Bishop offers Mass in renewed Annunciation Church in California
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A parishioner’s forgotten gift to Annunciation Parish in California kept growing without anyone knowing.
When it came time to maximize the beauty of Annunciation Church, the gift was still there.
“We were getting ready to start a capital campaign to do some renovations, and then someone remembered that a gentleman back in the late ’90s donated $300,000 to be used on the church,” said Connor McGill, a lifelong Annunciation parishioner and current parish pastoral council president.
That man’s name was Henry Schmutz.
“Some of the money had been used to pave the parking lot, which used to be gravel,” Mr. McGill noted. “But Fr. Viviano looked into it, and sure enough, the rest of it was in an account, accruing interest for all these years.”
Bishop Ralph B. O’Donnell offered Mass in Annunciation Church on June 21 — Father’s Day and the first day of summer — to celebrate the completion of the renovations, which brought greater depth and solemnity to the sanctuary and the rest of the church.
“Things like this don’t just happen,” Bishop O’Donnell emphasized. “They come about through commitment and love, they come about because you share communal values, you look toward the future, you’re grateful to all the grandparents and great-grandparents who paved the way, who set a solid foundation before us.
“And you set a place for the little ones to grow up gathering here and praying here with us,” the bishop stated.
Father Anthony Viviano, pastor of Annunciation Parish and of St. Andrew Parish in Tipton, joined the bishop at the altar.
Deacon Robert Reinkemeyer assisted.
Newly installed lights highlighted the beauty of the Byzantine crucifix the late Monsignor Francis Gilgannon had bought for the parish while serving as pastor.
Statues of the Blessed Mother and of St. Joseph holding the infant Jesus had been repainted and moved to new pedestals on the sanctuary walls.
Murals symbolizing Baptism and Mary’s “yes” to becoming the mother of the Savior had been refurbished and highlighted.
The Stations of the Cross had been given new frames.
Artists using a centuries-old painting technique called trompe l’oeil (French for “deceive the eye”) had created a three-dimensional optical illusion of pillars, arches and cornices around the murals and statues and surrounding the stained-glass windows.
New, curved pews of oak had been custom-built and installed, maximizing seating space, widening the side aisles and helping to keep everyone focused on the altar.
The carpet had been replaced by matted ceramic tile in the aisles, shimmering polished tile in the sanctuary, and neutral carpeting under the pews.
The entire color scheme had been made brighter, as had the lights.
Everything sparkled. Everything matched.
“You can’t underestimate the power of beauty,” said Fr. Viviano. “It has the power to draw us together into a deeper experience of Christ’s presence and to worship him more fully.”
“God’s house”
Sunday Masses were offered in the parish hall below the church from January through May of this year, while the renovations were taking place upstairs.
“It was pretty stark, but we made it work,” said parishioner Barbara Brandt, who helped coordinate the renovation. “It was a bit challenging sometimes. Easter Vigil Mass was freezing!”
Some parishioners fulfilled their Sunday obligation at neighboring parishes because of limited space in the hall.
Parishioners carried out the old pews after Mass one Sunday to make room for the painters and those who would install the new floor.
They also transported the woodwork and sanctuary furnishings across town for refinishing, then brought them back after the work was completed.
“It’s like your home,” said Mrs. Brandt. “After a certain amount of time, it starts needing a little TLC.
“And you want the sanctuary to be beautiful, because it’s God’s house!” she said. “And God is beautiful.”
Mrs. Brandt moved to California with her husband 31 years ago and became Catholic along the way.
She recalled that the interior of Annunciation Church was very simple back then.
Renovations carried out about 20 years ago brought the now-beloved sanctuary murals into being.
The crucifix above the tabernacle, where the sloped ceiling reaches its highest point, was previously lit from behind. Newly installed spotlights in front of the crucifix do a better job of bringing out its color and details.
The previous pew configuration was angular and cumbersome.
“The curved pews have a much friendlier feel to them,” said Mrs. Brandt.
