Living Stones: Book highlights service of priests in diocese

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
October 14, 2004

"And you yourselves will be built up as living stones into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices, well pleasing to God through Jesus Christ." - 1 Peter 2:5

Living Stones is the title of a book by Msgr. R. Mark Duchaine that features the hundreds of priests who have served since 1856 in the 24 counties of northwest Iowa that comprise the Diocese of Sioux City.

The 370-page book not only contains the biographical information and pastoral assignments, but also includes biographical sketches and quotes for many of the priests, which helps to highlight their individual talents, ministries and uniqueness.

"I want priests to be proud of their ministries, proud of the line in which they stand - to look at the roster of priests from a given parish or school or hospital and to see their name within it as one of many who have served and done so with dedication, true commitment and self-sacrifice," the author explained.

The book, which is hot off the press, will make its debut and be available for purchase at the Bishop's Dinner for Catholic Education this Sunday, Oct. 17. Next week, it can be purchased through Central Catholic Offices in Sioux City.

Msgr. Duchaine acknowledged that writing such a book first crossed his mind in 1991 as he undertook the task of updating Benjamin's Bible, a booklet of priests' anniversaries - birth, ordination and death - originally published in 1953. As he gathered this basic information, he had the opportunity to read many interesting stories and personal histories.

He set the idea aside for a number of years.

New motivation came after reading the diocesan history, Frontiers of Faith. Msgr. Duchaine felt a desire to highlight some of the accomplishments of many priests who did not make it into the text of the diocesan history.

Msgr. Duchaine, pastor at St. Mary Church in Mapleton and vicar judicial for the diocese, pointed out that his initial intention was to provide the living priests of the diocese with a curriculum vitae - the basic biographical information and a listing of their assignments.

"Then, as I collected that information, I realized I couldn't do that without going back and doing the same for the priests who have come before. I discovered that the lives of my brother priests today intersect with the lives of priests from the time that the diocese was first evangelized," he noted. "I went from doing this for the living priests to all of the priests."

The project further expanded as he realized that names, dates and places rarely told the whole story.

"If possible, you need to offer some word about their ministry. Something significant about the work they did. Something that is unique to them," stressed Msgr. Duchaine. "I think that is when the book began to take on its final form - when I started to add the biographical sketches."

He referred to Living Stones as somewhat of an encyclopedia of all the priests who have served here since 1856. Also included were two missionaries who served this area in the early 1850s.

Work on this project began in 2001. He searched through old correspondence, personnel files, newspaper articles, parish histories and volumes of the Official Catholic Directory - all the way back to 1850. Along with the diocesan files, he found it necessary to search the archives of the many other dioceses or religious houses where some of the priests had served.

What was included in the book, often depended on what he could find. He pointed out that he discovered early on in the research that for many of the priests, little was to be found in their individual personnel files or parish histories.

Oftentimes, he only had one option "that would in some respect point out something significant, worthwhile or valued about this particular individual." He said that this lack of material surprised and disappointed him time and again.

In the cases where he had more information and thus more choices, the author selected content that he felt "would be edifying, that which I thought spoke to the particular priest in a rather unique manner. If I found a quote from a letter, a newspaper article or parish history that I believed to be interesting and would help people better appreciate who this priest was and was about, then that is what I chose. It was having an eye for that which is a little unusual, that which might be humorous, awe-inspiring or even tragic - something that spoke to the priest as a man, but a man of God."

Msgr. Duchaine pointed out that through his research he discovered the tremendous amount of sacrifice given by the early priests, who served four to six parishes and/or stations, traveling by horse and buggy.

He stressed the fact that the while the biographical information and assignments are included for living priests, the biographical sketches and quotes were not included on these men nor on those who died in the last few years.

First of all, he didn't want to intrude on the living priests' personnel files.

"I have no right to do that so it would have been pretty presumptuous for me to try to write up anything about my brother priests who are still alive," said Msgr. Duchaine. "And in terms of those who are deceased, it helps to have the perspective of distance, at least a little bit, from the time that they have left us."

Msgr. Duchaine acknowledged that when the sexual abuse crisis hit the Catholic Church in 2002, he was all the more compelled to pursue this project in order to "speak well of the priests. To note their commitment, their faith and holiness of life along with the tremendous sacrifices they made over the course of these last 150 years."

Through Living Stones, he hopes that his fellow priests find a sense of pride in their pedigree and that through the text lay people experience not only pleasure but also gratitude for the service given by these priests.

The text is divided into three sections: 1) Assignments and biographical information by priests. 2) Assignments by parish, school or other institution. 3) Assignments by office.