News

Door County church turns 125

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

JACKSONPORT -- It's the classic church by the woods: white frame, bell tower over the door, old cemetery behind.

St. Michael Church is 125 years old. On Sept. 30, at 11 a.m., Bp. Robert Morneau will preside at a Mass celebrating the anniversary. A traditional Door County fish boil will follow in the parish center. Everyone is invited.

"We went to that church when I was young," said Mary Rohr, parishioner and a member of the altar society, which is coordinating the anniversary celebration. She remembers when the church was heated by a wood stove - though she knows there were once two stoves.

"I remember the one on the left side," Rohr said. "They took a couple of pews out for it. You didn't want to be late for Mass and have to sit next to the stove."

Not only was that stove hot, but, if it was wet outside, the smell of wet wool steaming in the heat was overwhelming.

At that time - the 1940s - St. Michael parishioners still paid pew rental.

"You got your name on a bracket and that was your pew," Rohr recalled. "Those of us who couldn't afford it, we sat in pews that didn't have names on them."

Today, the pew rents are gone, but the list of names and paid rents still exist for the historical files. The stove is gone, and the kerosene lights. There's still no plumbing and the bell tower still holds the old bell, although it doesn't ring much. Even into the 1980s, tourists would ask to pull the bell rope that hung in the entryway.

"The bell cord no longer goes down," Rohr said. "It ends in the choir room. That bell is heavy. I don't know how anybody would think it was fun to ring it. My sister and I rang it when the new pope (Benedict) was elected and we had a terrible time."

St. Michael is one of five church buildings in Stella Maris Parish, which was formed in July 2005 out of St. John the Baptist, Egg Harbor; St. Mary of the Lake, Baileys Harbor; St. Paul, Fish Creek; St. Michael; and St. Rosalia, Sister Bay, as well as the station for Washington Island.

"People just say it's just a quaint, little church," said Fr. David Ruby, pastor of Stella Maris since September 2006. "It's our only site that's on the water. It goes all the way down to the lakeshore."

St. Michael's is the oldest Catholic church still in use in Door County. Its roots are older than the 1882 building. There are records of local Masses in the 1870s, but these were held in homes by visiting priests. Records show that, in 1874, Fr. John Rhode of Ahnapee (now Algoma), celebrated such Masses. The present St. Michael's was built on land donated in 1881 by the Reynolds family, some of whom lie buried in its cemetery.

The other churches of Stella Maris parish are newer, but St. Michael's is how each looked at one time. It was a prototype for area churches in the late 19th century.

"When you drive up to it and see the white building with the beautiful steeple, it's just warm and inviting," said Kathy Sedan. "And that's how we want this anniversary to be, about worshipping God and being welcoming."

To that end, the anniversary Mass will not only look back, it will also look forward. This will be the first event at which a new group of youth musicians will handle the music, as they will for the youth-oriented Mass that will become the focus of St. Michael's future on Oct. 21. That's when the present Saturday 4 p.m. Mass will give way to Sunday Mass at 11 a.m.

Planning for that Mass will be the responsibility of parish youth. They will be musicians, readers, greeters and servers.

"This is brand-new for our parish," said Sedan. "Stella Maris has identified that the youth of our parish are very important and we wanted to show them that. We have a lot of enthusiastic kids in our parish who are looking forward to this."

Fr. Ruby said the Sept. 30 Mass is "a kick-off" to the youth Mass. "We think of ours as one community with all five sites," he said. "There's a real sense of ownership, and all the people take responsibility for what is here."

Sr. Angela Palm, pastoral associate, was assigned to Stella Maris in July, but she realizes the sentimental value of this smallest Door County parish church. "It's a nice little church," she said. "A church in the vale, except it's by the seashore."