Celebrating history, making history: St. Paul Parish in Tell City celebrates 150th anniversary during historic time
Members of St. Paul Parish in Tell City fill their parish church on Nov. 1 at the start of a Mass to celebrate the faith community’s 150th anniversary as Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, Bishop-designate Paul D. Etienne, St. Paul’s pastor, and other priests who have ministered at the parish process into the church. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)
By Sean Gallagher
TELL CITY—Parish anniversaries are ordinarily occasions to celebrate the history of a faith community.
In the days leading up to the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of St. Paul Parish in Tell City, history was instead being made.
On Oct. 19, members of the southern Indiana parish learned that their pastor, Father Paul D. Etienne, who is also a son of the parish, had been appointed the new bishop of Cheyenne, Wyo. (Related: Tell City Catholics react to pastor’s episcopal appointment | Photo gallery | Previous coverage)
Less than two weeks later, on Nov. 1, the parishioners gathered at the parish’s church with their pastor, other priests who have previously ministered there and Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein to celebrate the parish’s anniversary during a festive Mass on the Solemnity of All Saints.
When the pastor’s episcopal appointment was mentioned a couple of times during the Mass, parishioners applauded loudly. Yet
Bishop-designate Etienne kept the focus on the parish during his homily.
“This parish, and every parish, exists to sanctify us, to make us holy,” said Bishop-designate Etienne after noting how it is fitting to celebrate a parish anniversary on All Saints Day.
“It’s a great reminder to us that that’s the desire of our heart, hopefully, to begin every day, to lead lives that are holy and pleasing to God.”
He asked those present to consider that deceased members of the parish and priests and religious who ministered there might now be saints in heaven.
“Just think of the many people over these 150 years, kind of like a procession of the saints in the heavenly banquet, who have processed in and out of these doors and in and out of the other church buildings that existed here before this one,” Bishop-designate Etienne said, “coming to give praise and thanks to God, coming to encounter the living God in the person of Jesus Christ, coming to be incorporated into the very life of Christ and to carry him again out into this local community of Tell City and Perry County.”
Joan Conner, 78, a lifetime member of the parish, has witnessed such “processions” for more than half its history.
“It’s been our life,” she said in an interview prior to the Nov. 1 Mass. “We’ve always been a part of our parish and everything that has taken place in our parish.”
Over the course of her nearly eight decades at St. Paul, Conner has seen good and bad times for her fellow parishioners. She recalled when, in 1937, the nearby Ohio River flooded parts of Tell City, including her home across the street from the parish.
“I was 6 years old,” Conner said. “We lived right across the street from St. Paul’s. We had to take a boat up Main Street to the city hall to get our shots [to prevent the spreading of diseases during the flooding]. In our home, the water was up to our ceiling on our [first floor], so we were living in our upstairs with three other families until the water went down.”
In the face of the natural disasters and economic hard times to hit Tell City and Perry County over the years, the faith of Conner and fellow parishioners was strengthened to such an extent that she and other parents her age were able to pass it on to their children.
She recalled how Father William Munshower, who served as the assistant pastor of St. Paul Parish from 1958-63, helped in this process by establishing a Christian Family Movement group in the parish, thus helping many young families, including her own, to form their children’s faith. Bishop-designate Etienne grew up in one of those families.
“It played a very important part in our lives [through] everything that we learned, the things that we talked about,” Conner said. “I don’t think I realized until after the fact what an important part that that had played in our lives over the years, what we had learned and discussed.”
Conner and her husband, Bill, passed the faith on to their children in the 1950s and 1960s.
Tony Hollinden, 53, did it more recently with his sons, including Chris Hollinden, 27, who, along with his father, assists in music ministry at St. Paul.
“This is my house,” Tony said referring to the parish church. “I sell real estate. I sell houses to everybody. This is the one house that I’ve always had that’s had the continuity that’s been a part of my life. … My kids are now growing up. They’re planning the baptisms for their kids.”
Chris Hollinden echoed his father’s sentiments.
“[The parish] is our rock,” he said. “It’s our weekly gathering, not just with the Church and with God, but also with family and friends. It’s just a nice experience for everybody to get together on Sunday morning.”
He is confident that the parish will continue to provide a firm foundation for today’s young families to pass on the faith to their children, including his own.
“It’s a nice, loving place,” Chris said. “We’ve got great people here, great leadership. It drives and leads people my age to where we should be.”
Toward the end of his homily, Bishop-designate Etienne, who became pastor of St. Paul Parish in July, challenged his parishioners to continue to value the sacraments that are celebrated in the parish, sacraments that give them the power to show Christ to others in their daily lives.
“If that incarnation of Christ is not continuing in you and in me through the celebration of the sacraments here each day, then we ought to tear this place down because it’s not accomplishing the work and purpose of God,” he said.
“I’m glad to tell you that, in my few months here as your pastor, I believe it is accomplishing this work and purpose. God’s will is being sought by many.”
At the end of the anniversary Mass, Archbishop Buechlein, his voice filled with emotion, spoke of God’s will in the life of Bishop-designate Etienne, St. Paul Parish and the archdiocese as a whole.
“We’ve all heard of sacrificial giving,” the archbishop said. “Our parish, our archdiocese, gives one of our best to Wyoming.” †
