Year of Faith Pilgrimage Sites in Iowa

 

In October of 2012, Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated a "Year of Faith" as an opportunity for Catholics and indeed all Christians to dedicate themselves to deepening their understanding of the gift of faith.

The Year of Faith is an opportunity to experience a conversion – to turn back to Jesus and enter into a deeper relationship with him.  The pope has described this conversion as opening the “door of faith.”  The “door of faith” is opened at one’s baptism, but during this year we are called to open it again, walk through it, and rediscover and renew our relationship with Christ.

As a part of this Year of Faith, dioceses throughout the world have designated places of pilgrimage and prayer to aide in this process of rediscovery.  In addition to the spiritual benefits of visiting these sites, a pilgrimage is also an excellent opportunity to discover the rich artistic and cultural heritage of a given area.  The Year of Faith comes to a close on 24 November 2013.

Below are a list and map of designated pilgrimage sites within the state of Iowa:  

Diocese of Davenport
Unknown.  If readers have information on pilgrimage sites for this diocese, please contact me.

Diocese of Des Moines
Ankeny, St. Luke the Evangelist Parish
Atlantic, Ss. Peter & Paul Church
Council Bluffs, Queen of Apostles Church
Creston, Holy Spirit Church
Imogene, St. Patrick Church
Indianola, St. Thomas Aquinas Church
Irish Settlement, St. Patrick Church
Des Moines, Basilica of St. John
Des Moines, Cathedral of St. Ambrose
Des Moines, Grotto of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel & Divine Mercy
Des Moines, Our Lady of the Americas Church
Portsmouth, St. Mary Church
Stuart, All Saints Church

Archdiocese of Dubuque
Cedar Rapids, Immaculate Conception Church
Charles City, Immaculate Conception Church
Dubuque, Cathedral of St. Raphael
Dyersville, Basilica of St. Francis Xavier
Gilbertville, Immaculate Conception Church
Marshalltown, St. Mary Church

Diocese of Sioux City
Boone, Sacred Heart Church
Ida Grove, Sacred Heart Church
Le Mars, St. Joseph Church
Maryhill, Rosary Shrine
Rock Valley, St. Mary Church
Sioux City, Cathedral of the Epiphany
Sioux City, Trinity Heights 
West Bend, Grotto of the Redemption
West Bend, Ss. Peter & Paul Church
Willey, St. Mary Church


View Iowa Year of Faith Pilgrimage Churches in a larger map 

If one wishes to obtain a plenary indulgence at a pilgrimage site, the pilgrim must be in the state of grace and have the intention of gaining the indulgence either for oneself or for a soul in Purgatory.  The pilgrim then must take part in some sacred function at the place or else pause for a few moments of prayer, concluding with the recitation of the Our Father and a Profession of Faith (Apostles’ Creed) and a request for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin or the patron saint of the location.  One also must say a prayer for the intentions of the Pope and receive the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist within eight days before, during, or after the pilgrimage.

In addition to the above mentioned pilgrimage sites, a pilgrim may visit the baptistery or other place where one was baptized and, while there, renew one's baptismal promises.

Assumption Catholic Church, Merrill, IA

(Photo Source)

The early Catholic settlers of central Plymouth County, Iowa traveled to nearby Le Mars or Ellendale to attend Masses and receive spiritual care.  By the time Assumption Catholic Church in Merrill, Iowa received its first resident pastor in December of 1893, a wood framed church had already been constructed by devoted parishioners.  Later in 1924, a basement was dug under the church to serve as a parish hall and a 22-foot addition was added to the rear of the church to serve as the sanctuary.  A more thorough history of the parish is available from the Catholic Globe.

Though a number of changes have been made to the structure throughout the years, the parish's original church building still faithfully serves the Merrill Catholic community.

Likewise, the interior of the church has been remodelled a number of times over its history.  More recent renovations took place in the 1940s and again in the mid-1970s. 

Particularly unique to the Merrill church are the pressed tin ceiling and simple but elegant reredos.  The windows are of clear cathedral glass.

I was told that the altar and reredos date from the 1970s renovation, however because of their style, I'm more inclined to believe that they are older - likely from the late 1950s.  Regardless, they are nice pieces in their own right.

Unfortunately, the future of Assumption Parish has been on shaky ground for nearly 10 years and the uncertainty continues still.  In 2006, it was officially announced that Merrill and six other parishes would consolidate into a single parish in Le Mars.  However, in 2009 that proposal was overturned, allowing five of the six parishes to remain open.  Nearby St. Joseph in Neptune, Iowa closed in June of 2011.  Despite these seemingly positive turn of events for Assumption, there's still a sense of uncertainly about the parish's future.

The saga of Assumption's on-again, off-again threat of closure is available in the following newspaper articles:

Le Mars area cluster looks at options (7-10-03)
Bishop announces Le Mars Area Cluster to form one parish (11-13-06)
Six Le Mars area parishes to unite into one parish (11-16-06)
Transition will challenge Our Lady of Assumption Parish (12-12-06)
Six Catholic churches work toward consolidation (1-22-07)
New five-year plan shifts future for Catholic churches (10-12-09)

Update: June 2015
In May of 2015, a decree of closure was issued for the parish, and a final Mass was held on Sunday, June 28.  The fate of the building and its contents at this time is undetermined.

