Offenburger.com

Along Our Way

What a way to end a summer! We Offenburgers were the guests on a late-summer weekend at the lake house of our friends Joe and Cindy Connolly. The Connollys live in Council Bluffs and commute many weekends to their get-away place on a private lake just south of Columbus, Nebraska. It was a real “kick-back” weekend with lots of sunshine, fun boating, good food and plenty of time to read.
[TO SEE THESE PHOTOS & OTHERS IN LARGER FORMAT, AND TO READ A BRIEF STORY, CLICK HERE.]

A conversation

LIVING WITH CANCER

with the Offenburgers

Chuck Offenburger was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins follicular lymphoma cancer on July 10, 2009, had six months of chemotherapy & is now doing well in a “maintenance” program. Carla Offenburger underwent surgery on April 26, 2010, for removal of a jaw tumor which was found to contain adenoid cystic carcinoma cancer. She underwent six weeks of follow-up radiation in June and July, and continues under close medical observation. We post updates frequently here, including brief insights from Chuck, Carla and at least one of you readers.

“Carla, if you were standing here I’d hug you. This is such a ton of stress and scheduling for anyone but then add that you are recouping yourself and it is nearly overwhelming. Yet here you are forging ahead.”

FOR THE LATEST UPDATE, CLICK HERE.

What’s the deal with the
black & white saddle shoes?

Click here for the story of our farm in Greene County, Iowa.

Here's looking at life
at Simple Serenity Farm

Carla’s sister & brother-in-law Chris and Tony Woods, of Des Moines, were at the farm on Sunday, August 22, helping Carla do the lawn mowing and other yard work that we’ve struggled to keep up with lately, with all our medical appointments. The Woodses brought along their 18-month-old granddaughter Ari, who was a delight watching all the action from the porch with Chuck, catching up on her reading and then getting a moment on the lawn tractor seat!
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Earlier photos in this series

Chuck Offenburger's
new book on sports
legend Gary Thompson
gets excellent reviews

FOR INFORMATION ON WHERE & HOW TO BUY THE BOOK, CLICK HERE!

''GARY THOMPSON: All-American'' is the new, 352-page biography of one of the state’s genuine sports icons. From 1950-’53 Gary Thompson led the Roland Rockets to high school sports glory in basketball and baseball, giant-killers from one of Iowa’s small schools. Then he led the Cyclones at Iowa State from 1953-’57, becoming the college’s first two-sport All-American. He’s had major success in broadcasting and business, from his home base in Ames. And he and his wife Janet have a family as solid as they come. “I’m the luckiest guy around,” Thompson says.

TO READ CHUCK OFFENBURGER'S COLUMN ABOUT THE BOOK AND THE ''BOOK LAUNCHING'' HELD EARLY IN DECEMBER, CLICK HERE.

TO READ DES MOINES REGISTER SPORTSWRITER RICK BROWN'S REVIEW OF THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ CEDAR RAPIDS GAZETTE SPORTS COLUMNIST JIM ECKER'S REVIEW OF THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ AMES DAILY TRIBUNE SPORTSWRITER DICK KELLY'S STORY ABOUT THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ DOUG BURNS' STORY ABOUT THE BOOK IN THE CARROLL DAILY TIMES HERALD, CLICK HERE.

TO READ ANDY GOODELL'S STORY ABOUT THE BOOK IN THE OSKALOOSA HERALD, CLICK HERE.

WANT TO SEE AND HEAR THE OLD ROLAND HIGH SCHOOL FIGHT SONG PERFORMED? CLICK HERE!

FOR INFORMATION ON WHERE & HOW TO BUY THE BOOK, CLICK HERE!

FOR PHOTOS FROM OUR BOOK LAUNCHING EVENTS, CLICK HERE!

SEE BOB MODERSOHN'S PHOTOS OF OUR BOOK CHAT AND SIGNING AT BEAVERDALE BOOKS IN DES MOINES!

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Out in Greene County, Iowa

“That this house of grace for these 100 years remain a place where Your love reaches out to all”

By CHUCK OFFENBURGER
September 24, 2009
JEFFERSON, IOWA

Three days of celebration September 18-20 brought to a grand conclusion more than nine months of programming that has commemorated the 100 years of the oldest church building in Jefferson – St. Joseph Catholic Church.

Alumni of the parish returned for the celebration from as far away as California, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Pennsylvania and all over the Midwest, staying with relatives and filling most motel and other rental rooms in the community of 4,500 located in west central Iowa.

