I wrote a history book twenty-five years ago. It told when, how, and who made Saint John the Baptist Church in Marshfield become the first Catholic parish in our newly formed Central Wisconsin city 125 years before. To accomplish this, I borrowed a friend’s Publisher program. Being relatively new to computers, and totally without instructions on how to use the program, I went to work making a desk-top book.
Saint John the Baptist Church will celebrate 150 years as a parish in 2027. Father Thelen, our current pastor recently asked me if I was interested in updating my history book for that event. I instantly felt panic. I’d changed computers at least three times since 2002. Would I still have a copy of the book?
The word serendipity came to mind when I looked in my file cabinet and saw a CD labeled; my documents 2004. A friend visited me one evening, two years after I wrote the history book. She told me I should occasionally make a copy of what I had on my computer, so if it ever crashed, I would have my work saved. Computer CDs were new to me, but Val had one with her and proceeded to make a copy of my writing program. It was the only time I have ever made a copy of my computer’s contents.
My lack of computer experience and total lack of knowledge of the Publisher program turned making the book into a major struggle. One unsurmountable technical difficulty I had 25 years ago, was how to put pictures into the book. Unable to solve this problem, I ended up taking my digital book stored on a floppy disk, to the printer and proceeded to physically lay the pictures out where I wanted them. Surprisingly, the printer let me do this, and even more surprisingly, the book turned out. I returned all those photos and original documents to the church rectory and parishioners.
Finding the CD which contained the history book was wonderful and exciting but knowing it wouldn’t contain pictures was depressing! Where were all the pictures I had used?
Father Thelen’s secretary allowed me to take home boxes of pictures and newspapers that had been stored in the rectory attic. Currently, I have three cardboard boxes in my living room next to my favorite chair. The huge volume of what I am finding in the boxes is overwhelming. I feel like a person who was dying of thirst, but instead of being given a glass of water, I was dumped into a swimming pool. The boxes are full of pictures, newspaper clippings, other historical snippets and history gathered for the parish’s 50th, 75th, 100th anniversary.
The other day I dropped down on my favorite living room chair, and leaned forward to pull one of the cardboard boxes closer. Sadie, my girl kitty, took that opportunity to quickly rub both her left and right side, nose to tail against my legs. Her upright tail, signifying confidence and happiness, made ticklish contact with my nose and upper lip. Dropping the item I’d taken from the box, I furiously rubbed my upper lip and sputtered, “Sadie! I know you love me, but I’m busy right now. Leave me alone for a while!”
As I sat in my chair going through the boxes, my boy cat, Jerry, joined Sadie in jumping on and off my lap, and rubbing against my legs. When I got up to make myself a meal, I looked down at my clothing. It was covered in cat hair. I grumbled, “You cats never go outside, so why do you shed in the spring like animals who’ve spent the winter outdoors and need to adjust to hot summer weather?” Using tape to remove hair from my clothing, I continued to grumble, “Most people wear aprons in the kitchen to prevent food splatters from staining their clothes. I need to wear an apron to prevent cat hair from falling into my food!”
Fortified by having lunch and the sweet company of my cats, I went back to work. I knew what I wanted to find. But I wasn’t sure if what I needed could be found.
One thing that amazed me as I went through the boxes, was the sheer number of 8” by 11” pictures taken of the altar in our church. The pictures were taken all through the years, since our present church building was built in 1893, to now. There are pictures of the original altar from the 40’ by 80’ first church, and many pictures of the new altar after it was installed in 1905. Throughout the years these pictures were taken at weddings, funerals, first communions, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter times.
When I talked to my daughter Tammie later that evening, I said, “All the pictures that I found of the front of our church reminded me of how when a mother has a baby, she will constantly take pictures of the child. I did this myself. When you and Niki were little, I desperately wanted to capture the special, precious essence that distinguished you from all other babies.”
Tammie responded, “I think that’s exactly what all the parishioners who take pictures of the altar are doing! They see beauty and sense that the altar is special. During each Mass they attend, a precious sacrifice takes place on the altar, and they want to capture on film the essence that distinguishes its holiness.”
History book update: It’s a good thing I have a full year to work on the book. Hopefully there won’t be too much cat hair in the boxes when I return them to the rectory!
Life Lines 