Faith Built to Last

In a couple of weeks, the parishioners of Queen of Angels Church in Nashua will have a special service and a potluck dinner to celebrate their parish. In June of 2017, the 100th anniversary of Queen of Angels will take place at the church.

As I was working with several other ladies on decorations for the upcoming celebration I got to thinking about other churches in the immediate area that have had celebrations honoring their 100th anniversary.

I thought about the people who built these churches. They didn’t have construction equipment like what is used now. My mother-in-law told me she remembered going up ladders carrying buckets of nails to the men who were putting the roof on Queen of Angels.

Everyone attending these churches pitched in to help with the construction. In my mind I can see the men working away while the women prepare meals and the children helping wherever they could.

The determination of those people is to be admired. Most of them were homesteaders who had very little financially. Yet they donated what they could but mostly their donation came in the form of their labor.

My mother-in-law often spoke of how Catholics never knew when a priest would come through the area to celebrate Mass, baptize children, administer the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and do whatever they observed needed to be tended to. She told me how happy the people were when it finally became possible to have a church building. Until then, they met in the homes of people who could provide the room used for services.

The ones who built the churches put in many long, hard hours. And then came the day the buildings were finished and a celebration took place. How happy they all must have been to at long last have a permanent place where they could gather to worship. I’m sure they were also thinking of generations to come who would benefit from their work.

As I walk into Queen of Angels Sunday, I think of these hard working people who had such strong faith and worked together to improve their communities. And I silently say a prayer of gratitude for them and renew my own determination to do what I can to help my small parish keep going.