There were two special masses, one late Saturday afternoon celebrated by Bishop R. Walker Nickless, the spiritual leader of the 100,000 Catholics in the Sioux City Diocese, with five other priests concelebrating.

It’s been quite a year for St. Joseph Catholic Church in Jefferson, Iowa, as heralded by the two banners that hung from the steeple for much of the summer and early fall. The longer banner – 40 feet long, in fact – saluted the 100 years of the church building. The shorter banner – 35 feet long – saluted the 50 years of priesthood of current pastor Rev. Don Ries. A weekend-long celebration September 18-20, “The Gathering of 100 years: A Festival of Hope” capped months of programming that had explained and interpreted the parish’s history and also looked to the future.

Another highlight was an alumni concert Friday night, featuring outstanding professional musicians who grew up in the parish – Julia Bordenaro, who performs from the San Francisco Bay area, and David Kowaleski, now director of music and liturgy at Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church in Las Vegas as well as performing frequently in bands backing major stars in shows on the Vegas strip. More than 150 were in the pews of the church for that free concert, which turned into one of the finest evenings of music the community has heard in a long time.

Also during the weekend, there were three narrated tours of the church, a panel discussion among parish alumni, another panel discussion among “Young Catholics” who are parish members now, a capacity-crowd of 240 for a Saturday night banquet, another big turnout for a Sunday brunch and entertainment, a huge display of memorabilia from the past 100 years and, of course, lots of reminiscing. But maybe as important, the panel discussions both stirred a whole lot of thought about the future not only of St. Joseph parish but of Catholicism itself.

“Well, she doesn’t look too bad for 100 years!” said Bishop Nickless, looking over the church as he led off his homily Saturday. He recalled how in 1909, not only did the parishioners contribute heavily, but they also had wide support from local officials and the people of other churches in Greene County.

“We remember those hardy and good souls who 100 years ago built this church and provided the new start for the people of St. Joseph,” Nickless continued. “Holy things happen here – baptisms, first communions, weddings – it’s a holy place, a dwelling for God. For us Catholics, the small red light that always burns by the tabernacle reminds us that the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ reside here.”

He went on to reflect how the day’s scriptural readings remind us that as Christians “we are not on Earth to accumulate wealth, power, fame… We are here to have a humble attitude of heart and to put others above ourselves. It’s in serving others as Christ has loved us, that’s where we find true success, and we need wisdom that is pure and clean for that. We can’t let our evil passions overtake us. We must be peaceable, gentle, full of mercy as we find ways to support those around us. And we must recognize that every single person is valued and esteemed. A good test of that: Are we doing good without seeking reward or recognition for doing so, just doing it because it’s the right thing to do?”

The bishop also pointed out that one of the day’s readings noted, “Whoever receives our children, receives me.” Moving from that point, he told the crowd, “Consider the rejection of millions of unborn children in abortion. The numbers are appalling. In the U.S., 1.3 million abortions per year, that’s 3,700 every day, and 93 percent of all abortions happen for social reasons, that the child is unwanted or inconvenient. Somehow, our nation ignores this. True success for us as people means caring for these least ones.

“To be successful in our lives, the best thing we can do is to do the right thing,” he continued. “As we reflect on the building of this church 100 years ago, we know it couldn’t have happened if those who built it hadn’t been thinking more of others than they were of themselves. They were providing this holy place for you and others to come. They were building the Body of Christ, which is what a church really is.”

After the homily in Catholic Churches, a lay reader always leads the congregation in several special prayers to be remembered in the mass. On the celebration weekend, one of those prayers written by pastor Rev. Don Ries had a nice historical and future perspective: “That this house of grace for these 100 years will continue to be a place where Your love reaches out to all who come to us, we pray to the Lord,” to which the people responded, “Lord, hear our prayer.”

Bishop Nickless commended Father Ries for his 50 years of priesthood, both during the mass and also in his brief remarks at the banquet afterward. “Be nice to your pastor,” Nickless told the crowd in the Parish Center for the meal. “You want to keep him for at least another 50 years!”

The featured speaker at the banquet was Msgr. Kevin McCoy, a native son of the parish who was ordained a priest in St. Joseph Church in 1981. His ministry has had him serving at the Vatican in Rome, as the rector of the North American College Seminary there; earlier as chancellor of the Sioux City Diocese, and more recently as a parish pastor in the diocese. Now 55, he currently is at Holy Trinity Church in Fort Dodge, while also serving as interim president of the St. Edmond Catholic Schools there.

