CHURCHES SERVE AS HEART OF RURAL COMMUNITIES

~Correction: This paragraph is confusing and misleading: "Although the cornerstone of the church was laid in 1859 -- after the original building was burned by confederate soldiers during the Civil War -- the parish dates to the time of Louis Lorimier and the settling of the area." St. Lawrence Catholic Parish does NOT date to Louis Lorimier; these Germans came to America in the late 1830s and early 1840s. Lorimier died in Cape Girardeau in 1812. Also, the church was burned in the 1860s, during the Civil War.

If Eiseleben Lutheran Church pre-dates the Civil War, it could not date "to about 1948"; perhaps this is a typo and should read "1849."

The face of a Jesus statue that is part of the altar at St. Denis Church. Many ornate statues and carvings have a place in the Catholic church.

The St. Augustine Catholic Church in Kelso with its towering steeple that can be seen from far away.

The newly renovated sanctuary of St. Lawrence Catholic Church in New Hamburg.

NEW HAMBURG -- The silhouette of the St. Lawrence Catholic Church commands the skyline in tiny New Hamburg.

Perched atop the highest hill in the area and adjacent to the log-cabin-style church used by the parish in the days before the Civil War, St. Lawrence leaves visitors to the north Scott County community with a sense of wonder.

"It's a biggie, all right," said Blair Brown as he buffed the fresh stain on the refurbished pews. "And rightfully so: This is the oldest Catholic church in the area."

Although the cornerstone of the church was laid in 1859 -- after the original building was burned by confederate soldiers during the Civil War -- the parish dates to the time of Louis Lorimier and the settling of the area.

"The parish today mostly consists of people from this area, since there are Catholic churches in both Benton and Kelso," said Brown. "There are a lot of farmers in this area who attend the Catholic church."

Brown, of Brown and Reeves Painting Co. of Scott City, is putting the finishing touches on a complete remodeling of the church. The project started about five months ago.

"They've been having mass in the recreation center next door all that time," said Brown. "When we first started there was scaffolding everywhere. They couldn't have held mass here if they wanted to."

The church's dome, which stands about two and a half stories above the floor, had been covered in a 1968 remodeling project that went along with Vatican II directives. At the time, the Catholic church decided that churches should not be ornate, but reserved places of worship.

The New Hamburg church lowered the ceiling, covered the resurrection with tiling, and painted over the intricate stenciling that had adorned church walls for more than 100 years.

"It's been quite a project restoring everything," said Brown. "The first thing to come down was those tiles. The dome has been restored."

The pews were carved from balsa wood harvested in the swamps near Advance when the church was being rebuilt following the Civil War. Brown and Reeves had to use the reddest mahogany stain they could find to counter the natural green hue of the balsa wood. The finished product looks like a dark walnut.

"This is the first time that the pews weren't painted," said Brown. "At first they were painted white. Later they were painted shades of brown.

"It was a chore just getting all the paint off," he said. "But it was well worth the effort."

The roof was replaced for the first time in decades.

"We took all the old plaster off the wall and repainted them and did all the stenciling," Brown said. "Everything here has been hand-stenciled."

Brown hopes to have everything finished by Friday. The church will be rededicated Sunday in a special mass.

"It's like starting over in something that has been here forever," said Brown. "I think everyone will be pleased. At least I hope so."

New Hamburg isn't the only pre-Civil War congregation in the area. The Eisleben Lutheran Church of Scott City dates to about 1948, when services were held in homes, baptism and the Lord's Supper was administered and Christian funerals were conducted.

On April 2, 1848, two acres of land were purchased on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River in what was then known as Fornfelt and has since been annexed into Scott City. A log building was erected in 1855 to serve as the first house of worship. In 1851, people in the surrounding, predominantly German community adopted a constitution and organized the congregation.

In 1868, the congregation relocated the church to its present site on a hill in the "Old Illmo" section of Scott City.

The first English sermon was preached on Mission Sunday, 1895. By 1902, the congregation had voted for English once a month. English became the only language spoken inside the church about the time of World War I.

"It's one of the oldest congregations in the area, and one of the best-kept secrets in Scott City," said Shirley Young, a member of the Scott City Historic Preservation Commission. "From the outside, it's a rather unassuming building. But once you've been inside, you're hooked.

"One of our first projects as a historic preservation committee was to do what we could to preserve this church," she said. "It's an icon in the community that is sure to be around a long time after we're all gone."

At the St. Denis Catholic Church in Benton, the parish priest extols the building as well as the people who worship there.

"The people in this area have struck me as being really wholesome -- they are kind and holy people," said the Rev. Martin Culligan. "The parishioners here are very dedicated to their religion.

"I'm not saying that people in other parishes are not; it's just that there is something very special about these people," said Culligan. "It's as if they truly appreciate their church and respect the part of their lives that are devoted to it."

The parish of 252 households dates to the immigration of German settlers to the "Texas Bend" area of the Mississippi River in 1840. Two years later the settlers moved to what is now Benton, and in 1844 built a small log church.

The church burned in 1848, and the parish was moved about four miles northwest to New Hamburg.

About 50 years later, Catholics who lived at Benton sought permission from the archbishop of St. Louis to establish a parish in their town. It was granted, and a combination church-school was built in 1904.

The church-school building burned in 1940. A new school was completed later that year with the school hall serving as a church in 1954. That's when the existing church was dedicated.

"It's a small congregation, but I think it's really great," said Culligan, who has been with the parish since March. "The people take care of the building, the grounds and the special needs of the church.

"We've never had to hire a janitor or a groundskeeper," he said. "That's because we've got the best janitors you could find anywhere right here in our parish. They are the people who care about their church and do their best to make it look its best."

To add to the ornate decor of their church, members of the St. Augustine Catholic Church in Kelso dedicated a peace prayer pole outside the church's main entrance on the Fourth of July.

St. Augustine, like its New Hamburg neighbor to the south, towers over a community built around it.

The first St. Augustine church was a wood frame structure built in 1878, and the congregation quickly outgrew it. In 1889, a brick church was built, using bricks fired in a kiln at the site.

In 1979, the church was completely renovated, leading to the rededication of the church on Feb. 1, 1980.

St. Augustine, like the churches in surrounding communities, draws the bulk of its membership from Kelso and Scott City, two miles to the north.

"It's a wonderful church," said Sister Dorothy Reinhold. "The people who worship here are really wonderful, wonderful people who are committed to God in every sense of his word."