New Our Lady of the Assumption consecrated April 4

Statues and windows from old church reside next to new altar, crucifix in sanctuary

Published: April 17, 2014

By Maryanne Meryerriecks
Fort Smith Correspondent

Maryanne Meyerriecks

Concelebrants surround Bishop Anthony B. Taylor during the dedication Mass of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Booneville, including former pastor Father Don Tranel, GHM (second from right).

Maryanne Meyerriecks

Concelebrants surround Bishop Anthony B. Taylor during the dedication Mass of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Booneville, including former pastor Father Don Tranel, GHM (second from right).

BOONEVILLE — Less than eight months after razing their old church building, parishioners of Our Lady of the Assumption Church assembled for the dedication Mass of their new 5,000-square-foot church April 4.

The airy new church, which seats 175 parishioners, doubles the capacity of the previous building. Objects from the old church — its stained glass windows, statues and tabernacle — give the building a sense of tradition. The crucifix above the altar is new, a donation from diocesan seminarians in memory of parishioner and seminarian Daniel Phillips, who died in December 2012.

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor concelebrated the Mass with 14 other priests, including pastor Father Ravi Gudipalli, former pastor Father Don Tranel, GHM, and Abbot Jerome Kodell, OSB. Parishioners and celebrants processed from the parish hall to the church door, singing hymns, reciting prayers and sprinkling the church building with holy water before Bishop Taylor cut the wide red ribbon to open its doors.

Noting that a church is not only a building but a community of believers, Bishop Taylor told the congregation that the rituals and sacramentals used during the dedication, including blessed water, chrism, incense and candles, consecrate not only the building but also the parishioners. The outward signs express an inward reality: At each Mass Jesus teaches us, feeds us, sends us forth and consecrates the work of human hands to his service.

After the congregation recited the profession of faith, the dedication service began with the Litany of the Saints. A relic of a Roman martyr that had been deposited in the altar stone of the original Our Lady of the Assumption Church July 25, 1956, was transferred to the new altar, built by Brother Jude Schmitt, OSB, of Subiaco Abbey.

Bishop Taylor anointed the altar with chrism oil, while the concelebrants anointed the four corners of the church, representing the four Gospels. He incensed the congregation, honoring each individual member as a spiritual altar in a living temple, and then incensed the altar.

Women of the parish brought up cloths to dress the altar. As soon as the candles were lighted, the overhead lights of the church were turned on, and several white flower arrangements were placed in the sanctuary.

Choir Director Brian Rhodes, Booneville High School’s band director, wrote an inspiring Mass of Dedication that was sung for the first time that night. His wife Angela, also a music teacher, sang at Mass, leading an enthusiastic congregation who had only one opportunity to rehearse the new music.

“I’ve published about 100 songs,” said Rhodes, who converted to Catholicism several years ago, “and I wanted to do something special to commemorate the church opening.”

Following Communion, Bishop Taylor inaugurated the tabernacle, and Father Gudipalli gave a message of thanks to everyone who helped build and finance the church and to all who worked on the dedication celebration committee.

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give,” he said. “Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much.”

Bishop Taylor thanked former pastor Father Tranel and current pastor Father Gudipalli for building a community as well as a church. The self-described parish of “service and sweat equity” has seen its Mass attendance grow to 138 people in recent years. Half of its members are under age 18, and its youth group has received two diocesan awards for best youth group in the small church category.

When Booneville’s largest employer, a Cargill meat-processing plant, was destroyed on Easter Sunday 2008, parishioners donated $19,000 to a Cargill fund and formed a ministerial alliance, organizing job fairs and helping people through a food bank, outplacement and resumé services and a thrift shop. The parish community worked as a team on the church building project as well, raising more than $400,000 and never hiring anyone to do anything they could do themselves.

Following a Friday night meatless reception featuring gumbo, seafood and vegetarian pastas, salads and desserts, the parish got ready for its second big event that weekend, a confirmation Mass April 5 with Bishop Taylor officiating.