Dear Parishioners,

As many of you know, I not only lost my voice for the feast of All Saints, but for a few days afterward & so could not celebrate Mass last weekend. I’m grateful to the priests from Holy Family Hospice for filling in for me and hope that the many others who are ill at this time as well will recover soon.

I want to congratulate the parents of the children being baptized here this weekend…Gabriel Cooley and Bernard Miller, who are first cousins. A few years ago, I witnessed the marriages of their mothers who are sisters and have been members of our parish for some time so I’m glad we’re able to welcome these 2 children into the Church at the same time. May God bless them and their parents who are raising them in the practice of the faith.

This Sunday we are bringing our celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Parish to a close. Last year Bishop Malesic celebrated Mass with us and then many of you were able to meet him in Lux Hall as we shared some refreshments. Today (Sunday), we will celebrate the closing of our anniversary year as we offer prayers of thanksgiving at the 11am Mass and then join for a meal over in Lux Hall right afterward. This past Friday, November 10th , I celebrated Mass with the school students and shared with them some of the history of our parish and school. It was a great day to do so as November 10th is the feast of our patron, St. Leo the Great. So I thought I could remind you of some of the important milestones that have taken place these past 75 years…

The First Mass of the new parish was celebrated at Ben Franklin School in their auditorium on Sunday, October 17th, 1948 (the official founding date of the parish is October 10, 1948…I like that date as October 10th is my mom’s birthday, and in 1948, she had turned 21 years old on October 10th. So perhaps she had an alcoholic drink on day of our founding!). There was a simple announcement regarding the beginning of this new parish in the bulletin of Our Lady of Good Counsel (now know as Mary, Queen of Peace). It gave the parish boundaries for our parish, which was not only to guide the faithful to attend the Catholic Church according to the street they lived on, but was also meant to let the pastor of each parish know that they were responsible for the spiritual and pastoral welfare of the people in a particular territory.

The Diocese had already bought land from Alvin to Portman on the other side of Broadview Road, close to Schaaf Road. It was all empty and full of weeds at the time. However, Father Lux (our founding Pastor) said he had land picked out (at our present location) but said it was a swamp and that the woman who owned this property would never sell it to a Catholic. Father Lux had connections and had someone else (a non-Catholic) buy the land. He bought enough of the property right up to the railroad tracks, knowing that a highway (presently 480) would be growing through.

Our Lady of Good Counsel had a 6am Mass on Sunday mornings so Father Lux decided to have a Mass at 5:30am for those who liked an even earlier Mass. It was a clever move. The home of a man named Bill Heminger was used for Mass on holy days which is the white house near the corner on the east side of Broadview. It was used later as the first rectory (priest residence) of the parish and then later became the first convent (residence for the nuns). Father Lux had its little porch extended so that it could be used for daily Mass.

I’ll share a bit more with you next week. For now, enjoy the meal & give thanks to God!

Fr. James Schmitz