Struble parish plans centennial day celebration

July 17, 2003

St. Joseph's Catholic Church of Struble, Iowa will celebrate its centennial anniversary on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2003. The parish has released its schedule of the day's activities. All the day's activities will be held at the church grounds on the west edge of Struble. Struble is located seven miles north of Le Mars on US Highway 75 and then 1 mile west on Plymouth County road C-12.

The celebration will begin at 1 p.m. with the opening of the museum in the parish hall with displays of parish pictures and other historical items. At 3 p.m. the Centennial Mass will be celebrated by Bishop Daniel N. DiNardo, bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City, concelebrated by Father Terry Roder. Immediately after Mass concludes, the statue of Our Lady of Fatima on the parish grounds will be re-dedicated with a historical marker in memory of the children from the Struble and Maurice parishes who have died in their youth.

The rest of the afternoon will include reopening the parish museum, children's games and supper of porkburgers, hamburgers, drinks, ice cream, etc. A free will offering will be taken that will be donated to three local charities. The evening schedule features four entertainment acts spreading their ministries through music.

At 5 p.m. the Brown Family from Merrill will open the evening by singing Gospel music on the outside stage. The Browns are members of Le Mars Bible Church

At 6 p.m. the parish will welcome back all returning former pastors along with James Nicholson, United States Ambassador to the Holy See (Vatican). Nicholson is a native of Struble. Following Nicholson's remarks, the parish's youth group bell choir will perform.

At 6:30 p.m. back in the church Father David Hemann will perform his religious music. He is the pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Ida Grove and has been involved in many retreats, missions and concerts across the nation.

At 7:15 p.m. back on the outside stage will be "Nuns on the Run" from Danbury. This ecumenical group of ladies performs a lip sync act inspired by the movie "Sister Act."

The day's celebration will conclude at 8:15 p.m. with hymns and vespers on the outside stage.

The time of these events is subject to change.

The parish has a website at www.stjosephstruble.org which has the complete day's schedule along with order forms for parish t-shirts and cookbooks. T-shirts and cookbooks are for sale by prepaid order only. Contact Deb Puhl at 712-546-7183 to order a T-shirt and contact Susy Kessenich at 712-562-6050 to order a cookbook. You can also print the T-shirt and cookbook order forms off the parish website and follow the ordering instructions. Shipping is available for an extra charge. Payment must accompany your order. Information about the parish centennial history book will be announced later in July.

St. Joseph's Church was a mission of St. Mary's Parish in Maurice, Iowa from 1903 to 1917 until a parish rectory was built in Struble in 1916. The resident pastor then moved from Maurice and Struble has since been the main parish for both communities. St. Mary's Parish of Maurice was closed by the Diocese of Sioux City in 1995. St. Joseph's - Struble currently maintains two cemeteries at rural Struble and Maurice.

Today the parish has approximately 150 parishioners from 70 households. Father Terry Roder served as resident administrator in recent years until his new assignment came on July 15. At that time, Father Bill McCarthy, newly ordained, was appointed administrator of the parish. The Struble parish has members from Struble, Maurice, Ireton, Craig, Le Mars, Sioux Center, Orange City and South Dakota.