Page 8 University Daily Kansan, February 11, 1981
Organizations try to save St. Peter's Catholic Church
BIG SPRINGS- Pack rats and dust balls are the only disciples left at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Big Springs since last rites were performed on the church in 1969.
A shortage of priests and a solvent financial base apparently were contributing factors in the termination of the parish, but the exact nature never quite clear to former St. Peter's faithful.
Although they have resigned themselves to life without local worship services, Bill and Marcella Anderson are still trying to preserve, if not resurrect, their church.
"We're in limbo over this thing," Marcella said last week as she opened the doors to the antique white framed church.
"The bishop said if we got a priest we could have Mass again," she said. "Well, we lined up a priest but the church stayed closed."
IT IS CLOSED to everyone but the vandals who visit regularly and invariably break or destroy something inside the church.
"We came in one time and found a dead cat that someone had dragged in off of the highway and placed at the feet of the statue of St. Peter," Marcella said. "It's really a shame that people would do that kind of thing in a church."
AS she spoke she gathered scattered vestments in the sacriety of the small church. Vandals recently had broken one of the stained windows that colorfully illuminate the building.
They had also impiously ransacked ceremonial clothing stored in the church by hopeful parishioners—hopeful that someday they would return and the garments would be needed.
"We had a really close parish. I mean, everyone was close," Marcella said. "Then the archbishop closed down our church and everyone scattered."
The congregation no longer meets for Sunday services, but parishioners have united in an effort to get their church listed on the National Register of Historical Places.
They realize the chances are slim that Mass will ever be celebrated at St. Peter's again, so they have formed a church preservation organization instead.
MARCELLA'S HUSBAND, Bill, said the group had raised money through donations and had met every year to discuss the status of the church and make strategy.
A local Protestant organization has also donated money and volunteered help in restoring the church and getting it placed on the register.
“Everyone has helped,” Bill said. “Some of the parish got together last summer and we painted the south side of the church. We’re going to our own, the diocese hasn’t helped us at all.”
The archdiocese of Leavenworth, which includes Big Springs, is governed by Archbishop Ignatius J. Strecker. Strecker has unavailable for comment, but Monsignor William T. Curtin, Chancelor of the diocese, said that a shortage of priests in the past 15 years had caused several churches, besides Big Springs' St. Peter's, to be closed.
"The Catholic population in the archdiocese has increased but the number of priests has not, proportionately." Curtin said this week. "It means that many young men entering the priesthood."
Curtin said the diocese had not been contacted about the attempt to get St. Peter's on the register, but he did speculate that it was possible the church would be reopened in the near future.
The parish got its start in Lecompte in 1854, the same year Kansas was recognized as a territory. It moved to Big Springs, a town 18 miles west of Lawrence on Highway 40, in the 1870s. The present building replaced the original church in 1905 after it had burned.
THE NEW CHURCH, which cost $3,390, is the epitome of the "small town" church, with its simple design, small bell tower and choir loft and rows of pews. Its age is beginning to show, however, and Bill said the roof had to be replaced if the building was to be saved.
But the Andersons are not completely discouraged. Like many of the other families, they have three and four generations of relatives buried in the St. Peter's Cemetery to the church ground. Their roots run too deep in the church history for them to just give up.
"You know, it's kind of funny," he said. "Our church was one of the few churches that was not in debt when it was closed. I always said that if we were in debt we'd still be open because the bishop wouldn't have wanted to take over a debt."
They have faith. When the church closed, the parish had an auction and members bought most of the furnishings in the church. The organ, the stations of the cross, statues and columns were sold under an agreement requiring their return if the church ever re-opened.
"We had a really active parish going" church out from under us I will never understand.
Time-worn prayer books are stacked and scattered throughout the old St. Peter's Catholic Church. The books may never be used again but former parishioners might hope, and the books remain in the church.
The pews are empty now, and the statues around the altar stand unordered and forgotten in the closed-door church. Vandals are about the only visitors at the chapel.
Photos by Rob Poole
Story by Bill Vogrin
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