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The 'old' church (1889), the cupola housing the 1867 bell, and the cemetery at
St. Mary of the Annunciation (circa 1983).
In my introductory message (#1), I said I was inspired to write a particular story I’ve called The Pivotal Pastor. The title was inspired too. It seemed to fit.
Still, month after month, I resisted the idea. At Easter the following year, I finally submitted.
The Pivotal Pastor is about what a small country parish in Northeastern Illinois achieved during six years at the turn of the millennium: building a church with a lobby as big as the old church; a sanctuary with four times the seating capacity of the old one; doubling the number of registered households; tripling the number of ministries; and more.
The story is not a history of the parish. There are two nicely done books about that. One is the Chronicle of St. Mary of the Annunciation by Tom Wagner. The other is Nothing is Impossible With God: the Story of St. Mary of the Annunciation, compiled by John Gannon.
Instead, The Pivotal Pastor is about the experience of building a church (facility) and Church (people). When Fr. Ron Lewinski arrived in 1996, the parish was known as “St. Mary - Fremont Center.” When they dedicated the new church on April 14, 2002, the name reverted to “St. Mary of the Annunciation,” an earlier--but not its original--name. Changing the name may have been the easiest thing to accomplish during the project.
While writing, I relied on various research materials to revisit what happened, who was involved, when events occurred, where they took place, and why some things ended up as they did. (Some have reasons down to the square inch!) The parish expansion took six years. It wasn’t easy. People disagreed. Costly mistakes were made. Some people decided to leave; more chose to join.
By the grace of God, most people recognized that expansion was necessary and did what they thought was needed. Which recalls something a popular backup singer said while reflecting on her life a few years ago. In the 70s, she and her fellow musicians thought they were making great music. But 40 years later, she said, “You just never know when you’re making history.” She became part of music history in the form of several gold records.
The parish created another chapter in its own history at the millennium’s end. Unique details about the who, what, when, where, and why will be in The Pivotal Pastor.
Send me your comments/questions.
Read installment: 1 2
This is one in a series of installments by the author about his journey of writing The Pivotal Pastor.
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