Mixing good humor with serious stories about his religious upbringing, McCoy said he and his late twin brother Mark, “like all the other Catholic kids back then didn’t know what Saturday morning cartoon shows were all about, because we always had ‘CCD’ (religious education classes) then.

“But then when we got to seventh grade, we had free Saturday mornings. Oh, we were supposed to be showing up for classes preparing us for the next sacrament, confirmation, for becoming ‘soldiers in the Army for Christ,’ as we learned about it then. We younger boys would be there, of course, and we had great joy watching our older brothers of high school age being rounded up and made to attend, too. It seemed somehow that the pool room uptown had greater lure for them than the classroom in the church basement did.”

He recalled one of the adult leaders of the parish, the late Margaret Baker, often told the young people “that no matter where you go in life, ‘St. Joseph Jefferson’ will always be part of your spiritual address, and indeed it’s been that way for me.”

He said his ordination mass at St. Joseph Church 28 years ago was “a marvelous celebration of pageantry and party. More important, it occurred amidst the people who had given me my Catholic faith.”

Special guests at the mass and banquet reflected the broad support the Catholic community in Jefferson has had for more than a century from local leadership, citizens and the other churches. The pastors of four other churches in Greene County attended (they’re pictured below with Bishop Nickless), as did State Rep. David Tjepkes, of Gowrie, one of the Iowa legislators serving the area. Two members of the Jefferson City Council also attended, Bill Figenshaw, who is a member of St. Joseph Church, and Nancy Teusch.

You can learn more of the story from the captions to the 50 photos below here.

In addition, you can read two earlier stories that we published here on Offenburger.com. The first covered the jubilee in early June marking the 50 years of priesthood of pastor Rev. Don Ries, and you can find that coverage by clicking here. A story and photos earlier this month showcased the late August “Meet Our Ancestors” cemetery tour, in which current parish members portrayed notable leaders and characters of earlier years, and you can see that by clicking here. There is also a separate Internet story that has photos and stories of programs held throughout this year as parts of the celebration, and you can find that site by clicking here.

Columnist Chuck Offenburger was on the 12-member steering committee that planned the St. Joseph church celebration, and was also one of the four co-chairs. You can write him at chuck@Offenburger.com.

These foil-covered, chocolate doubloons became popular symbols of St. Joseph Church’s celebration of the 100 years of the building, with the details embossed on the two sides. They were handed out from the St. Joseph float in the Bell Tower Festival parade in June, and then distributed at other events during the summer and fall.

Tom Braun (right), a parish member, leads a tour of the church during “The Gathering of 100 Years: A Festival of Hope” celebration the weekend of September 18-20. On this tour were (left to right) Jack Lewis, Denise O’Brien Van, Sue Lucht and Kathleen Hankel, all of Jefferson.

Landon Braun, 12, of Jefferson, was accompanying his father Tom, who was guiding the church tour. Here Landon, who is an altar server at the church, checks out a photograph of the original look of the altar area.

Here Tom Braun shows Denise O’Brien Van the area in the rear of the church that was once known as the Winter Chapel, a place where masses were held in cold weather, because the smaller room was easier to heat than the full church. Now the Winter Chapel is the home of the church library and the music & liturgy office. The crucifix, which they are looking at, hangs on the wall behind the main altar in the church during certain times of the year.

Julia Bordenaro, of the San Francisco Bay area in California, is shown singing and playing piano during the alumni concert held on Friday evening, September 18, in St. Joseph Church. The 1985 graduate of Jefferson High School now tours internationally with a women’s a cappella quartet Vocolot, as well as performing with her husband Ira Scott Levin, either as a duet or with their own band, The Levins. “This is probably the most energy-charged and emotion-charged audience I’ve ever had – my hometown parish,” Bordenaro told the crowd. “I’ve sung before crowds of tens and hundreds of thousands around the world, and I handle those just fine. I don’t know when I’ve been more nervous about a performance than I am here tonight. My mother’s here! My first piano teacher Monica McGregor is here! And so are a lot of the rest of you people who gave me a wonderful foundation in the Catholic faith, so many familiar faces. Thank you!”

