Parishioners give away the northeast Nebraska church they loved

It’s never – NEVER – easy to close a church, Father Jerry Connealy acknowledges.

But the parish he grew up in, Holy Family in Decatur, found a way to take a little sting out of that process by bringing some good out of it.

Now he couldn’t be prouder of the parish, he said.

In May the Decatur Museum – housed in a historic home built in 1875 – was destroyed by a fire, along with most of its contents.

The loss was devastating to the village of about 600 residents. But it was even worse for the volunteers who poured years of work into the museum, said Joe Malloy, a lifelong member of the community and of Holy Family Parish. Some of the museum workers told him that it felt like they’d lost a family member.

So Holy Family parishioners had an idea – a difficult, but charitable one – and took it to their pastor, Father Mark Beran.

“Pretty much immediately after that (the museum fire), the parishioners came to me,” the priest said. They asked: “Father, would there be a possibility for us to give our buildings to the museum so they can start over?”

Holy Family members already had seen the writing on the wall, said Malloy, who serves as parish trustee. Holy Family had dwindled down to about 15 active families and had just three priests serving 11 of the 12 parishes in their expansive Holy Apostles Parish Family, which covers a large swath of land along the Missouri River.

Other churches in Decatur were seeing similar declines in numbers. “You could just see it coming,” Malloy said of the inevitable closing of his church.

“It’s just tough to see when it’s something you’ve had all your life, and then it’s gone,” he said. “But I think everybody’s pretty resilient. They knew it was coming and accepted it.”

Father Beran agreed to contact the museum. “And they were excited about it,” he said. “Then we started talking with the archdiocese, and that’s kind of what got the whole process started.”

“We are looking forward to the beautiful church and grounds,” Jane Judt, from the museum, said.  “It means a lot to our board and also to the village of Decatur to continue having a museum.”

Now that transition is nearly complete, with Archbishop George J. Lucas granting his approval and final paperwork pending.

The parish had been moving toward that transition for a while, though, especially since the start of Journey of Faith, the archdiocese’s plan for the future, which recognized declines in priest numbers and Mass attendance.

As part of Journey of Faith consolidations, Holy Family had not been having weekend Masses for about a year and a half. Once a month, a Tuesday evening Mass had been offered.

Then came the decision to hand over the parish property to the museum.

On Jan. 7 parishioners, and former parishioners who had moved away, gathered for one last Tuesday evening Mass.

Holy Family Parish celebrates the last Mass at its church in Decatur on Jan. 7. HOLY FAMILY PARISH

Father Beran and associate pastor Father Kevin Joyce, a former pastor at Holy Family, concelebrated. Father Jim Kramper, another former pastor, also was there.

The Gospel reading for the day happened to be an account of Jesus’ multiplication of five loaves of bread and two fish to feed a multitude that had gathered. The reading begins: “When Jesus saw the vast crowd, His heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.”

Jesus looked at Holy Family parishioners similarly, Father Beran said in his homily at the last Mass. The Lord “looks at them with love and compassion as they go through this time of transition,” the pastor said.

After Mass, the 30 or so in attendance shared their memories of their church, stories of “mischievous kids in the choir loft, stories of former priests who served there, and the sense of family that people always felt at the church,” Father Beran said.

The last Mass concludes at Holy Family Church in Decatur. HOLY FAMILY PARISH

They took pictures and shared a meal in the church hall, which included parishioner Lynn Kellogg’s famous smoked ribs. Another associate pastor, Father Mark Bridgman, was able to join them there.

In the days that followed, parishioners moved out the church furnishings and found good homes for them, especially the sacred items.

A tabernacle went to Father Connealy, who now lives in Laurel and serves the Parish Family of the Immaculate Conception and as servant minister for other archdiocesan priests.

Father Connealy will use the tabernacle at a home in Laurel that he purchased for retirement, which begins in July. He said he plans to name his home chapel “Holy Family Chapel.”

Parish members claimed most of the 22 pews at Holy Family Church. The stained glass windows will stay at the museum, which will have a display about Holy Family Parish, an important part of local history.

The church’s crucifix has gone to the neighboring parish of St. Joseph in Lyons, where Holy Family parishioners will still be able to gaze upon it.

“That’s going to be nice to see something that was in our church,” Malloy said.

“We want a little piece of Holy Family” to go the churches that Holy Family parishioners frequent, Father Beran said.

Malloy sees the relationship between the parish and museum as having come full circle. His parish first celebrated Mass in 1862 at the home of A.B. Fuller.

The museum had been located at a later home for Fuller, built in 1875.

The former Decatur Museum WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The parish’s first church was a storehouse that had been moved from Sioux City, Iowa, in 1880. The parish was known as St. Michael until its current church building was built in 1924 and the parish name became Holy Family.

At least five religious vocations have sprouted from Holy Family, including those of the late Father John Connealy, retired Father Michael Malloy (Joe Malloy’s brother), Notre Dame Sister Joy Connealy, Sister Joan Paul Tobin of the School Sisters of Christ the King in Lincoln and Father Jerry Connealy, who, along with his other duties, is senior associate pastor of the Parish Family of the Immaculate Conception, which includes parishes in Wayne, Laurel and Dixon.

Image from a book of Holy Family history compiled by Father Mike Malloy

“We’ve had a lot of vocations out of that little tiny parish,” Father Connealy said of Holy Family.

He said his parents took their seven children “to church for everything.”

“I don’t know how they got anything out of it, but they did. My devotion to the Eucharist came from that,” he said, recalling how as a child he watched the priest preside at Benediction at Holy Family.

“A lot of good memories from there,” he said as he reminisced.

Joe Malloy said he, too, has his share of memories after being a member of Holy Family for 70 years.

“It was very hard, very emotional,” to realize that he will never worship at the church again.

“This is the only parish I’ve ever known,” he said. “Every Sunday you went to church there. You didn’t think about going anywhere else.”

But to their credit, parishioners have accepted the changes well, said Malloy, who has served Holy Family Parish in many ways, including “cemetery mower, tree trimmer, snow scooper.”

Both Father Beran and Father Connealy said they are proud of Holy Family parishioners, who saw that the museum was struggling and wanted to help.

“They felt called by Jesus to offer their spiritual home to be the museum’s new home,” Father Beran said.

“There’s definitely sadness there, but it’s been beautiful. They really do see it as a calling. They saw it as a way … to use their buildings to help the community, to use all the sacrifices of previous generations to make these buildings possible, to have them continue to serve the community through this museum.

“And they know the museum is going to take good care of it and honor the history of it, because that’s what museums do,” he said.

“It really was a win-win for everybody. Still sad, still hard, but they really do see it as a calling.”

“I’m very proud of the parishioners,” Father Connealy said, “because they made this decision for the good of the community. And it is never easy – never easy,” he emphasized, to close a church. “We all have ancestors who donated to it to help put it together.”

“That was their choice, the people’s choice, and I just think they’re doing a great job.”

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