St. Bernard's reopens after closure from fire in 2004

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
August 24, 2006

BLENCOE - A Mass of Thanksgiving was offered Aug. 20 on the Feast of St. Bernard for a small parish in the Diocese of Sioux City that was able to celebrate the liturgy in their church building for the first time in months.

St. Bernard Catholic Church in Blencoe was damaged in an electrical fire on Oct. 31, 2004. While the church was cleaned and renovated, parishioners attended Mass at a cluster parish, St. John's in Onawa.

Bishop R. Walker Nickless presided at the Mass of Thanksgiving. Father Patrick O'Kane, pastor, and Msgr. Richard Zenk, a former pastor at St. Bernard's, concelebrated.

In opening comments, the bishop said, "The joy and excitement that you feel today is matched by the sadness of the people in Maryhill. I was there this morning for an early Mass. As you can imagine, it was very somber ... I ask that you pray for them as well. You know what it is like."

The bishop was homilist for the liturgy. The first portion of his sermon centered on the Scripture readings, particularly the main message of the Gospel - the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

"It takes a lot of faith to believe what we hear in the Gospel today. Three times Jesus says in this short Gospel, 'If you eat my flesh and drink my blood you will live forever.' Do we believe that? How do we understand that? We come to know that when we go to Holy Communion, we receive the Lord himself. Not something to be admired, but someone to be encountered - God himself," said the bishop.

He stressed the fact that the primary reason for the gathering was for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass but they also came together to give thanks for what has been accomplished to make the church a beautiful place in which to worship.

"We gather to celebrate Mass in St. Bernard's Church. We express our thanks to all who helped make this possible," said the bishop, who mentioned the people who helped save the church and stayed there all night to put out the fire that rekindled twice. He also gave thanks to those involved in the cleanup, the repairs and all that care deeply about the church.

While the long-term future of the church was not certain, the bishop said for now this is where they would continue to worship.

"No one likes to let go of a church. It becomes like a member of our family, so close to us. As the people of Visitation Church know in Maryhill, we all have to realize that the church isn't so much a building as it is a people of God," he said. "You are the church. You are the parish. You are the Body of Christ. Wherever Mass is celebrated and the sacraments are received, God is present. We will do our very best to make sure that we can have Mass and the sacraments here as long as we can."

The bishop told them that they must pray and never lose hope. He urged them to pray for vocations to the priesthood because "there is no church without a priest. There is no Eucharist without a priest. Where do priests come from? From your families. There is no other place. We can't have churches, we can't have Eucharist without your sons and grandsons."

Father Patrick O'Kane offered a few comments as the Mass drew to a close.

"During this whole project of not knowing where we would be or if this day would ever come - we surrendered to the will of God," he said.

The priest asked the congregation to pray the Memorare as a prayer of Thanksgiving to God.

He announced that on Wednesday mornings St. Bernard's would have Mass at 7:30 a.m. Months ago the priest had suggested that if the church reopened Eucharistic adoration would be held there on a weekly basis. For one hour each week after Wednesday Mass, adoration will be dedicated to thanksgiving to God and prayers for vocations.

Lunch was served after Mass in the parish basement. A PowerPoint presentation told the story of St. Bernard's through pictures - starting with the fire through renovation.

Mike Lage, whose grandparents were the first couple married at St. Bernard's, had taken the photographs in the presentation. His first child was baptized at St. Bernard's a day before the Mass of Thanksgiving, giving him hope for the future of the church.

"It's a special place. It's more than just a building," he said. "There are so many people here that put in a great deal of time, a great amount of work."

Alice Marley, parishioner, headed up the decoration committee that selected paint and carpet colors. They met in the church and tied in colors that tied in well with colors in the brick.

"We also had to refurbish all of the statues that were damaged by the fire - mainly smoke and water damage," she noted. Mainly it amounted to cleaning the statue and adding a little touch-up paint in spots.

She described the Mass of Thanksgiving as highly emotional and very rewarding.

Ed Osius, parishioner and fire chief, recalled the sequence of events on Oct. 31, 2004. He noted that they had celebrated Mass there at 8 a.m. and by 2 p.m. smoke had begun to appear outside the church.

"It was reported at 2 p.m. and we (the Blencoe Volunteer Fire Department) were there immediately thereafter," he said. "We were the first responders and we asked for assistance from the Onawa Fire Department. The building was full of smoke and we had to locate the fire. We found it in the ceiling and that's when we started the attack."

It was tough for Osius and other parishioner firefighters to work the fire.

In the end, the fire damage was limited to the ceiling area and thankfully not the roof with partial damage to some pews and the floor. There was water damage throughout the building.

"The Mass was highly emotional for me as a member and as the fire chief. We have anticipated this day for a long time," he said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church. We are thinking about them. I know what they are going through and it is painful. This day is bittersweet because there is another parish that is going through the same thing we went through."

Osius supervised the renovation project with fellow parishioner Franklin Heisterkamp.

"At times we wondered if the day would ever happen and then when the bishop came, it was like ice cream on the cake," said Heisterkamp, who played a role in the cleanup and lining up committees to help with the renovation.

He mentioned that four pews were lost and women of the parish refinished the remaining ones.

"We were always a pretty close-knit group and this brought us even closer together," said Heisterkamp. Even non-Catholic community members were supportive in the effort.

Father O'Kane pointed out that while some of the work was hired out, the volunteer help made it possible for the renovation to take place.

"The whole community came together. We were all involved," said Osius.

Father O'Kane, who was assigned to the cluster in July of 2005, said he is very happy for the parishioners of St. Bernard's.

"We don't know what the future holds, but for now, this is where we are," he said.