Saint Mary Parish, Ogden dedicates new church

Intermountain Catholic

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Parishioners and guests gather in the plaza as the doors open to the new Saint Mary Church in West Haven. The new church is located in the heart of the parish community. Saint Mary Church was dedicated June 8.IC photos by Christine Young

WEST HAVEN — "Saint Mary Church is a house that was built on faith, love, and resources by a community of Christ," said Dave Freston, Saint Mary building committee chairman at the Saint Mary Rite of Dedication June 8.

"This is a house of love, a house of worship, a house of reverence, a house of education, and most importantly a house of God," said Freston, as Frankie Jo Freston handed the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake

City, the ceremonial key to the new Saint Mary Church. The Frestons also presented a plaque to Bishop Wester for the Martin I. Rock Education Center.

"We give thanks to this faith community, our pastors, the pastoral staff, the architects, the planners, and the builders," said Deacon Jack Clark of Saint Mary Parish.

"We also thank Bishop George Niederauer, now Archbishop of San Francisco, Bishop John C. Wester, and Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald, our vicar general," said Deacon Clark. "We give thanks to this faith community for their firm commitment to achieve this dream to have a new church strategically located in the heart of the community it serves."

Jesuit Father Martin I. Rock, pastor of Saint Mary Parish, then came forward to open the doors.

Bishop Wester concelebrated the Rite of Dedication Mass for Saint Mary Church with Msgr. Fitzgerald, Fr. Rock, and Jesuit Father Leo Prengaman. Jesuit Father Gerry Robinson, pastor of St. Ignatius Church in Sacramento, represented the California Provincial of the Jesuit Order. Clergy from throughout the diocese were also in attendance.

Deacon Silvio Mayo, chancellor of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, Deacon Lynn Johnson, Bishop Wester’s master of ceremonies, Deacon Clark, and Deacon Steve Neveraski of Saint Mary Parish, assisted at the altar.

Also in attendance were LDS Stake President Kirk Smith, other LDS dignitaries, West Haven Mayor Brian Melaney, and West Haven City council members.

Bishop Wester said, "This is a day of rejoicing. We have come together to dedicate this church by offering within it the sacrifice of Christ."

Bishop Wester blessed Saint Mary Church by sprinkling holy water on the altar, throughout the church, and blessed those assembled. Bishop Wester said, "the holy water is a sign of our repentance, a reminder of our baptism, and a symbol of the cleansing of these walls and this altar."

Bishop Wester asked the saints to support our prayers to God the Father almighty, and anointed the altar with the holy oil blessed at the Chrism Mass.

"We now anoint this altar and this building. May God make them holy, visible signs of the mystery of Christ and his Church," prayed Bishop Wester. Fr. Rock then blessed the walls of the church.

Bishop Wester incensed the altar with the fragrance of Christ.Deacon Neveraski incensed the church.

Deacon Neveraski then lit the candles and the lights were turned on to bring forth the light of Christ. Bishop Wester began the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

"The building of our new church was all about faith," said Freston. "I cannot verbally express how divinely inspired this has been.

"This church is a testament to our Lord, and it is a reflection of our parish community," said Freston. I think anyone who looks at this church can see that we thought hard constantly to wisely spend every dollar our parishioners ever gave us. We fought hard to preserve the heritage of this parish."

St. Mary Parish began as Santa Maria Mission in May 1947, dedicated by Bishop Duane G. Hunt, then Bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Bishop Hunt entrusted Santa Maria Mission to Jesuit Father Louis E. Kern and appointed him the first pastor in 1954. St. Mary Parish was dedicated Sept. 8, 1957. The administration of St. Mary parish was entrusted to the Jesuit fathers and remains today.

"It was our dream as we were building this church to have people gather to talk and laugh in the plaza outside the church," said Freston. "It came true today, and it came true when the second graders received their First Communion in May. Our attendance is up. We doubled our capacity and we are already filling our church.

"Msgr. Fitzgerald and Archbishop Niederauer, when he was bishop, really never let us lose our faith in this project," said Freston. "They encouraged us to make our church bigger. They believed the future is in this area, and that is true. Only a few years ago this was farm fields owned by the first ever Saint Mary parishioners.

"This community has been absolutely fantastic to us before we ever turned our first shovel of dirt," said Freston. "The building of the church has been such a parish-wide effort, and it is so gratifying to see so many people have ownership in it. This is a special day today."