Students at Our Lady of Lourdes ended their school year last May with a mission health walk, to raise funds for the missions, while promoting physical fitness. The parish will begin its 50th anniversary celebration on Feb. 11. DECATUR - Our Lady of Lourdes Parish will begin its 50th anniversary celebration with an opening Mass on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, Feb. 11, at 6 p.m. On the same day, Lourdes, France is commemorating the 150th anniversary of Our Lady's first appearance there to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.
In Decatur, Bishop George J. Lucas, and Bishop Kevin Vann of Fort Worth, Texas, a former pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes, will join current pastor, Father Richard Weltin, to concelebrate the Mass with priests who are from or have served in the parish, as well as with other priests from throughout the Springfield diocese. A reception will be held after Mass in the school gymnasium.
"We would like everyone who has been a part of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, or friends and supporters of the parish to come celebrate 50 years of jubilation, faith and a real expression of God's love for his people," said Father Weltin.
Because the feast takes place during the Lenten season, the parish art and environment committee plans to honor Mary in a quiet and dignified fashion in the church. The design of flowing waters in the stained glass windows of the church are the inspiration for banners that will declare Mary's pronouncement to Bernadette: "I am the Immaculate Conception." Additional banners will bear the nine titles of Mary that are part of the Water Walk at Lourdes, France. The banners will remain on display in the church throughout the jubilee year, so parishioners and visitors who choose to do so can take the Water Walk, read the biblical verses of the Walk, and pray silently along the nine stations.
Students at Our Lady of Lourdes School have made banners depicting 33 titles of Mary, which will be on display in the gymnasium during the opening reception. Each banner is decorated at the top with a fleur de lis, a universally recognized symbol of the Trinity, and a flower always linked to Mary because it represents purity.
Another banner is a portrait of Mary designed especially for the parish anniversary celebration. It is enlarged from a much smaller original watercolor based upon Bernadette's vision of Mary. It depicts Mary as a young girl of about 17, golden roses at her feet, a sash of blue and a golden rosary in her hand.
In the fall of 1958, Bishop William J. O'Connor gave Father John H. Ratchford the task of surveying the needs of the Catholic community in Decatur and the surrounding communities. At that time there were 3,289 Catholics in the Decatur area, being served by three Catholic churches - St. Patrick, St. James and St. Thomas. Two years earlier, in 1956, the Springfield diocese had purchased a 10-acre tract of land on the city's north side on Mound Street between MacArthur Road and Route 51. When the decision was made to found a new parish to serve the needs of the Catholic community in the north part of the city, the parish boundary was set on the south at Pershing Road and on the north at the Macon County line.
Since 1958 was the 100th anniversary of the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Bernadette at Lourdes, Our Lady of Lourdes was selected as the patron for the new parish. Oct. 28, 1958, the day Our Lady of Lourdes Parish was officially founded, also was the day Pope John XXIII was elected pope.
Seven days later, on Nov. 4, the ordination day of Pope John XXIII, Father Ratchford took the oath of office as the first pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes. Father Ratchford stayed at the St. Patrick rectory until the first Lourdes rectory was purchased. The glassed-in porch at the rectory at 4004 Cambridge Dr. served as a weekday chapel for the parish. Sunday liturgies were celebrated in the St. Teresa High School gymnasium.
Fund-raising began under the direction of Father Ratchford, and within seven months ground was broken for the first parish building. The original plan called for a $300,000 10-classroom school with facilities for a combined church and school. DeWitt-Amdal and Associates were the architects.
Bedford limestone was used on the exterior of the building, which featured six classrooms and four classroom shells that were intended to be used as a church. An office, reception room, faculty lounge, gymnasium and kitchen completed the school complex, and the actual cost was $267,000.
On Aug. 7, 1960, the first Mass was celebrated in the south end of the new school, which became a temporary church for the parish. Within a few weeks three Dominican sisters from Springfield arrived to staff the new school, together with three lay teachers. On Sept. 6, 1960, the doors to Our Lady of Lourdes School opened to admit 204 students in grades 1-6. A convent was built for the sisters that same year. Bishop O'Connor blessed the new school in dedication ceremonies on Nov. 4.
By the fall of 1964, the school had outgrown its original six classrooms, and needed the four classrooms being used as a church. The church was moved to the school gymnasium, where it remained until 1980, when a new church and rectory were completed.
On May 4, 1980, Bishop Joseph McNicholas dedicated the new church. Three years later Bishop McNicholas approved a $40,330 expansion of the school, which included five new classrooms, while two classrooms on the southeast side of the school were converted into a parish center.
Editor's note: Information for this article supplied by the OLOL 50th anniversary committee.