By Tina Kitt

The Wauneta Breeze

Dating back to 1959, when construction was completed, St. John’s Catholic Church in Wauneta has been a Highway 6 landmark of modern architecture for 50 years.

Sunday afternoon parishioners and guests from across Nebraska will gather at St. John’s for a Mass by Nebraska Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz in honor of the 50th anniversary of the “new” church building.

A 2 p.m. MT/3 p.m. CT Mass will be held for confirmation of 17 fifth through ninth graders from across Chase, Dundy, Hayes and Hitchcock counties and for the 50th anniversary of the church’s construction and laying of the corner stone.

Following the Mass, a PowerPoint slide show featuring the history of the parish will be given with a cake and punch reception planned to cap the afternoon’s events.

Church history

Wauneta’s Catholic Church took root in Chase County in the early 1900s. Among the earliest members of the future St. John’s Catholic Church was George Meister who moved to the Wauneta area in 1885.

In 1913, Bishop Bonacum of the Lincoln Diocese administered confirmation in the Meister home to a class of 34.

According to a published church history, Father D.P. McCullough O.M.I. of McCook travelled by horse and buggy as he made regular visits to Wauneta from 1916 to 1928. 

On Oct. 19, 1919, he informed Bishop O’Reilly that $1,800 had been collected for a church in Wauneta. Since the estimated cost of construction was $3,000, he requested the Bishop’s assistance in securing a donation from the Catholic Church Extension Society. He also reminded the Bishop of his promise to supply some funds from the diocesan treasury.

The Extension Society agreed to contribute $500 for the new building, as long as the new church would be named in honor of Saint John. This condition was accepted by the parishioners and the pastor and he small congregation of seven Catholic families living in the immediate vicinity of Wauneta decided to proceed with construction. 

That first church was built near where the schools’ ag shop now stands today. It was a wood frame building measuring 38-feet in length and 20-feet in width, with a sacristy on one side and room for the visiting priest on the other side. Construction was completed in 1920 at a cost of $3,450. 

In accordance with the donor’s request, the church was named in honor of Saint John.

In 1947, Wauneta’s Catholic Church became affiliated with St. Patrick’s in Imperial as a mission church with Father Anthony Gruesser as pastor. Prior to that, the Oblate Fathers of McCook were in charge of the Wauneta parish. Since June 2007, St. John’s has been affiliated with St. James Catholic Church of Trenton and served by Father Val Bartek. 

Over the years the small wood frame church survived flood waters due to its location on low-lying ground not far from the river.

In the late 1950s, the decision was made by the 21 families in the parish to build a new church away from the floodplain.

Four lots were secured for the new church along Highway 6, with one of those lots donated by Mr. and Mrs. Vilas Shackelford of Imperial.

Under the supervision of Father Clement Green, construction of the new church began on July 13, 1959. The building was 82-feet long and 27-feet wide and built of masonry and heavy timber. The interior was finished in acoustical tile and Limba wood paneling.

The modern architectural design was created by Father Green and E.J. Lingo of Benkelman, with a modernistic representation of St. John, patron of the parish, designed by Paul Kubitschek of Lincoln. The figure measuring over 6-feet in height was crafted of strips of steel by church member Andy Muths utilizing a torch and tools in his farm workshop. The artistic rendering was located in a lighted outdoor alcove. A parish hall, kitchen, restrooms and storeroom were located in the basement. Chester Balius did the cabinet work in the sacristy and Thomas Rose made the candleholders.

Serving with Father Green on the building committee were parish trustees Dan Liebig and Bernard O’Neil. With nearly 1,000 hours of labor donated by parishioners, construction of the new church took less than a year and cost $22,000, with $5,000 donated by the Catholic Extension Society of America.

The Most Reverend James V. Casey, D.D., Bishop of Lincoln dedicated the new church on May 6, 1960 with a blessing and a Solemn Pontifical Mass. A luncheon followed.

Upcoming confirmation

Among the youngsters to be confirmed during this Sunday’s 50th anniversary celebration are: Tyler Davis, Gavin Ginn, Brooke Scott, Stephanie Acosta, Tayler Blume, Paul Calvert, Trysta Duvel, Ellie Lee, Joseph Sramek, Haley Hrnchir, James Randall, Nicole Strand, Lesley Towery, Jacob Calvert, Abbie Fanning, Tailor Lee and Alondra Almanza.