News

Easter season brings new church

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

	ST. PETER THE FISHERMAN: Above is the interior of the new Two Rivers' parish church, which will be dedicated on April 3 by Bp. David Zubik. (Rick Evans photo)

Catholics will open a new chapter in their nearly 160-year history in Two Rivers at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 3, when Bp. David Zubik dedicates the new St. Peter the Fisherman Church.

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The public will be invited to an open house in the new church from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 17.

The new church represents several years of work, beginning with the merger of four parishes into one new parish on July 1, 2002, under the leadership of Fr. Bill O'Brien, pastor.

In a congratulatory letter to parishioners, Bp. Zubik called the new church "an outstanding building."

"What you have built symbolizes the vibrancy of your faith community," Bp. Zubik wrote. "This sacred space will be the center of your worship life for generations to come. You have every reason to be proud of an outstanding facility."

"Our every effort was to design our church to be a welcoming, proximate and prayer space," Fr. O'Brien said. "Our Catholic identity arises from experience, from life lived, from image, from story and ritual, from ceremony, from poetry and art. All this and more was taken into consideration with the design and building of our new church. We are truly blessed and very grateful with the result."

A statue of John the Baptist at the entrance to the worship space is "a reminder that we are joined to all who have gone before us as well as those who now surround us," Fr. O'Brien said. "The Baptist pointing to the altar is another reminder of the greatness of Jesus."

The church at 3218 Tannery Road includes a large gathering area and has seating for 800, plus an additional 200 chairs.

Auxiliary Bp. Robert Morneau - who was associate pastor at Most Holy Redeemer Parish in Two Rivers when he was elected to the episcopacy in 1978 - blessed the site on March 14, 2004. Ground was broken on March 26 for the $6.4 million project. Construction began March 29.

Capuchin Fr. Mark Costello was the liturgical design consultant for the church. He has worked on new buildings and renovation projects throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia. Allan Birschbach of Birschbach & Associates, was the architect. The Oscar J. Boldt Construction Co. was the contractor.

Kathryn Schnabel designed and made all the mosaics in the church. The stone statue of St. John the Baptist was sculpted by Ruben Llano, who picked coffee beans as a six-year-old in his native Columbia. He helped with the stone work on the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Harlem and helped restore the Jewish Museum in New York.

For financial reasons, several elements of the church were delayed, including a pipe organ, stained glass windows, sculptures of the Blessed Virgin and St. Peter, additional seating, a day chapel and a bell tower.

The first Mass in Two Rivers was celebrated in late summer 1845 by Fr. Casper Rehrl, a native of Austria, and a longtime missionary in Wisconsin.

The first parish in Two Rivers, St. Luke, was established in 1851. The church was completed in mid-1853. A second church was finished in 1892.

With the arrival of Polish-speaking immigrants in the late 19th century, Sacred Heart Parish was established in 1889 and the two-story multi-purpose church was dedicated that fall. A new church was dedicated in 1900.

Because of growth, St. Mark Parish was established in 1924. The church was dedicated that year on Thanksgiving.

Most Holy Redeemer Parish was founded in 1956 after growth on the city's north side. The church was dedicated in late summer of 1957.

In 1996, because of a growing shortage of priests, Sacred Heart and Holy Redeemer parishes were linked, as were St. Luke and St. Mark parishes. Diocesan plans called for the city's four parishes to merge into one by 2004, but the merger was completed two years earlier.

The merger and new church are a reminder, Fr. O'Brien said, that "We are an Easter people and we live with the promise of a new day."