David Kowaleski, who also performed in the alumni concert, is now director of music and liturgy at the large Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church in Nevada, is a classical pianist and composer. But he has played all kinds of other music, too, and frequently plays in bands behind major entertainment stars performing on the Vegas Strip. When he first met the Jefferson crowd at the concert, he said, “I’m from Las Vegas, and I know you expected me too come out in an Elvis suit.” Actually, he was wearing a handsome pin-striped dark gray business suit. A 1982 graduate of Jefferson High School, Kawaleski is shown here holding a book he said he bought in Jefferson in 1982, of Chopin compositions, and he played one of them – going from memory this time. He said his early lessons in Jefferson came from the late Mary Carmel Schilling, who was also a St. Joseph Church member. “I know she’s in heaven now,” he told the crowd, “if for no other reason that she had to put up with me as a student.”

David Kawaleski said he has become very interested in some of the oldest music of the Catholic Church, including the “antiphons” that were often chanted during certain points of the mass. He said that he has put “200 to 300 of those antiphons” to new music over time, usually featuring a vocalist or choir, singing behind a piano and/or cello. He wrote a new communion antiphon especially for the St. Joseph Church 100-year celebration masses, and he is shown playing it here with Sheilah Pound, the St. Joseph director of music and liturgy, singing it. Kawaleski said it was the first time the composition had been performed publicly, then it was used at both the Saturday and Sunday masses, September 19 and 20.

Kathy Morain, president of the St. Joseph Parish Council, is shown here congratulating Julia Bordenaro after the concert.

Julia Bordenaro meets some of the St. Joseph Church children after the concert.

Julia Bordenaro with her mother Marilyn Bordenaro, who still lives in Jefferson.

David Kawaleski with his mother Essie Kawaleski, who also lives in Jefferson and attended the concert.

David Kawaleski is greeted here by parish members Rosemary and Dr. Bob Burke, with Betty Kious in the background.

Tim and Gina Davis, of Prosper, Texas, chat with David Kawaleski after the concert. Tim Davis and Kawaleski were classmates at Jefferson High School and in St. Joseph parish activities.

David Kawaleski is greeted after the concert by Bill Figenshaw and Shirley Wiggins, both of Jefferson. Figenshaw is a member of St. Joseph parish, while Wiggins is a member of Central Christian Church.

Saturday morning, September 19, there was a panel discussion by St. Joseph alumni and one current parish member who is a convert to Catholicism, moderated by Rev. Bill Brunner, a Jefferson native and retired priest who now lives in the community. Left to right on the panel were high school counselor John Burke, of Ames; retired political reporter Mary Rae Bragg, of Dubuque; retired sales executive Jim Hunt, of Park City, Utah; county employee Jayne Tiffany, of Jefferson; teacher and historian Phil Phillips-Schrock, of Urbandale; Iowa District Judge Tim Finn, of Ames, and Father Brunner.

About 50 people attended the alumni panel discussion.

Rev. Bill Brunner was a missionary priest in the Columban order, working a long period during his career in the Philippines, then filling in as a pastor in several dioceses around the U.S. He served as moderator of the alumni panel discussion. The panel members, and most in the audience, seemed to favor changes in church policy to allow female and married priests, and greater acceptance of gays and lesbians, including same sex marriages.

John Burke said his upbringing at St. Joseph church is “how I formed a concept of what being a Catholic was, and what being a Christian was. We had lots of protestant friends, and the civility of what we had in Jefferson showed me what being ecumenical was all about.” Later when the panel members were discussing what changes they’d like to see in Catholicism and its practices, Burke said, “I could think of a number of specific policies or rules that I’d like to see changed, but I really place more importance on the primacy of conscience. I don’t mean that we shouldn’t pay attention to the teachings of the church, but we need to stress that equally important is our own understanding of what is right and wrong. Are we being as faithful to that as we should?” Current pastor Rev. Don Ries, who was in the audience, said later he thought Burke’s point “for me was the highlight of the whole weekend.”

Jayne Tiffany, Phil Phillips-Schrock and Tim Finn and the rest of the crowd had several good laughs at some of the memories that spilled out about long-ago happenings in St. Joseph parish.

Mary Rae Bragg telling a story about how one of her early religion class teachers at St. Joseph Church “was a nun from Grand Junction who was,, to put it nicely, not very warm. She was little and she was mean and she scared the bejesus out of us. But one week, she was replaced by a tall gracious younger nun, a woman as beautiful as Loretta Young. She had us in the palm of her hands. She encouraged us to ask her questions about her life as a nun, which we were scared to do. So she said, ‘Well, I know you’re all curious about what my hair is like under this habit.’ She reached up, ripped off the habit and showed us her nicely cropped, attractive haircut – to the horror and delight of all of us! How cool was that! It began a lifelong admiration for me of the women’s religious in the Catholic church, and in Dubuque we have all those motherhouses where I got to know some of the most women ever.”

