By David Myers

Southwest Kansas Register

SPEARVILLE -- One hundred years ago, when one in 13 homes had a telephone, when 42 percent of Americans were farmers (compared to three percent today), and when a pound of sugar cost only four cents, a small band of people were meeting at George Torline’s Blacksmith Shop in Spearville.

The topic of their discussion? The construction of a Catholic church — a small, white frame structure that would stand on the south side of town, its 75-foot tower a beacon to the largely German community.

With the approval of 33 households, many of which were non-Catholic, and with more than $1,100 in donations, the church was eventually built and then dedicated by Father Keinhoefer on Oct. 18, 1904. Fourteen years later, a larger brick structure was constructed to serve the Catholic community, which had blossomed to 70-plus families.

On Oct 17, the Catholics of Spearville, including many direct descendants of its founding members, gathered in their beloved St. John the Baptist Church to celebrate a century of presence in the community.

There was another reason to celebrate. Standing in the sanctuary was a beautiful new altar, designed and constructed by one master carpenter to honor another Master Carpenter.

"When we gather for the Eucharist around the altar," Bishop Ronald Gilmore said in his homily as woodworker Greg Vierthaler proudly looked on, "it represents these two aspects of the mystery: it is the altar of sacrifice and it is the table of the Lord. This is so because the altar has always been considered the symbol of Christ himself in the church. In the midst of the assembly, he is present both as the victim offered for our reconciliation and as the food from heaven who is giving himself for us.

"‘For what is the altar if it is not the image of the Body of Christ?’ St. Ambrose once asked. He went on to say: ‘The altar represents the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ is on the altar.’ From beginning to end, therefore, the liturgy is all about this link between sacrifice and communion."

As the bishop spoke, former Spearville pastors sat in front pews with other priests of the diocese, Knights of Columbus took the rear pews, and filling out the rest of the church was the heart and soul of Spearville, its Catholic congregation. Meanwhile, a block down the road at the St. John Parish Center, a beef dinner was cooking to be served at the reception to follow.

In his homily, Bishop Gilmore spoke of the "sacrifice and communion" of the past century.

"…The sacrifice that brought your ancestors from Ohio to Windthorst in 1878, the sacrifice that was born in George Torline’s Blacksmith Shop in 1903, the sacrifice that dedicated your first church at the very time in 1904, the sacrifice that dedicated this impressive church in 1918, the sacrifice that weathered wars and droughts and storms, the sheer wear and tear of living, the sacrifice that gave us two bishops, seven priests, and 30 sisters: all this sacrifice produced the storied communion of your parish over these 100 years. Sacrifice and communion are what you have been about."

Following Mass, the congregation lined up under a cool gray sky at the St. John Parish Center. Inside, priests milled about shaking hands with grateful parishioners as they filtered in, and Spearville residents shared a hello and, more often than not, a good laugh with fellow residents as the festive mood took over.

Vierthaler, who shook many hands that night and heard many a "great job!", said he began working on the altar before Christmas, and completed it in July. A woodworker since high school, Vierthaler, owner of the Spearville News, is married to Jill and has two daughters, Alicia and Rachele. The altar was painted by Dodge City resident Dennis Burghart.

After a prayer by Bishop Gilmore, the bishop stood in a corner shaking hands with each one of those gathered as, table by table, they processed by to get their meals of beef, a baked potato, steamed vegetables, jello and cake. Steve Schmidt, Gayla Kirmer and Michael Benish provided the music, pickin’ and grinnin’ old standards as everyone ate.

The homily of Most. Rev. Ronald Gilmore, Bishop of Dodge City

I find it particularly fitting that you are celebrating your one hundredth anniversary in this Year of the Eucharist by dedicating a handsome new altar. In doing so, you go directly to the heart of things.

All the mysteries of the faith unfold there, after all: the mystery of the cross, the mystery of the communion that is a parish, the mystery of the hereafter toward which we move, and the mystery of each person, living and dead. The altar is a sign of Christ, the prayer of dedication will tell us, a table of joy, a place of peace, a source of unity, and a center of thanksgiving. I find it particularly fitting, indeed.

It begins and it ends with the Mass, of course. The Mass is the memorial in which the very sacrifice of the Cross is perpetuated, and it is the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord's body and blood. The Eucharistic sacrifice is wholly directed to intimate union with Christ through communion.

When we gather for the Eucharist around the altar, it represents these two aspects of the mystery: it is the altar of sacrifice and it is the table of the Lord. This is so because the altar has always been considered the symbol of Christ himself in the church. In the midst of the assembly, he is present both as the victim offered for our reconciliation and as the food from heaven who is giving himself for us. For what is the altar if it is not the image of the Body of Christ, St. Ambrose once asked. He went on to say: the altar represents the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ is on the altar. From beginning to end, therefore, the liturgy is all about this link between sacrifice and communion.

So too have your hundred years been about that link. The sacrifice that brought your ancestors from Ohio to Windthorst in 1878, the sacrifice that was born in George Torline's Blacksmith Shop in 1903, the sacrifice that dedicated your first church at this very time in 1904, the sacrifice that dedicated this impressive church in 1918, the sacrifice that weathered wars and droughts and storms, the sheer wear and tear of living, the sacrifice that gave us two bishops, seven priests, and thirty sisters: all this sacrifice produced the storied communion of your parish over these one hundred years. Sacrifice and communion are what you have been about.

There is no better way to remember all of this than to dedicate an altar today. The altar of the new covenant is actually the Cross of the Lord from which the sacraments of the Paschal Mystery flow. On this altar here in the center of your church, the sacrifice of the cross is made present under sacramental signs. To this altar here in the center of your church, the new People of God are invited to commune with that mystery. Here in the center of your Church, sacrifice and communion are what this altar is all about.

You come to the memory-stone here. You come to the well here. You come to the source here. Here you will find the sacrifice being asked of you in this new millennium with changing conditions all over southwest Kansas and the world. Here you will discover the communion being given you in this new millennium, a communion shot through with faith, and hope, and love as it has been for a hundred years. Here all this comes alive in the heart of one who prays. Indeed, our spiritual writers sometimes call the human heart an altar. In that altar of heart, prayer internalizes and assimilates what happens on this altar of stone during and after its celebration.

Sacrifice and Communion. Communion and Sacrifice. They are what you are, and will be, about. In the heart of things, the two are one. May they be so in the altar of your heart as well.