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Happening ... in the Local Church
St. Joseph, Delphi, celebrates 150 years
'It feels like a family'
 Carol
Roth looks at a 1984 photo history of Delphi’s St. Joseph Church. The
parish marked its 150th anniversary on Sept. 27. (Photos by Kevin
Cullen) |
 
More than 200 people gathered Sept. 27 to celebrate the sesquicentennial of St. Joseph, Delphi. The church (right) was built in 1860. |
 This
simple brick building housed the parish school from 1863 until 1970. |
 Bob
and Patti Durbin with their six children: Angela, Emiily, Therese,
Matthew, Timmy and Rachel |
By Kevin Cullen
The
Catholic Moment
DELPHI — In 1859, there were no cars, planes, tractors, phones, TVs, computers or fast food. Thirty-three states formed a fragile Union. Native Americans, buffalo and wild horses still populated the West.
That year, 150 years ago, St. Joseph Church was organized in this Carroll County community.
On Sept. 27, more than 200 people gathered to celebrate the sesquicentennial with a blessing of the 149-year-old church building by Bishop William L. Higi. After that, they shared memories, visited friends and enjoyed an anniversary meal at the Wabash & Erie Canal Conference Center, four blocks away.
“It’s a good feeling to look at the photos of the older and younger parishioners; you get the feeling that you are part of the history of the parish,” said Father Peter Vanderkolk, pastor since 1994. “You’re part of a church with such a great history … Some of the parishioners here can tell you stories about priests who were here in 1930.”
Twenty-six pastors have served the parish, but only one — Father Edward J. Boccard — served longer than Father Vanderkolk.
The red brick, Gothic-style church building, built in 1860, is the oldest still in use in the diocese. Next to it is the simple brick building that housed the parish school from 1863 until 1970.
Ann Minnicus was a member of the last eighth-grade graduating class, which consisted of only five students. She is president of the parish Altar & Rosary Society, and helped organize the anniversary celebration, which included a dinner served by confirmation students.
“There were only three school rooms, so you knew not only the kids in your own grade, but the other kids, too,” she said. “We have not necessarily stayed close, but when you see someone from St. Joseph’s parish or school, you know them and you know their family. I feel sort of special when I meet someone from St. Joseph’s.”
Delphi was a busy port on the Wabash & Erie Canal, a manmade river that stretched from Toledo to Evansville. Thousands of Irish Catholic immigrants helped dig it, and many settled in Delphi.
Priests from Lafayette, Rensselaer and Logansport began offering Masses in Delphi starting in 1854. At that time, there were approximately 150 Catholics in town, two-thirds of them Irish.
The first St. Joseph Church, costing $900, opened in 1859.
The foundation for the present church was laid in March and April, 1860. The building was completed that fall at a cost of $9,000 and dedicated Feb. 9, 1861, two months before the Civil War began.
The school was erected by Father August B. Oechtering in 1863 for $2,000. It was served by the Sisters of Providence from 1875 until 1901, and by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tipton from 1901 until it closed in 1970.
Sister Danielle Garst started teaching at the school in 1964. She told the story of seeing the first-graders squat — rather than genuflect — while they prayed the Angelus.
“Underneath that habit, they couldn’t tell what we were doing,” she said.
Sister Jeanne Marie Greenen, who also taught in Delphi during the 1960s, remembered her students as “smart, creative and inventive.” And so mischievous that they once silently disappeared when she was called away from her classroom for a few minutes. They were found hiding in the sacristy.
“Among the happiest years of my life were spent here,” she said. “I grew up here, and learned what it means to be community.”
Father David Buckles, now pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in West Lafayette, formerly was a weekend assistant at the Delphi parish.
“It was a great experience to be here,” he said. “It prepared me for being a pastor. Father Peter (Vanderkolk) makes it look a lot easier than it is.”
The parish has approximately 201 families and 650 individuals, including many Hispanics.
“We like the closeness of it,” said Joe Haan, of Rossville, who came with his wife, Cindy, and their three young children. “You feel like you don’t have a choice but to be involved.”
“It feels like a family,” Mrs. Haan said. “The size isn’t intimidating.”
Parishioners Bob and Patti Durbin, of rural Brookston, attended with their six children, who range in age from 17 years to 10 months. They moved to Indiana from Ohio, and joined the parish five years ago.
“It’s very welcoming. People treat us like family and that allows us to be involved,” Bob said. He is a religious education teacher, and his wife is involved in Schoenstatt activities.
Father Ambrose Ziegler, now retired, was pastor in Delphi from 1972 until 1981. He spoke of youth parish activities, the formation of an Alcoholics Anonymous chapter, service to migrant camps and interdenominational clergy gatherings for Bible study.
When he left town, he said, ministers from other churches said, “Thank you, Ziggy, for sharing with us the proper understanding of Mary and of purgatory.”
In his homily, Bishop Higi said that the St. Joseph congregation has good reason to “thank the good God for the faith which makes St. Joseph’s the community which it is.”
Forty-two of the 62 parishes in the diocese were founded in the 19th century, he said. Four were established in 1859: St. Joseph, Delphi; St. Peter, Winamac; St. Patrick, Kokomo, and St. Bernard, Crawfordsville.
Technology has advanced tremendously in 150 years, but, just as in 1859, “babies continue to be baptized, children continue to receive first Communion and the sacrament of confirmation,” he said. “People continue to marry, funerals continue to be part of life and the mercy of God still awaits in the sacrament of reconciliation.
“The call to conversion has not changed. The wise do not doubt that God continues to hold each of us in the palm of his hand. These are the realities that we are celebrating today.”
Faith always conquers adversity, Bishop Higi said, and God calls everyone to be “people of faith and hope and optimism. Our goal should be to have an attitude of gratitude for our many blessings and to place our trust in God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
He challenged today’s parishioners to make their own sacrifices, provide their own vision, and bring their own faith to St. Joseph’s. That way, people 50, 100 and 150 years from now “will look back with astonishment and gratitude to 2009 and be as thankful to you as you are” to past generations.
“This faith community exists to call people to worship God,” he said. “It exists to call people to witness to the values of Jesus Christ. That’s what this place, this parish, is all about.”