A Knights of Columbus Honor Guard accompanied Bishop R. Walker Nickless during his visit to St. Joseph Church. The honor guard members are all fourth-degree members of the Knights. Shown here in their formal regalia, which includes swords, are (left to right) Tom Wittrock, of Bagley; Steve Banks, of Boone, and Cyril Venner, of Arcadia.

Here, Bishop R. Walker Nickless, leader of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux City, of which Jefferson’s St. Joseph Church is one of the parishes, here meets parish member Bob Burnell in the back of the church.

The other priests and altar boys who took part in the special Saturday late-afternoon mass celebrating the 100 years of St. Joseph’s church building.

Current St. Joseph pastor Rev. Don Ries gives welcoming remarks to the crowd at the Saturday mass, and to the right are two former pastors of St. Joseph – Rev. Jerome Degen, who served here from 1977-1979 now lives in Fort Dodge, and Rev. Richard Macke, who followed Degen in Jefferson, served four years at St. Joseph and now lives in Arcadia. The altar boy behind Father Ries is Adam Marshall.

Two other priests participating in the Saturday mass are native sons of St. Joseph parish and 1954 classmates at Jefferson High School. They are Rev. Bill Brunner (left), who is now retired in Jefferson, and Rev. Vic Ramaeker, pastor of St. Michael’s Church in Whittemore in north central Iowa.

Bishop Nickless, singing during the mass. His acolyte and liturgy director traveling with him to Jefferson is shown behind him in the doorway, Adam Schwend.

Here Sheilah Pound directs the St. Joseph parish choir during the Saturday mass.

Bishop Nickless blesses the crowd as he trails the procession out of St. Joseph Church after Saturday’s mass.

Here Bishop Nickless meets several of the pastors of other Greene County churches that attended the Saturday mass and banquet. Left to right are Dennis Ward, a member of the Knights of Columbus and member of St. Joseph parish; Rev. Deb Griffin, pastor of Central Christian Church in Jefferson; Rev. Dan Emmert, pastor of the Presbyterian Churches in Grand Junction and Paton, and his wife Marilyn; Bishop Nickless; Bishop Jim Teusch, of Jefferson, who leads the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that is in Carroll and also serves the Jefferson area, and his wife Nancy Teusch, who is also a member of the Jefferson City Council. Revs. Bill & Sheri Daylong, pastors of the First United Methodist Church in Jefferson, joined the crowd at the banquet Saturday evening.

Felicia and Hank Davis, well-known musicians in Jefferson area, played for the St. Joseph Church banquet Saturday night.

A crowd of about 240 people attended the Saturday banquet, which was catered by the Lidderdale Store from the Carroll area, with members of the St. Joseph youth programs and many adult volunteers helping with the serving and clean-up.

Going through the serving line at the banquet are (on the left) Bob Larson and his daughter and Dina Hastings, and on the right Jenni Paulsen.

Also in the serving line are (on the left) Andrea Chargo and (on the right) her sister Snowy Chargo and their mother Victoria Riley.

The master of ceremonies for the programs at the Saturday banquet and the Sunday brunch was Dick Davis, a member of the St. Joseph 100-year celebration’s steering committee and one of the co-chairs.

Betty Kious, a member of the St. Joseph Church choir for 66 years, honored all the people of the parish through the 100 years by singing the song “People,” while accompanied by Monica McGregor. Here, McGregor gives Kious a “thumbs up” for her performance at the end of the song.

The featured speaker at the Saturday banquet was Msgr. Kevin McCoy, a Jefferson native whose priesthood has taken him from Jefferson, to Sioux City, to Vatican City in Rome, to Washington, D.C., and now back to Fort Dodge. He told some hilarious stories about his boyhood in Jefferson, and thanked the people of St. Joseph for the start they gave him in Catholicism.

Msgr. Kevin McCoy is greeted by longtime St. Joseph member Bud Tasler after his speech.

Msgr. Kevin McCoy and Rick Morain, who is editor and publisher of the Jefferson Bee & Herald, in a conversation after McCoy’s speech.

Here Msgr. Kevin McCoy with old friends Rosemary and David Hoyt.

Pat Monthei, a member of St. Joseph parish, welcomes home Rev. Vic Ramaeker, another St. Joseph native who has served across the Catholic Diocese of Sioux City. He currently is pastor at St. Michael’s Church in Whittemore.

