Celebrating 25 years of our New Building February 14, 2021
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25th Anniversary Mass of the Dedication of our Church Building......
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A moment in our parish history: For the first 43 years of St. Catherine Laboure Mission/Parish Mass was held in the Concord Opera House church which was built in 1900. It was purchased and renovated to become the temporary home for the newly formed church. St. Catherine was established as a mission parish of Queen of the Miraculous Medal Church in Jackson. It was served by the Vincentian priests. The first Mass was celebrated at the Opera House church on May 3, 1953 and the Dedication Mass was celebrated by the Most Reverend Joseph Albers on May 16, 1954. The Opera House was donated back to the Village of Concord after the new church was completed in 1996. The last Mass in the Opera House church was January 7, 1996. This Mass was followed by a procession to the new church for an open house for the parishioners. The first Masses celebrated in the new church on Harmon Avenue took place on the weekend of January 13/14,1996. A community wide open house was held on Sunday February 14, 1996. On Sunday February 18, 1996, the Most Reverend Carl F. Mengeling celebrated the solemn rites of the dedication of a church and consecration of an altar. On Sunday February 14th, 2021 we will mark the 25th anniversary of the solemn dedication of our church at the 10:30 a.m. Mass. More to come…..
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New Crucifix and Consecration Candles in time for our Celebration...
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Consecration Candles
When a new church is built the walls are anointed with holy Chrism oil. This means that the building is consecrated solely to God for the purpose of divine worship. The spots of the sacred anointing are usually highlighted with a cross. In our church there are 4 crosses, 2 on the west and 2 on the east walls of the church marking the spots of consecration. In order to highlight these sacred places wall sconces and candles have been installed at the base of each cross. These candles will be lit for the great feasts of the church and on the anniversary of the consecration of our church. The sconces were fashioned by Jim Legault out of walnut. The brass fittings, candle followers, and glass draft protectors were a gift of an anonymous donor. May the addition of these consecration candles remind us of the sacredness of our parish church.
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New Crucifix
In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the building of our church, a new crucifix has been installed in the sanctuary. The new crucifix is a gift of Jim Legault and Fr. Tim. Jim donated the beautiful walnut for the cross and fashioned it as well. Jim painted an accent of gold in the routed out sections of the base cross. Jim mounted the corpus and installed it. The corpus was an anniversary gift to the parish from your pastor. The former crucifix will be moved to the Blessed Sacrament chapel once a new base is fashioned for it. May this new crucifix help us to draw closer to Jesus Christ crucified our Savior and Lord.
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Shrine is Completed!!
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Prayer to St. Catherine
Saint Catherine Laboure, the Blessed Virgin Mary chose you to give to the world the gift of the Miraculous Medal. Despite the obstacles you had to overcome, you generously carried out the work Mary gave you to do. The rays of light shining from Our Lady's image represent the many graces that God bestows on those who dare to ask for them. With confidence and love I ask you to intercede for my paticular request. (mention it). Pray for me that I may obtain the gift of deep faith, hope and charity. Amen
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Shrine Costs Funded by 5 donations!!
St. Catherine Laboure Shrine Update - We received one more donation for the St. Catherine Shrine in the amount of $1,600. This will cover the entire costs for our Shrine to be completed with no cost to the parish! As reported earlier the cost for our new Shrine will be $2,500: $1,300 to have the statue repaired, stripped and repainted and $1,200 for the electrical work done to have a light installed. To date donations: 5 donations totalling $2,500
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St. Catherine Laboure Devotional Shrine has begun watch the progress.....
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Restoration to Begin on our Beloved St. Catherine statue
The statute of our beloved patron saint is going to be sent away for some repairs to the cap of her religious habit and repainting. The statue will be removed sometime in late March and will be gone for 4-6 weeks. The statue of St. Catherine will eventually be placed in a new devotional shrine for our private prayer and devotion. Jim Legault has agreed to build the new shrine in the fashion of the other two devotion shrines in the church. It will be located on the south wall of the church. I have had a few parishioners tell me that they thought that it was a great idea and were willing to donate funds if needed. There will be a cost to refurbish the St. Catherine statue and some electrical work that will need to be done in order to relocate an outlet and to install a spot light and switch. I will let you know what the cost will be and if anyone is interested in donating to the new shrine please let me know. Fr. Tim
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History of our Church by Sharon Zakrzewski
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1995 Ground Breaking - by Sharon Zakrzewski - Issue #2
Walking with God through Transition"
On April 2, 1995 we had our groundbreaking for our new Church. WE celebrated Mass at 10am in the old church. We then followed in a motorcade to the church property on Harmon Avenue in Concord.
Special invitations were sent to Fr. Rich McLernan, Fr. Peter Dougherty and Fr. Edward O'Grady as well as to village dignitaries. Also representatives from Wagner-Flook Builders and Siler Associate Architects were invited.
Taking part in the ceremony were building steering committee members: John Rochow -Chair, Dick Dobbins - Attorney, Jim Legault and Dave Zakrzewski - construction managers.
It was a bright, sunny and very cold day, but we were filled with hope. Joyce Rochow, our Director of Religious Education, organized a balloon launching for the children. There was a postcard attached to each balloon with our name and address. We received about 5 cards back to us. Hot dogs and drinks were served to everyone.More details to come....
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Planning for 25th Anniversary of Our Church Building
Throughout the year of 1995 our parish church and complex were being constructed. The first Mass in the new church was celebrated on January 13, 1996. The new church was consecrated by Bishop Carl F. Mengeling on February 18, 1996. To commemorate this important time in the history of our parish I have invited Sharon Zakrzewski to periodically share with us events as they were unfolding 25 years ago. This will lead up to a parish celebration on Sunday, February 14, 2021 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the consecration of our church. I am planning on inviting Bishop Mengeling to celebrate the anniversary Mass (if he is still with us, if not him then Bishop Boyea). It would be nice if we could finally have the cupola repaired and the church interior repainted before this anniversary event. I am proposing an idea to the parish: I would like to add a permanent devotional shrine to honor St. Catherine Laboure in the main church. It would be modeled after the 2 existing shrines and located on the south wall of the church to the right of the first Station of the Cross. The statue of St. Catherine would be placed there. This would allow us to draw closer to St. Catherine, who is the patron saint of our parish. Let me know what you think of this idea. If there are any parishioners who were on the building committee at that time and would like to brainstorm about how we can commemorate the 25th anniversary please let me know. We might want to form an anniversary committee to plan a reception after the Mass on February 14, 2021. Fr. Tim
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