Seminole church celebrates 90th anniversary

On Dec. 9, 1928, in the austere surroundings of Seminole City Hall, an Irish missionary with a long-white beard like a medieval Santa Claus, intoned the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
 
On that day, along with the baby being baptized, Seminole County’s Catholics gained a new identity, connected as a new community of believers and beginning a new way of life in support of their new church.
 
The baptism was the first recorded event for Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Seminole. Prior to that day, Seminole’s Catholic flock had been tended by French missionaries from Sacred Heart in Konawa.
 
On the Feast of The Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8, the congregation celebrated that beginning 90 years ago with an anniversary Mass followed by a reception in the church hall on Wrangler Boulevard.
 
The Feast of The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrates that holy moment on which all Christianity was born and leads up to the most joyous season of Christ’s birth.
 
Janette Minihan, president of the church’s Altar Society, said invitations were sent to members who have moved away as well as to several church dignitaries, and that the community was also invited. There was a good turnout, despite threats of snow and ice.
 
The Mass was concelebrated by Father Joseph Schwarz, pastor, and Father Bala Mandagiri, associate pastor.
 
Catholicism came to Seminole County, Indian Territory, in the 1800s, brought by French missionaries Father Isidore Robot and Brother Dominic Lambert, both of the Order of Saint Benedict.
 
The Benedictines are a branch of medieval monks who trace their origins to Benedict of Nursia, 480-547 AD. They dedicate themselves to a community life centered around the Church and the daily celebration of Mass.
 
They arrived in Indian Territory in 1875 and spent the winter in Atoka, which had been established as a mission of Fort Smith, Ark., three years earlier. By 1877, the missionaries established Sacred Heart in Konawa and went from there to establish missions throughout the region. Seminole was the last church they founded.
 
Seminole’s first resident priest, Father Patrick McNamee, arrived in Seminole in 1927. An Irishman born in Rangoon, India, he was sent from Belloc Abbey in France to Sacred Heart in 1903.
 
The Seminole mission’s first baptism was in a private home in May 1927 and became a regular church with the baptism in December 1928.
 
With no church available, Father McNamee held Masses in feed stores, city hall and private homes, including the home of founding member Rose Connelly Barrett, grandmother of current members Pat and Martin Barrett.
 
Father Patrick McNamee never got to build an actual church building in Seminole. In 1928, he built a rectory that had a chapel open to the public, which he used for all services.
 
A church building was not constructed until 1938, under his successor, Father Martin Mulcahey (1934-1942). Despite the challenges of the Great Depression, and with much financial support from the community, including Seminole’s Protestants, a Catholic church made of wood was built at the corner of Milt Phillips (then called First Street) and Evans.
 
Father Claude Sons served as priest for one year in 1942 and was followed by Father Eloi Joustou from 1943 to 1951. Father Joustou was born in France in 1874 and came to Sacred Heart in 1893. He served Seminole during World War II.
 
In 1949, he was responsible for the construction of a brick church to replace the wooden one.
 
Father Joustou was the last of the French Benedictines in Oklahoma. He died at Saint Gregory’s Abbey in Shawnee in 1966 at age 91.
 
When Father Joustou left Seminole in 1951, he was followed by Immaculate Conception’s long-term and much beloved Father Thomas Rabideau. A Wisconsin native, Father Rabideau was 35 when he arrived and led Seminole’s Catholics for 46 years.
 
In addition to serving as a parish priest, Father Rabideau taught biology and engineering drawing to high school and college students at Saint Gregory College in Shawnee.
 
In 1961, it became necessary to move Immaculate Conception because of parking limitations. The old property was sold and the location where the church now sits on State Highway 9 was purchased.
 
The new church was ready just in time for Easter Sunday, April 22, 1962. Father Rabideau often referred to the noise and confusion as the pews were installed while he tried to hear confessions on Holy Saturday night.
 
Two weeks later, the first child was baptized in the new church.
 
Father Rabideau stayed long enough to marry more than 30 of the members he had baptized, and then to baptize many of their children. His First Communicants numbered in the hundreds.
 
Father Basil Keenan, the first native Oklahoman to lead Immaculate Conception, served from 1996 until 2013. Father Rabideau stayed on as pastor emeritus until 1998 when he returned to Saint Gregory’s Abbey. He died in 1999.
 
Father Keenan returned to Saint Gregory’s Abbey in 2013 and died in 2017.
 
Since then, the Seminole church has been served by Father Don Wolf, Father Brendon Helbing, Father Nerio Espinoza and, most recently, by Father Joseph Schwarz and Father Bala Mandagiri.
In 1995, the abbot of Saint Gregory’s implemented a Mass in Spanish at Noon on Sundays.
 
To spruce up for their 90 ^th anniversary, the church’s sign was refurbished, and the congregation painted the front of the church and the iconic cross that stands atop. A new statue of Mary of the Immaculate Conception was erected.

Photo: Fr. Bala stands next to a new statue at Immaculate Conception. The statue, provided by anonymous benefactors, was placed several weeks ago and dedicated by Fr. Schwarz on Dec. 10. Photo Sherry Leech.