to pay down debts they had incurred in establishing their ministry eventually forced them to abandon the project and leave the diocese in 1863.
The fact that the faith community of St. Maurice is not the home of a seminary forming future priests for the Church in central and southern Indiana doesn’t bother its current parishioners.
To them, it is a parish family that has and continues to nurture their faith and support them in times of need.
And it has also inspired priestly vocations.
Maryknoll Father Dennis Moorman grew up in St. Maurice Parish in the 1960s and 1970s. When he was a teenager, Benedictine Sisters Mary Cecile Deken and Mary Philip Seib, who ministered at the parish in the late 1970s, encouraged him to consider the priesthood.
“They kind of badgered me in some ways,” Father Moorman said. “They would say, ‘OK, Dennis, you know God has something special for you. Are you listening to God? Are you listening with both ears?’ ”
After graduating from Purdue University, he served for two years in the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso in Africa in the mid-1980s, which is where he said he began to discern a call to be a missionary priest.
“People from the parish were very supportive in that experience,” Father Moorman said. “They would send me care packages. They were praying for me. It was a really powerful experience of the people as the Body of Christ.”
He eventually joined the Maryknoll Fathers, and was ordained a priest in June 1998. Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein ordained him to the transitional diaconate at St. Maurice Church.
At that time, Father Moorman’s father, Donald, was battling cancer. He would die later that year.
Martha Moorman, 69, appreciated the way that her pastor at the time, Father Gregory Bramlage, and fellow parishioners of all ages supported her and her dying husband.
“They sort of took turns coming to give him Communion,” she said. “And the kids came to sing Christmas carols. That meant a lot to us.”
Lifelong parishioner Kay Schwering, 44, experienced the same support when she was 18 and one of her younger brothers was killed in an automobile accident.
“The whole faith community came together through prayer,” she said. “They helped us out whenever we needed it during that time. There were several of them that helped Mom and Dad through prayer and talking with them during that time.”
Schwering said she still appreciates the “family touch” of the parish.
“I like the way the parishioners after [Mass] will gather outside,” she said. “Even in the winter time, there’s a big group of people that will gather outside and just chitchat about everyday life.”
By volunteering for many years as a catechist and cantor, Martha Moorman contributed to creating the family atmosphere at St. Maurice.
“It was like a dream come true that I got to teach,” she said.
Schwering credited many of the parish’s catechists with building up her faith.
“Many people, through CCD classes or priests throughout the years, have [helped] me and made my faith grow,” Schwering said. “Even today, if you’re on a committee and you ask somebody to help you do something, they’re right there ready to help.”
According to Father George Joseph Nangachiveettil, who has led St. Maurice Parish for the past four years as its administrator, the parish family is growing as new families seeking a small faith community have joined in recent years.
But he added that the families that have a long history in the parish still form its core, and help keep up the family spirit that attracts newcomers.
“They’ve shared a lot of tough times,” said Father Nangachiveettil. “They know each other very well. Most of them are related to each other. [Many of the parishioners] have lived there for years and years. It’s a good group.” †