Rev. Richard Macke, now of Arcadia and a former pastor at St. Joseph Church, says hello to John Burke, of Ames, who was a high school student when Father Macke was in Jefferson.

Mary Rae Bragg (right), a native daughter of St. Joseph Church and now a retired political reporter for the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, holds court after the Saturday night banquet with (from the left) Rick and Kathy Morain, Denise O’Brien Van and Sue Lucht, all of Jefferson.

The Sunday morning brunch at St. Joseph’s Parish Center featured favorite recipes from past cookbooks that various groups published through the years. Here, a delicious Irish stew was offered “in honor of Paul Nally,” a devoted Irishman and great benefactor of the church. Some of Nally’s bequest to the parish, after his death in January 2007, helped pay for the celebration of the church building’s 100 years. He was a World War II veteran and a cartographer who spent 20 years of his career in St. Louis, then returned to the Jefferson area in about 1980. He had substantial landholdings in Greene County, too.

The brunch, with so many favorite recipes from St. Joseph’s best cooks through the years, was like the ultimate potluck, with lots of delicious main dishes and desserts. Here Wayne Morris shows off some of them he’d dished up!

Part of the celebration was a “Count the Crosses” contest run by a committee of three high school students (left to right) Jake Kingery, his sister Megan Kingery and Nathan Steussy. The three of them did a careful count of all the crosses and crucifixes that are found in the main body and altar area of St. Joseph’s Church – in the masonry, design, stained glass windows and most furnishings – and determined there are 374. There were 31 people who did their own counts and entered the contest by filling out entry blanks. Steussy reported that the counts ranged from 38 to 420. Six entries were within 50 of the actual number, but six others were more than 300 away from the official number. The winner was Karina McCarney, of Jefferson, who won $100 – one dollar for each of the church’s 100 years – for her count of 412 crosses and crucifixes.

Peg Raney, longtime music director with youth groups at St. Joseph parish, had members of her current young singers stand and lead the brunch crowd in a favorite song the kids’ groups have done through the years, “the Echo Our Father,” which had everybody singing the Lord’s Prayer line by line, following the lead of Raney and the children.

The McGregor family closed the brunch on Sunday, September 20, with three numbers that paid tribute to the ancestors, current members and future members of St. Joseph parish. The McGregors represented the fourth, fifth and sixth generations of the McNultys, one of the families of early settlers that helped found the St. Joseph congregation in the 1860s. Left to right are Mary McGregor Seibert and her daughter Allison Seibert of St. Charles, Iowa; Bridget McGregor, of Jefferson; Stuart McGregor, of Jefferson; Sheilah McGregor Pound, of Jefferson; Mark McGregor, of Smithville, Missouri; Sheilah’s daughter Anna Pound, a student at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, and Dave McGregor, of West Des Moines. The McGregors’ mother Monica McGregor accompanied them on a piano, just off the stage.

A panel discussion featuring “Young Catholics” of St. Joseph parish included (left to right) Amy Holden, 22, now a student at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City; Erin Morain, 28, a freelance writer in Jefferson; Michael Hoyt, 16, a Jefferson-Scranton High School junior; Megan Kingery, 17, a Jefferson-Scranton High School senior, and Todd McCoy, 30, a former seminarian now director of St. Gregory’s Retreat Center in the Iowa towns of Adair and Bayard. These younger Catholics told of their own early experiences in the church, and talked about the changes they’d like to see in coming years. All five characterized their own Catholic faith being very important to them. They said they think most people of their generations share some level of religious faith and spirituality, even if most aren’t as active in churches at this point in their lives as these five are. Four of the St. Joseph five said they are pro-life, and all five condemned abortion. Four of the five favored the priesthood being opened to women and married people. And all five said the church needs to be more accepting of gays and lesbians, several saying “it’s just not an issue” among younger people. None of the five said they have any objections to same-sex marriages.

Here is the panel of Younger Catholics after the discussion, with their moderator Chuck Offenburger at the left, then Erin Morain, Amy Holden, Michael Hoyt, Megan Kingery and Todd McCoy.

On Wednesday, September 23, when the St. Joseph celebration of the church building’s 100 years had been concluded, the big banners were taken down from the steeple. Here Jared Marshall and Bill Steussy roll up the 100-year banner for storage. Steussy’s son Nathan Steussy, a high school senior, served as “steeplejack” during the long celebration, organizing the banner raisings and takedowns. Working with him up in the tower on Wednesday evening were other members of the St. Joseph group of high school students, Adam Marshall and Michael Hoyt.