The key to future longevity is the same as it has always been - a foundation of faith and a missionary spirit - said spiritual and community leaders of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish on Sunday.
St. Thomas the Apostle celebrated its sesquicentennial Sunday - its 150th anniversary.
"Our celebration today is mainly thanksgiving," St. Thomas' pastor, the Rev. Leonard Mukiibi, said during the church's 10 a.m. Mass.
"There is a need for us to celebrate their strength," Mukiibi said of the first settlers of the Roman Catholic community to the area, as they laid the foundation of faith the church continues to build on.
He added that knowing one's origin directs one's destiny, and the parish couldn't afford to forget its ancestors.
"These people brought in the fire of faith," with far less resources than are available to parish members today, Mukiibi said.
Immigrants from the Prussian Empire in what's now Germany began arriving in the 1830s and settled at the Indian Bottom area, just west of what's now St. Thomas.
The Rev. Ferdinand Helias first visited the area in 1838. St. Thomas was formed as a town in 1856, but its Catholic community remained served by missionaries until 1869.
"We shall last for another 150 years," Mukiibi said, unless the foundation of the future is built upon hate and discrimination, in which case "we shall ruin all the goals, all the aspirations" of ancestors.
He also cautioned "we need to be missionaries to ourselves," to encourage vocations such as people joining the priesthood or becoming religious sisters.
Sr. RoseMary Boessen and Sr. Kathleen Donovan - representing Sr. Anne Boessen and Sr. Cecilia Lackman - brought forth the bread, wine and monetary offerings during Mass.
The Boessens and Lackman are three surviving religious sisters among 24 religious vocations in St. Thomas' history, Lueckenhoff said.
The chalices used in Sunday's Eucharistic celebration belonged to the Rev. Monsignor Bernard Boessen and the Rev. Bernard Luebbering, two deceased priests from the parish.
Other offertory gifts Sunday also symbolized the parish's 150 years:
The gift of family, represented by a copy of the 2019 parish directory - a parish family that's grown from just seven families at the beginning of the community in the 1800s to 238 in the present day
"Plentiful bounty," symbolized by a bundle of wheat
Preservation for future generations, symbolized by a copy of the parish's sesquicentennial history book
More than 300 people filled the church for its 10 a.m. worship service, said Bill Lueckenhoff, one of the organizers of the celebrations.
After Mass, people gathered outside for an opening ceremony that featured remarks, the presentation of proclamations and resolutions - or both - from St. Thomas' mayor, Cole County commissioners, and state and Congressional leaders.
St. Thomas' mayor Darrel Buechter said the parish's church and school "have been the rock, the foundation" of the city and community.
People were drawn to Sunday's celebrations from as far away as California, Idaho, Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas.
The church was also given a plaque by former pastor the Rev. James Offutt, who led St. Thomas the Apostle from 1972-75. The Rev. Don Antweiler was present, who was pastor 1994-2002.
The celebrations Sunday were also set to include a history museum in the parish hall - with vintage quilts and a sewing demonstration - vintage tractors, a blacksmith, square dancing in the school cafeteria, a pipe organ demonstration, historical tours and a performance by Helias Catholic High School's choir.
Lueckenhoff thanked the Sesquicentennial Committee, of which he's a member, that's put in about four years of work for the 150th anniversary: the Rev. Jeremy Secrist (the former pastor of St. Thomas, now pastor at St. Peter in Jefferson City), the Rev. Mukiibi, Bill Boessen, Jan Heckemeyer, Janet Lueckenhoff, Tom Backes, Jennifer Schroeder, Lauri Luebbering, Sheri Wieberg and Brian Luebbering - who chaired Sunday's events.