Explosion of growth continues for Mt. Vernon’s St. Rose of Lima

By Michelle Ogden

Our parish family at St. Rose of Lima Mt. Vernon has been truly blessed in recent years. Since the completion of a new church in 2021, we have witnessed remarkable growth as our parish family has doubled in size. With this growth has come a deepening of faith, fellowship, and commitment to our mission of forming disciples and strengthening the Body of Christ in our community.

One clear sign of this energy has been the overwhelming participation in parish events. On Saturday, Aug. 23, we celebrated our annual golf tournament and St. Rose Day. The tournament set a parish record for this event, thanks to the generosity of parishioners, friends, and sponsors who came together for a day of fun and fellowship on the course. 

That evening, St. Rose Day brought our community together in a spirit of gratitude and joy. We enjoyed dueling pianos, homemade ice cream, and a spectacular fireworks display as we celebrated our feast day and the exciting milestone of paying off our new church in only three and a half years. 

This night was also highlighted by the drawing of our car raffle winner, for which more than 500 tickets were sold. This year’s raffle carried a particularly moving story: The vehicle was donated by Jeff Schira, a Catholic from Texas who was simply passing through Kansas. After learning about our parish’s extensive growth, he felt called to support us. Believing we were the perfect candidate for this gift, he donated the vehicle in honor of his late brother, turning his generosity into a blessing for our parish and an inspiration to all of us.

At the heart of all these efforts is our capital campaign, which seeks to provide a lasting home for our growing ministries through the construction of a new Discipleship Center. This center will be a place where we can gather for faith formation, fellowship, and outreach, serving both our current parish family and generations to come. 

Fr. Daniel Duling expresses enthusiasm for this next chapter. “The most exciting thing about all this project is to see the future of our parish and everything that’s happening around us,” he said. “Since we built this church, our parish families have doubled in size; we weren’t expecting that. We built the new church thinking we would grow into it over the next 10-15 years. We have been in the new church four years and we are filling it up. But with this rapid growth comes its own challenges like space for our programs and ministries. The space we do have is in such disrepair that it would cost us more to keep it up or repair than to build something new. If we don’t do something now, we are going to hinder the growth of our parish.”

That urgency and hope is echoed by longtime parishioners. Lifetime parishioner Matt Albers reflected on the project’s implications for the parish community. “What excites us most about this project is the opportunity to pass along facilities that will continue to grow the family and community at St. Rose, as well as help make disciples,” he said. “The church is a living tradition, so we have all been called to make disciples. This next phase will do that.”

This work comes at a particularly important time. We have been making do for years with our beloved but aging little schoolhouse. That space has served us well, but unfortunately, it appears this will be the final year we are able to utilize it. The building requires major repairs, and its outdated infrastructure, HVAC, and electrical systems leave us unable to do much more to keep it running. Although it will be bittersweet to say goodbye to a place that has been so central to parish life, we trust that the Lord is guiding us into a new chapter, and the discipleship center is a critical step forward.

We invite all parishioners and friends to visit our campaign page on our parish website, strosemtvernon.com/capital-campaign, to see what we have been up to, to learn more about the vision for our discipleship center, and to prayerfully consider supporting this exciting new chapter in our parish’s story.

Together, our parish family is building something lasting that will strengthen our faith, serve our neighbors, and bear witness to the gospel for generations to come. May God continue to bless our parish, and may he bring to completion the good work he has begun among us.

Michelle Ogden is a parishioner at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Mt. Vernon.