Archbishop Vlazny helps Sweet Home’s Saint Helen’s parish celebrate 50th year

Alex Paul

For the Sentinel

Sweet Home, Ore.–It isn’t a big church, nor is it ornate but for the 150 families who worship each week at St. Helen’s Catholic church in Sweet Home, it is a welcoming place, filled with parishioners who care about one another, their community of 8,200 and about serving God.

September 13, St. Helen’s gathered all ages, from octogenarians who were among the founding parishioners to toddlers, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the church.

Archbishop John Vlazny celebrated Mass with resident priest the Rev. Father Andrew Harris, O.M.I., and noted that the celebration occurred fittingly on the Feast of the Holy Cross. This day commemorates St. Helen’s quest to locate the cross of Jesus in the fourth century.

Before Mass, several dozen persons filled the church to reminisce about the early years of the church through a program emceed by Bob Pascalar. Photo exhibits of baptisms, marriages, confirmations and parties in the church hall helped jog memories.

Traveling priests visited the Sweet Home area from the turn of the century, often saying Mass on a flat bed trailer in area barnyards, according to local historian Martha Steinbacher.

The first resident Mass was said here on September 25, 1949 by Rev. Carl Wachter, resident priest at St. Edward’s church in nearby Lebanon.

For four years, Mass was celebrated in Milburn Hall, a dance hall on the second floor of a downtown business.

Founding church members had vivid memories of moving tables and chairs before and after each Mass.

Mary Sheena (whose parents were founding members) told the tale of petrified parents who, while busy moving chairs, failed to notice their child’s baby buggy rolling down the steep stairway. Although the parents were panicked, the baby was pronounced fine–except for a small scratch on one ear– after a checkup by a local doctor.

Founding parishioner Mary Ripley noted, “We were thrilled when we first built the church. Then the rains came and flooded the basement. We all brought mops and brooms. I remember we held a lot of card parties to help pay for the church.”

Another founding parishioner, Mickey Ponzoha, recounted painting the church basement walls, while the concrete was still wet, the night before the first wedding reception was to be held there.

Mike Melcher said he recalled celebrating his first communion in Milburn Hall. “I remember they served us a big breakfast that morning,” he laughed.

In the early 1990s, parish volunteers, much as they had in 1953, banded together to remodel the church, to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements and add a much-needed church hall.

Melcher was a key person in that remodeling and noted, “Building the church hall was the most wonderful experience a volunteer could have. I have learned, after traveling south in the winter in recent years, what a parish family really is and what that really means. We have one here.”

Parishioners were treated to a musical duet of “The Prayer” by Gert Black and Erma Pascalar sung in both English and Italian. The ladies were accompanied on piano by Lin Gagner.

“St. Helen’s is such a unique, special, friendly, warm place…there is nothing like St. Helen’s,” Mrs. Black said. “It makes you want to grow old and stay here.”

In addition to celebrating the anniversary of the church, Archbishop Vlazny pointed out that Rev. Father Harris celebrated his 50th year of ordination in Ireland earlier this year. In his honor, 50 parish families offered a spiritual rosary for their beloved pastor, who received two long rounds of applause throughout the celebration.

Archbishop Vlazny and Father Harris were joined by Rev. Father David Ullrich O.M.I. (who served the parish in the mid-1980s and now serves in Washington, D.C.); Father Paul Maher O.M.I. of Lebanon, Father Kevin O’Conor O.M.I. of Scio and Deacon Robert Malone of Sweet Home in celebration of the Mass.

St. Helen’s was constructed on a budget of less than $50,000. Some $5,000 of that amount came from a grant from the Catholic Extension Society.

Archbishop Vlazny, who grew up in Chicago, Ill., said he vividly remembers his parents contributing to C.E.S. at this time.

“So, it’s quite possible we have a link,” the archbishop said.

Tying in the Feast of the Holy Cross and the church’s patron Saint Helen, the archbishop’s sermon was that it is during the most trying times we draw nearer to God. That is when we must bear our crosses, just as Jesus Christ bore his cross for the salvation of the world because he loved us.

“He loves each and every one of us and has called us together to proclaim that love to the whole world,” Archbishop Vlazny said.

Following Mass, the parish shared a dinner of roast beef and chicken prepared and served by parishioners from Our Lady of Lourdes church in Jordan, Ore.

Youngsters weren’t left out of the festivities, enjoying a multitude of games, story telling and snow cones held throughout the afternoon on the rectory lawn.

Mass is celebrated at St. Helen’s at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Sunday. Mass is celebrated on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at Holy Trinity Church in Brownsville, a mission served by St. Helen’s.

Rev. Father Andrew Harris O.M.I. has served St. Helens and Holy Trinity parishes for 12 years.

History of St. Helen’s church

Compiled by the celebration committee

Early records show that Catholic missionaries came to Linn county around 1839. The first documents and letters are from 1853 when a Catholic missionary traveled through the Willamette Valley.

In 1884 a group of some 50 Catholic families from Minnesota arrived with their priest and settled in the town of Jordan in Linn county.

The first Mass in Lebanon was celebrated in a private home in 1903.

In July 1949, a two acre plot of ground was purchased in Sweet Home on Sixth Avenue.

The first Mass was held on September 25, 1949 in Milburn Hall by Rev. Carl Wachter, pastor of St. Edward’s church in Lebanon.

Parishioners numbered 168 that day.

On September 2, 1952, ground was broken for a new church and on September 8, construction began.

In 1963, Holy Trinity in Brownsville became a mission of St. Helens.

Among founding members were the Reller families, Dr. James and Errilla McCarthy, Nick and Mildred Melcher, Nick and Ann Mausen, Frank and Gertrude Poitras, Joseph and Amelia Thums, Doug and Clara Windom, Del and Mary Ripley and many others.

Archbishop Edward Howard celebrated the dedication of the church in 1953.

The archbishop was accompanied by five visiting priests and a 17-member Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus honor guard. Also present was Father Pius Baur of St. Edward’s Catholic church in Lebanon who served St. Helen’s until a resident priest was appointed.

In addition to Mass, the Archbishop confirmed 18 young persons. Hymns were sung by the St. Edward’s choir.

Hiram Ostermann of Lebanon supervised construction, accomplished with donations of lumber and volunteer labor.

Members of the building committee were Mr. and Mrs. George Reller, Mr. and Mrs. Blain Cobat, Jess Jones, Bernard Carlson and Dr. J.J. McCarthy.

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