St. Mary Parish in Waco celebrates 150th anniversary

By Alfredo E. Cardenas | Correspondent

When Waco Catholics placed the cornerstone for the Catholic Church of the Assumption on July 24, 1870, the city was under military siege. The Civil War had just ended, and Union forces were running state affairs under Federal Reconstruction mandates.
One-hundred-fifty years later, when parishioners planned to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the church’s founding, they had to observe state-mandated social distancing rules in response to a virus like the world has not seen in more than 100 years. But, like with the military occupation, the Spanish flu, two world wars, the Great Depression, encounters with the Klan and a sundry of other obstacles, St. Mary of the Assumption parishioners were up to the challenge.  
“We wish we could celebrate it differently,” Bishop Joe Vasquez told parishioners at a Mass celebrating the 150th anniversary on July 26. “We should rejoice over it. We should thank God we’re part of this, even though sad. God knows this is where we belong.”
While the coronavirus pandemic hindered plans for the celebration, parishioners, under the leadership of their pastor, Father Joseph Francis Geleney, stayed focused on their goals. They published a memory book with photographs highlighting significant events in the parish’s history and gave it to members of the congregation as a gift of remembrance, along with rosaries and holy cards with a picture of Mother Mary in blue velvet bags. They also sold commemorative T-shirts.
Catholics first began to make their way to the new town of Waco in 1849. History notes that the first Mass was celebrated at the Bower’s home in Waco in 1855. Fifteen years later, in 1870, Catholics in Waco organized their first congregation under the guidance of Father J. L. Bussant, a French missionary. Several years later, Father Bussant asked the Sisters of Mary Namur to set up a school, which closed in 1915.
Amid World War II, on Sept. 13, 1942, the parish dedicated its fourth church, built of Texas limestone and modeled after European Gothic cathedrals. The new sanctuary became a reality under the guidance of Msgr. J.J. Kearns, who, over his 36-year tenure, oversaw the expansion of many facilities at St. Mary. A rectory was built before the dedication of the new church and, in 1950, he added a parish youth center and convent.
Msgr. Kearns reopened the elementary school in 1947 and, in 1954, supervised construction of Reicher Catholic High School in North Waco. While the elementary school closed again in 2001, the parish still provides tuition assistance for St. Mary’s families as well as for students at what is now Bishop Louis Reicher Catholic School.
Bricks and mortar were not the only additions to St. Mary. Over the years, the parish nourished 36 women who entered religious life and received nine men into the permanent diaconate.
From its beginnings, St. Mary of the Assumption was the focal point of Catholicism in the Waco area. For the first 50 years, it was the only Catholic Church in a mostly Protestant region and experienced healthy growth, including a significant number of Spanish-surnamed parishioners. In 1924, however, Franciscan Missionaries founded St. Francis on the Brazos, which attended to the spiritual needs of the Mexican population and was assigned as a mission of St. Mary.
By 1951, St. Mary counted more than 1,700 families in its rolls. But its growth soon began to be curtailed as the new Diocese of Austin steadily founded new parishes in Waco and the surrounding area. In 1951, St. Joseph Parish in Bellmead (just northeast of Waco) was dedicated.
Two years later, St. John Parish in East Waco opened, and four years after that, Sacred Heart in South Waco was established. St. Louis Parish was founded in 1968 and St. Jerome Parish in Hewitt (just southwest of Waco) established in 1983. The diocese also organized rural missions under St. Mary’s guidance, including St. Eugene in McGregor and St. Joseph in Elk, and assigned the Catholic Student Center at Baylor University to St. Mary, until it became St. Peter Catholic Student Center on land adjoining the campus.
This growth has left St. Mary in the center of Waco, away from neighborhoods and hemmed in by “commercial corridors,” Father Geleney said.
Today, there are 350 families, 20% of what it was in 1951. The makeup of the parish family is also much different, with mostly an elderly congregation. This demographic change has meant a new approach to ministry. In recent years, the parish has averaged three to five baptisms annually and two to three confirmations, and has not witnessed a sacramental marriage in three years. Only 40 children are enrolled in religious education.
Since many elderly parishioners are homebound, Father Geleney oversees an active homebound ministry and regularly visits nursing homes and hospitals. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely hampered these ministries, Father Geleney said. Eucharistic ministers cannot take communion to those who are homebound and unable to attend Mass. The only exception is for a family member to take the Eucharist to a loved one.
While attendance at Mass averaged 300 on Sunday, today, it is down to 200. St. Mary, however, has embraced new media. It provides livestreaming of Sunday Mass, has a comprehensive website (stmarys-waco.org), and a social media presence on Facebook (facebook.com/St.Marys.Catholic.Church.Waco). It also uses Flocknote to send text messages and emails to parishioners.
In his homily during the anniversary Mass, Bishop Vásquez said it was important for parishioners to remember their legacy.
“I hope it continues for many more centuries, and all the good things that have happened here over the years will continue,” he said.