(Click here to read Bishop Gilmore's anniversary homily in its entirety.)

By David Myers

Southwest Kansas Register

A century later, Aug. 7-8, men, women and children, farmers and immigrants, once again converged at the Claflin church, this time to celebrate 10 decades of Immaculate Heart being a place of worship, and to celebrate the completion of major renovations to the interior of the church.

So, who was the tall, impeccably dressed woman attending the church’s dedication?

"That’s your great grandmother," DeAnna Moran told her daughter, Diedre, as she pointed at one of several pictures in a historic display. Edith Moran "was a model and had her picture in a lot of magazines," she said.

Descendants of the original German, Austrian and Irish immigrants perused the displays, as did more recently arrived immigrants, bent on the same dreams as those whose ancestors walked beside them.

Outside, a proud Father Jack Maes looked on as dozens of children took part in many games -- tossing balls at a dunk tank, aiming darts carefully at a board covered with balloons, and tossing footballs through hoops. Adults sat under a large tent enjoying burgers, while inside, volunteers passed out free homemade ice cream.

The following day -- Sunday, Aug. 8 -- Bishop Gilmore celebrated an anniversary Mass at the church, after which the congregation joined for a dinner reception.

"In paging through your history last week," Bishop Gilmore said in the newly renovated church, "I was struck to see how much time was spent in the very building of your churches. By my count, 18 years went into the first one (from the coming of the railroad in 1904), and a full 20 years went into this one. Much dreaming went into them, therefore, and much careful planning, and much laboring. ..."

Referring to the first reading, Bishop Gilmore said that "St. Peter urges us to come to Christ, a Living Stone. His words fit well into the rich rock imagery of the Bible, for they, too, suggest the literal hardness of stone, the stable and secure support it provides, the immoveable foundation it is, the refuge and safety of it. ..."

The Church, he later said, "...is made up of persons who enrich their environment with life-giving love. That makes it a sheltering place, a comforting place, a creating place. Slowly, carefully, stone is laid upon stone, person comes together with person to build a place of familiarity and intimacy, a place that refreshes and renews, a place that permits each to be most himself or herself."

Bishop Gilmore urged those gathered to be like the builders of both the outer and inner church, the latter of which "goes on all the time."

"Be patient with the work. Take your time at it. Dream it deeply. Plan it carefully. Do it skillfully. And in another hundred years, those who replace us will look back on a most satisfying thing: on person appealing to person, on one, two, and three gathered in his name, on a communion of faith, hope, and love, on a community after the mind and heart of Jesus himself. So it has been in Claflin, so it will be."

Claflin began to take shape after the Missouri Pacific Railway laid track through the area in the mid-1880s. Claflin Catholics were made up of German, Austrian, and Irish immigrants who had previously settled in Ohio, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

Immaculate Conception Church was built in 1904, and Father Francis Joyce was appointed pastor. Bishop John Joseph Hennessy visited the parish and dedicated the church on May 26, 1905.

Immaculate Conception Church was served as a mission from 1905 to 1911, first by Capuchin friars from Victoria, and then by the priests assigned to the parishes at Odin and Hoisington.

In 1918, Immaculate Conception School opened under the direction of the Sisters of St. Joseph. It would stay open until 1970, when staff shortage and increased costs would force its closure.

Although the small frame church quickly grew too small to meet the growing congregation, the Great Depression stalled any building efforts. It wouldn’t be until Oct. 11, 1949 when Bishop Mark K. Carroll would dedicate a newly constructed church. He told the congregation that the church was "neat, artistic, chaste, simple, and appealing."

Religious vocations from Claflin include one priest and six Sisters.