The Second Ten Years

After Father Poling’s departure in January of 1989, the Parish decided to call Father John Cotterell as their second Rector. Father moved from West Palm Beach, Florida, in October of 1989. The following year the Parish raised approximately $14,000 to renovate the steeple. Finally, after 97 years a cross came to rest atop God’s house on Academy Street.

Work on the beautification of the building continued in 1991 when the Parish received the gift of 14 Stations of the Cross. They were cast in 1937, and while we don’t know where they originally came from, it is suspected from the Polish inscriptions on the back of some of them that they must have hung in a Polish Roman Catholic Church. Father Cotterell and Dick Douglas restored and repainted them to fit in with the colors of the nave. Father Ruhlander says that almost every one that visits the church comments on their beauty.

On Christmas Eve, 1991, an organ fund was launched, and by September, 1992 a three manual Rogers organ had been purchased and installed. The instrument was dedicated at a public concert by Max Yount, Professor of Music at Beloit College.

Due to ill health Father Cotterell resigned in June, 1994, and moved to Peru, Indiana. The Parish called Father Ruhlander as our third Rector, and he began his tenure on August 1, 1994.

Two of the major concerns of the Parish when they bought the church building were the heating plant and the condition of the roof. In 1995 the Parish replaced their heating plant with two energy efficient furnaces which cut their heating bills in half. In our 20^th anniversary year we have just concluded a successful $14,000 fund drive and have replaced the roof.

In 2000, a shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Walsingham was constructed. The following year on Candlemas (February 2) it was blessed by The Rt. Reverend Rommie Starks. In 2007 an altar was place in front of the shrine.  Every year since the shrine was established, an annual Pilgrimage has been held in October to honor our Lord’s Mother.

In August of 2005 Canon Ruhlander retired as Rector, as was succeeded by The Reverend Father Barry A. Lewis, O/OSB. The following year air conditioning was installed, and in 2007 a lift between the main floor and the undercroft was completed, making the entire building handicap accessible. .

Newly baptized, a child of God receives the light of Christ

God has truly blessed this Parish. He has sent us many talented individuals precisely when we needed them. They have given their time, their talent, and their treasurer in order that His Church might continue in this community. The road to holiness is full of bumps and twists and turns, but God promises that if we remain faithful, He will lead us to that heavenly place. As we travel that road, He has given us a resting place; a place where we can quiet our hearts as we “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” We thank Him for this place and for the people who have come here over the years. They are our family.

“Blessed art thou, O Lord God of our fathers: * praised and exalted above all forever.” - BCP (1928) page 11.