Decree for Our Lady of the Assumption, Merrill (5-28-15)
To everything, a season - Assumption Catholic Church will hold final Mass Sunday (6-24-15)
Final Mass planned for 120-year-old church (6-24-15)
Last Mass: Merrill, Iowa, Catholic church to celebrate final Mass on Sunday (6-24-15)
Catholic parish in Merrill to hold final mass (6-26-15)
Parish Closes: Merrill Assumption celebrates final Mass (7-9-15)

Update: July 2017
I drove through Merrill on July 9, 2017 and discovered that the church has been demolished.  If anyone has information on the locations of the church's contents or news articles, photos, or other information about the church, please email me.

Video: Last Mass at Our Lady of the Assumption.

The Renovation of St. Mary Catholic Church, Alton, IA

Thanks to a comment left an embarrassingly long time ago on my original post, I've finally managed to search my files and find my pre-renovation photographs of St. Mary Catholic Church in Alton, Iowa. It's also worth noting that since my original post, the parish has launched a website, where the history of the parish can be found. Below are the before and after shots of the interior. Enjoy!

St. Mary Catholic Church, Alton, IA

I began my annual trek to St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, MN today. Of course, I had to make a few stops along the way...

St. Mary parish in Alton, IA was founded in 1870 and the current neo-romanesque church was constructed in 1908. Originally, the church had a clerestory visible to the exterior, however in 1941, because of water leakage, the roofline was extended to cover it. The original clerestory is plainly visible from the interior, as the darkened upper windows give evidence.A pamphlet at the church states that the interior of the building is 168 feet long, 70 feet wide at the transepts, and 43 feet tall. This same pamphlet also explains that

The magnificent stained glass windows, imported from Munich, Germany are estimated to be the largest square footage in any one church (about 2,300 square feet) in the United States.

As impressive as the artistic quality and size of these windows are, I am somewhat skeptical about this statistic, but that certainly does not detract from the beauty of the structure.

The church is also home to a rather jumbly looking Moller pipe organ (opus 7699, built in 1949) that was rebuilt at some point by "William C. Jackson, Beresford, SD."

I've been to this church many times before, however, I was in for a pleasant surprise this year - the interior had recently been renovated. This very nice warm, yet simple paint scheme is the perfect compliment to the architecture of the building.I will post some before and after pictures as soon as I can find some of the old one's I've taken.

Independence, IA - the Church, the Mill, the Amish

One of the stops I made on my journey to Dyersville was in Independence, Iowa. I saw a steeple from the highway, so I figured I should stop. St. John Church is a neo-gothic church built in 1911. Again, another fairly plain paint job with a nice oak altar. As one can see, the church has also been tastefully renovated at some point in the past. The choir loft holds a Lyons & Healy tracker action pipe organ. A couple of unusual features in this church - 1. the transepts have a particularly sharply angled ceiling; 2. the windows along the nave are in narrow groups of twos. A church worth the jaunt off the highway!


From the church I could seep the top of an unusually tall, old building that appeared to be a mill or power plant of some sort. As it turned out, the building served both purposes at various points in its 133 year history. The Wapsipinicon Mill now serves as a historical museum and a fair amount of its original milling equipment is still intact. Built right on the Wapsipinicon river, both milling equipment and electric generators were powered by water, which both flowed in and exited underneath the building. A very fascinating and worth-while stop!

The top of the mill offers a nice view of the town. On the right side of the photo, on the bank of the river, you can see walls from an original building when the town was located lower and closer to the river.
A farmer's market happened to be going while I was there. As you can see on the far left, some Amish folk had items to sell as well... which opened up another unplanned stop.

About 10 miles north of Independence, there is a considerable Amish settlement. Driving around in the country, looking at the farmsteads, I was surprised to see that many of then were fairly run down. I saw a sign for "Feather Pillows and Antiques" which pointed down a long, winding driveway, and I thought "Why not?" I had expected there to be shop of some sort on this gentleman's farm, but I saw none. An Amish man with a long, unkempt beard and holey straw hat came out and greeted the seemingly out of place vehicle. A very friendly and hospitable man, he asked if I'd like to see the antiques he had to offer. Again, "Why not?" He opened up the doors to a shed, which was packed full of everything from bottles to pieces of farm implements. No order to anything, no price tags - but this atmosphere lent itself to being much more of a treasure hunt than an antique mall off the interstate. After some digging, I managed to find a couple of glass chicken waterers (put a mason jar on top full of water, and you're set!) for $3 each. Even though I don't have chickens (yet) I distinctly remember using waterers like these as a kid, and I wanted to have a set. However, the find of the day was an old, silver, neo-gothic aspersorium. At $10 this was a deal I just couldn't pass up! It's badly tarnished, but in excellent condition. I'll try to polish it one of these days. I've thought about trying to sell it later, but I think I'll have to keep it just because of the story value - "yea, I found this thing in an Amish guy's shed."

St. Mary Catholic Church, Danbury, IA

This past weekend I made a road trip to Dyersville, Iowa to attend a concert given by the National Catholic Youth Choir. More about that later... I made a number of stops at churches and breweries along the way, more posts to follow on those soon! I will be posting a number of church pictures on this blog, after all, I didn't name it "The Steeplechase" for nothing!

St. Mary's is a pretty decent sized church for this town of 367. A fairly plain paint job, but the very nice oak altars more than make up for it. There is also an interestingly built Moller (Opus 9168, built in 1957) in the choir loft.