Maryhill awaits word on parish
By Tim Gallagher Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, April 26, 2007
MARYHILL, Iowa -- The wind that knocked down the church of Robin Corzilius, and her family's corn and soybean crop, has now flattened her spirit.
She's afraid she's lost her parish forever.
Corzilius heads one of 91 families who attended Mass at Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church near Cherokee. Winds of up to 80 miles per hour destroyed her 101-year-old wooden church Aug. 1.
Bishop R. Walker Nickless announced in November the church would not be rebuilt. The final decree regarding this decision will be released this week, perhaps today, according to Kristie M. Arlt, the diocese's director of communications and development.
"Our understanding is they will not rebuild the parish," says Corzilius, whose family members were married and buried here for four generations. "I knew it was coming, but it still hurts pretty hard."
Following the bishop's announcement last November, members of the parish mobilized and talked about an effort to build a makeshift church at the site, land the diocese owns. While they knew their new church building would not be available for weekly Mass (a decline in the number of priests factored in the bishop's decision), they figured they could still celebrate weddings and funerals there, adjacent to the parish cemetery.
"We wanted to build a simple building with labor and people around here," she says.
A farming community, they likely had the time, interest and know-how. They certainly had the money, says Corzilius, noting there is $1.1 million from the parish in a bank in Cherokee, the result of the insurance settlement following the storm. The parish also had a perpetual endowment fund of more than $100,000 and a discretionary fund of at least $40,000.
Any debt? Nope.
"Our parish was very well off financially," she says.
Instead, it appears a portion of the insurance money will follow each family as it transfers to another Catholic parish nearby. Robin and husband Ray Corzilius will become members of St. Mary's at Remsen, where she works. Other members of Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Maryhill will head to Catholic churches in Cherokee, Marcus and Quimby.
The diocese, Nickless said in November, will build a memorial on the old church site at Maryhill. Otherwise, the grass will grow atop the old foundation, the rock upon which this church was built. Details could be coming in the decree to be released eight months following the storm.
"We had 91 families who were members of Maryhill," says Corzilius. "I can speak for a majority and they are very frustrated, very upset and to some degree disheartened because, first of all, we had a terrible loss of community. Not just the building, that's minor. We lost a community and were not given any opportunity to continue as a community."
As family members prepare to plant spring crops around Maryhill, they look back on a storm that flattened their place of worship and their livelihood. The 2006 crops, like this church, never stood again.
"It was a nightmare," Robin Corzilius says. "My husband put twice as many hours on his combine as he normally would. We thought the beans would be fine, but they were laying down."
A summer they would just as soon forget is one they'll always remember.
She's afraid she's lost her parish forever.
Corzilius heads one of 91 families who attended Mass at Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church near Cherokee. Winds of up to 80 miles per hour destroyed her 101-year-old wooden church Aug. 1.
Bishop R. Walker Nickless announced in November the church would not be rebuilt. The final decree regarding this decision will be released this week, perhaps today, according to Kristie M. Arlt, the diocese's director of communications and development.
"Our understanding is they will not rebuild the parish," says Corzilius, whose family members were married and buried here for four generations. "I knew it was coming, but it still hurts pretty hard."
Following the bishop's announcement last November, members of the parish mobilized and talked about an effort to build a makeshift church at the site, land the diocese owns. While they knew their new church building would not be available for weekly Mass (a decline in the number of priests factored in the bishop's decision), they figured they could still celebrate weddings and funerals there, adjacent to the parish cemetery.
"We wanted to build a simple building with labor and people around here," she says.
A farming community, they likely had the time, interest and know-how. They certainly had the money, says Corzilius, noting there is $1.1 million from the parish in a bank in Cherokee, the result of the insurance settlement following the storm. The parish also had a perpetual endowment fund of more than $100,000 and a discretionary fund of at least $40,000.
Any debt? Nope.
"Our parish was very well off financially," she says.
Instead, it appears a portion of the insurance money will follow each family as it transfers to another Catholic parish nearby. Robin and husband Ray Corzilius will become members of St. Mary's at Remsen, where she works. Other members of Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Maryhill will head to Catholic churches in Cherokee, Marcus and Quimby.
The diocese, Nickless said in November, will build a memorial on the old church site at Maryhill. Otherwise, the grass will grow atop the old foundation, the rock upon which this church was built. Details could be coming in the decree to be released eight months following the storm.
"We had 91 families who were members of Maryhill," says Corzilius. "I can speak for a majority and they are very frustrated, very upset and to some degree disheartened because, first of all, we had a terrible loss of community. Not just the building, that's minor. We lost a community and were not given any opportunity to continue as a community."
As family members prepare to plant spring crops around Maryhill, they look back on a storm that flattened their place of worship and their livelihood. The 2006 crops, like this church, never stood again.
"It was a nightmare," Robin Corzilius says. "My husband put twice as many hours on his combine as he normally would. We thought the beans would be fine, but they were laying down."
A summer they would just as soon forget is one they'll always remember.
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Kelly Pendleton wrote on Apr 20, 2009 6:05 PM:
chelsa wrote on Apr 26, 2007 5:40 PM: