By Andy Ostmeyer
aostmeyer@joplinglobe.com
LAMAR, Mo. — It was just a little more than a year ago that things were at their darkest for parishioners of St. Mary’s Catholic Church.
They learned on the morning of Feb. 8, 2009, that arson had destroyed their century-old stone church. Building a new church would take $1.2 million and insurance would cover close to $800,000 of that, leaving a $400,000 gap.
So parishioners set about raising money. Lenten fish fries. Chili cook-offs. Raffles. Whatever it took to build their way back, including pledges from the 90 or so families for whom the church was a spiritual home.
In the midst of those fundraisers, members of the Chicago-based Catholic Extension Society paid parish leaders a visit. They would be willing to provide money to match funds raised locally, according to Terry Riegel, president of the parish council.
“We’re just a small parish. We think maybe we can come up with $90,000 in pledges,” Riegel remembers telling the visitors.
With help from other churches, a Catholic school in the Missouri Bootheel and more, parishioners pushed that to more than $130,000, and just last week they learned that the Catholic Extension Society came through with a $150,000 “challenge grant” to help them rebuild. It is the largest single donation they have received so far.
That gift comes on the heels of another large surprise gift.
During a Lenten fundraiser last month, Father Justin Monaghan and some other members of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Joplin stopped in for fried fish and left behind a $10,000 check. The parish council at the Joplin church voted unanimously to provide the support.
“We just felt that they are our brothers and sisters and they had a tremendous tragedy and we needed to be there to lift them up,” Father Monaghan said last week.
All this has pushed the church to the $1.1 million mark. Riegel estimates they have another $75,000 to $100,000 to go, and other fundraisers are being discussed.
“At least it is not the $400,000 we were looking for in the beginning,” he said.
At the end of February, members of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Lamar broke ground for a new church. In the meantime, parishioners have been celebrating Mass in their parish center.
“This past year, the parishioners of St. Mary’s have lost their jobs, their income and their church, but not their faith,” Joseph Boland, grants director for the Catholic Extension Society, said in a statement. “Their story is reminiscent of the events of Holy Week ... a story of great sacrifice, loss and ultimately hope and resurrection.”
Catholic Extension
The Chicago-based Catholic Extension Society considers part of its mission “empowering Catholic communities by providing them funds to establish themselves, become self-sustaining, provide religious education and outreach ministries, build and renovate church buildings, and train the next generation of lay, religious and ordained Catholic leaders.”
Established in 1905, the society has given more than $500 million to communities across America.