The beauty is not skin-deep. Fr. Viviano noted that the parish’s faith and devotion have increased commensurately with the church’s aesthetics.
“Annunciation has really hit its stride, and we’re very grateful for that,” he told Bishop O’Donnell. “The number of babies baptized, the number of people who come to Mass, the people who are committed to doing God’s work in their everyday lives — all of this is a tremendous blessing.”
Set on bedrock
Thunder rumbled outside as Bishop O’Donnell led the Penitential Rite.
Cooing and fussing children responded antiphonally to the readings.
Bishop O’Donnell spoke of the strong foundation laid by Annunciation’s founding priests and parishioners, as well as all who have followed them. They remained focused on God in both times of joy and times of difficulty.
“We cannot rest on our laurels,” Bishop O’Donnell cautioned. “Future generations depend on our good judgment, our fidelity, our care and our hard work. They will find in this generation what you have found in those who came before you.
“Let us take great courage and hope today in the words of our Lord: ‘Do not be afraid,’” he said. “Love the Lord. Follow his example. And live in the confidence that his care for you will see you through, to the glory of God.”
The storm passed, and sunlight beamed brightly through the stained glass after Holy Communion as the congregation sang a rousing a cappella rendition of “O Sacrament Most Holy.”
Every note swelled and lingered within the church’s newly resilient acoustics.
Room to grow
The first Catholic settlers in what is now Moniteau County began arriving from present-day Germany in the 1830s.
Jesuit Father Ferdinand Helias, a Belgian missionary now remembered as the Apostle of Central Missouri, offered Mass for them in 1838 in present-day Cedron.
The rise of the city of California came with the Missouri Pacific Railroad in the 1850s.
In 1857, Father William Walsh of Jefferson City began traveling to the Burke and Buchanan homes in California to offer Mass for railroad workers, farmers and residents of the nearby settlement known as Dublin, as well as some of the German families who had moved in from Cedron.
Dr. John Burke donated three acres, and parishioners built a wooden church there in 1860.
Priests from Jefferson City offered Mass there one Sunday a month until Archbishop Peter R. Kenrick of St. Louis assigned a full-time resident pastor.
The church and the parish school burned down in 1900. Work quickly got under way on a new, much more substantial church.
In 1901, Bishop John J. Glennon, coadjutor bishop of Kansas City, dedicated the new church to the glory of God in honor of the Annunciation of the Blessed Mother.
The parish had outgrown that church by the early 1980s. It was time to plan for the future.
Twenty-nine couples went door-to-door, conducting a parish census and asking for pledges to build a new church.
Ground breaking took place on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, March 25, 1984.
The bell and stained-glass windows from the 1860 and 1901 churches were incorporated into the design.
The late Bishop Michael F. McAuliffe, second bishop of Jefferson City, dedicated the church in May 1985.
California dreaming
Mr. McGill was baptized in Annunciation Church and grew up in the parish.
“Now I get to go to church here with my family,” he said.
He called the parish a great community and said it’s a blessing to belong to it.
“Our church is growing and doing a lot of good things,” he said. “And I give a lot of props to Father. He’s a great guy and a great priest.”
Fr. Viviano told Kaden Quinn, editor of the California Democrat newspaper, that the purpose of renovating a church is to glorify God and to inspire people in their faith.
“It also kind of lifts the burden, if you will, for the next generation, to make sure that we have a beautiful, physically healthy structure to be able to gather as a people of faith,” the priest stated.
There’s more to do.
Mrs. Brandt spoke of plans to refurbish the parish annex building, add parking, upgrade the security systems and complete the road to the nearby parish pavilion.
“We want to keep the momentum going and work on things that need to get done,” she said.
Mr. McGill asked for prayers for the people of Annunciation Parish to continue doing the right things to lead others to Christ, and to continue becoming what God created them to be.
He’s confident that the faith community will still be strong and vibrant when his young children are old enough to raise their own families, if that’s what God has planned for them.
“Maybe thriving even more than it is today,” he said. “I hope so. That’d be great.”
