Immaculate Conception celebrates final Mass, honors Fr. Pupius

July 1 marked the end of an era for one Oklahoma City parish as the final Mass was celebrated at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church.

Father George Pupius, pastor of Immaculate Conception, recently retired due to ill health, and with changing populations and surrounding industrialization, the parish was closed. Archbishop Coakley was the principal celebrant at the final Mass. He was joined by Father William Novak, Father Gerard MacAulay, Father Don Wolf and Deacon James Keene.

Immaculate Conception is the second oldest Catholic parish in the area. Two years after the Land Run in 1889, five pioneer families came from Conception, Mo., to Oklahoma, bringing with them their Catholic faith. Working together on donated land, the pioneers constructed a small frame church building.

Immaculate Conception spent 60 years as a mission church. After closing temporarily during the Depression, it reopened after World War II, thanks to the newly stimulated economy and population growth. Descendants of founding families worked with new families in the area to continue developing parish facilities. Immaculate Conception got its first permanent resident pastor in 1954, Father A.O. Murphy.

To parishioners, Immaculate Conception means family life. Three generations of Sue Hay’s family have worshipped there. She says her best memories are of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren being baptized in the church.

“Immaculate Conception Church has been a lifeline to my family and my community. It has been as they say a small church with a big heart. I am proud to say that I have been one of the fortunate ones to be able to call it my church home for more than 63 years! A big thanks to choir director Ed Mitchell and pianist Pat Koelch, and of course, to Father Pupius for staying on with the church as long as he could.”

Hay asked for prayers for parish members as they seek to find a new church home. Her son Tommy echoes the importance of family in the parish.

“I will forever be grateful to Immaculate Conception and my mother for making me the Christian man that I am.”

One of the parish pioneers, Peter Wolf, is the great-grandfather of Father Don Wolf, pastor at Saint Eugene in Oklahoma City and cousin of Blessed Stanley Rother. Father Wolf was baptized there, and grew up in the parish. He celebrated his first Mass after ordination there, and many members of the Wolf family are buried in the Immaculate Conception cemetery.

“It was always a place marked out by family life. We all went to Mass there together and none of us thought what we did was pious or extreme, we were all Catholic together and our lives together were the most obvious thing of our lives, and it included the church at Immaculate Conception,” Father Wolf said.

Deacon James Keene served three Masses a weekend at the parish for 15 years. He retired with the closing of the parish and is adjusting to simply attending Mass rather than managing lots of details each week.

Deacon Keene called the people of Immaculate Conception a joy, faithful and generous. Although he is no longer their deacon, he continues to check on parishioners as they find new parishes within the archdiocese.

By all accounts, the final Mass for this parish family was a meaningful event. Many former parishioners came back to celebrate one last time.

Father Wolf preached the homily, and choir director Ed Mitchell shared a song he wrote honoring the parish. Hay said it was “so special and so well done” that the memory is one she will cherish.

Now that the tabernacle is empty and the sanctuary lamp blown out, the people of Immaculate Conception said they will carry treasured memories and their Catholic faith to the next chapter in their journey.

On July 22, the Immaculate Conception family gathered again to honor Father Pupius, who is now in hospice care. Approximately 40 people gathered in his room at Saint Ann Nursing Home in Oklahoma City to celebrate his 55 years of priestly service.

Parishioners and friends shared songs, including hymns on the saxophone. Attendees also offered prayers, and stories of gratitude for father’s vocation and ministry. Some remembered him baptizing their children who are now adults, others mentioned him staying late after healing Masses to hear confessions. The afternoon was a joyful tribute to Father Pupius, thanking him for his lifetime of spiritual leadership.

Debi Wagner is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.