Posted on 07/30/2021 5:01:45 PM PDT by ebb tide
CHEBOYGAN, Michigan, July 30, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — In the 17th century, French Jesuit priests like Fr. Jacques Marquette arrived in Northern Michigan and converted thousands of Native Americans to the Catholic faith. Today, towns across the region have historical markers and monuments erected in his honor.
Much like the wider Church, a crisis of faith shook the Catholic community in Northern Michigan following the Second Vatican Council. Eventually, the Diocese of Gaylord was forced to close several churches, including St. Charles Borromeo, one of the largest in the area, in the 1980s.
St. Charles, which was built in the early part of the 1900s, was eventually sold to a group of Protestants. Decades of neglect finally caught up with the building. By the mid-2000s, it had become practically unusable due to water damage and structural issues.
Bill Price, a former Marine, saw the church was listed for sale in the 2010s after he and his wife, who grew up in Cheboygan, were visiting the town. Price told LifeSite he was “inspired” to purchase the property because of what it represented to the area.
In 2019, Price purchased the dilapidated church, which can hold upwards of 500 people, for $25,000, eventually taking out a mortgage on it. Since then, he’s been essentially single-handedly restoring it to its former glory. A small group of volunteers have helped install air conditioning and other amenities.
In recent years, Price has done extensive work patching up holes in the roof to prevent further water damage. He’s also built the base of the altar, fixed the windows, and installed donated altar rails.
While financial support has generally been sparse, Price told LifeSite he’s received several donations higher than a thousand dollars, which he immediately put back into the building. There is currently a GoFundMe site to help Price pay for the restoration. (Click here if you would like to help restore St. Charles to its former glory.)
Although there remains much work to be done, including the installation of new floors and bell towers, Price announced the grand re-opening of St. Charles on Sunday, July 11. Traditional Catholics from across the state, including some from Cheboygan who attended and were married at St. Charles before it closed, responded to the announcement with much celebration.
Five choirs from various Latin Mass churches in Michigan, along with approximately 300 laypersons, attended the liturgy, which was offered by a priest of the Society of St. Pius X, who in turn was assisted by several others. It was the first Latin Mass offered at St. Charles in over five decades. Price said he initially approached the Gaylord Diocese about St. Charles but they responded that they weren’t interested.
Fr. William Kimball told LifeSite that the restoration of St. Charles is similar to the restoration to the church as a whole, explaining that the building is still marred by decades of poor treatment and that it has scars from the past, but that it’s still the Bride of Christ and that God will restore it in due time.
College student Erika Grondin, who attends a Latin Mass in Grand Rapids, which is nearly four hours from Cheboygan, drove to St. Charles with her boyfriend Xavier Webster for the Mass. Her father had been baptized at the church as an infant. She told LifeSite she “had to come” to the re-opening because of what it meant to her family, as well as what it means for tradition.
“During COVID, it became clear the mainstream church viewed the sacraments as disposable. I hope more young people will see the sacrality of the Latin Mass and appreciate the effort these priests are making to bring the faith to us during these times.”
Price said he’s excited about the possibility of other priests who want to say the Latin Mass coming to St. Charles. He had special praise for Fr. James Altman, who he said is more than welcome to visit St. Charles any time, as well as all priests who defend the Latin liturgy.
If you would like to help complete the restoration of St. Charles Borromeo, there is currently a GoFundMe page setup. Click here if you would like to help restore St. Charles to its former glory.
Ebb, after all our years together it’s clear to me you are what’s called a “black and white thinker.” (Please do not interpret that as a racist insult.)
In my old age I’ve become more of an expansive thinker. I don’t give the knee-jerk FR reactions that everyone nods and says, “Yeah, damn right.” I’m not a progressive, I’m mostly a conservative, and I don’t think in platitudes. When I don’t answer in the expected (commonplace) way, it makes you uncomfortable, you can’t categorize it, so you reject automatically what causes you the anxiety of uncertainty.
Peace.
I would never suggest a person apostasize.
I confuse you two easily. My apologies. Here is what has stuck in my mind:
Do you agree with Murph, Marchmain?
Whether you do or not, mea culpa for the mix-up.
Pax
Jim has specifically banned any attempts at unmasking people on Free Republic.
Would you like a ban notice?
What are you babbling about now?
Do not ask people about their real-life names.
If that’s against the rules, I offer a second apology to Marchmain.
👍🏻
What might help would be if you wold kindly clarify “TLM refugee”. Are you a refugee to or from TLM? FWIW, the Coolidge-like “troll” comment is subject to prompt withdrawal if “to” applies rather than “from”.
No problem, ebb. I always read Murphs’ posts, good insights.
Gosh, I don’t understand what you’re upset about? Ban someone... I don’t see why?
Is this about the “Christine Niles” joke? No, I am not Christine Niles. I’m much better educated. (Ha.)
‘Are you a refugee to or from TLM?’
both
Fascinating. Honestly...I’m interested to know the progression you’ve gone through.
Please forgive me for suggesting that you are a troll. It sounds as if you’ve certainly earned the right to speak your piece.
May I ask if you were or are a refugee to or from what until recently was referred to as “the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite”, sometimes as the “Novus Ordo”, and now, by Bergoglio, as the only valid form of the Roman Rite?
I was introduced to the TLM many decades ago but there was none nearby, or almost anywhere, at that time. I also followed through books mostly the “old-fashioned” devotions and Church traditions. In 2007 with S.P., our parish priest began offering one TLM, very simply done, but distinctive. This ended when he died a few years ago. No other TLM’s in driving distance, and the new priest is sincere but his N.O. mass is very ‘protestantized’.
Got it.
So it’s not as if something about the TLM caused you to become alienated from the TLM. Rather, it was a “rug pulled out from under” situation that caused you to become TLM-deprived against your will or beyond your control.
A shame. But good on you for supporting that faithful priest’s efforts while they lasted.
Most of my critiques are against Barron, not you. It's when you bear false witness about Catholics, I engage you.
I consider neither of you, nor Barron to be orthodox Catholics.
Secondly, I think you, like Francis, is thinking the Holy Ghost is constantly talking to y'all and He's constantly changing His mind.
I don't think the two of you would recognize the Holy Ghost even if He knocked you off your high horses.
You never said EO, you said Orthodox, i.e. schismatics. Don't try to crawfish out that one.
And, now we are all ‘deprived’ due to pope’s TC. That’s really what I meant by ‘refugee’ - he’s banished us from our own country.
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