St. Mary’s to hold open house Sunday

St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Clarendon will hold an open house and celebration of renewal this Sunday, February 18, to mark the restoration of its historic altar and other accomplishments.

Mass will begin at 10:30 a.m. followed by lunch at noon, and then tours of this historic sanctuary will be held until 3:00 p.m.

A centerpiece of St. Mary’s, the 1892 altar was layered with generations of paint that were painstakingly removed by Chriss Clifford and Theresa Shelton of Sorella’s Studio, a division of A Fine Feathered Nest, Inc. At least four coats of paint were removed from the altar, and the communion rail in front of the altar with its hand-turned spindles was covered in eight or nine layers of paint.

The altar features several delicate hand-carved elements, some of which had to be reattached. Clifford and Shelton also repainted gold accenting on the altar that they say was originally covered with gold leaf.

Work on the altar is just part of ongoing efforts at the Texas Panhandle’s oldest Catholic Church to preserve its heritage. During the last year, the building has been re-roofed by Milton David roofers; and drywall was replaced and painting was done inside and out under the direction of Childress Construction Co. and Billy Ceniceros with his Eagle Scout project.

St. Mary’s in New Clarendon and St. Barnabas at Old Tascosa were the first two Catholic churches founded in the Texas Panhandle. While St. Barnabas faded away with Tascosa, St. Mary’s has survived throughout the years.

The church building was constructed in July 1892 at a total cost of $1,700 with its priest serving the territory from Henrietta to Santa Fe. This small structure gave hope and a sense of community to many.

The familiar ringing of the morning bells was extinguished when the bell was moved to St. Lucien’s in 1936, where it hung until 2005 when John Morrow of Morrow’s Drilling, and members of the church returned it to Clarendon.

The church was also responsible for opening St. Mary’s Academy, the first Catholic school in the territory, in 1899. In 1911 the school had an enrollment of 135 students when it was forced to close due to an outbreak of typhoid fever. The school was moved to Amarillo, while the building itself was torn down and sold for lumber. The academy property was neglected and allowed to become overgrown, but in 2002, the congregation had James Hall and Vernie Ford clear the property; and Jack Moreman donated and planted grass. Chris Knox and John Morrow donated the funds and equipment to drill a well.

In the early 1940s, the church was closed and overtaken with shrubbery while the members attended mass across the street in the home of Mrs. Caraway. High winds destroyed the roof and cupola in 1946. In 1949, Father Richard F. Vaughn was assigned to St. Mary’s and completed a restoration, which included returning the windows to their original gothic style, adding a new vestibule and front steps, and lengthening the sanctuary while adding two sacristies on the south end.

The church was rededicated September 24, 1951, as “Our Lady of the Panhandle”.

The 1970s and 1980s saw St. Mary’s struggling with only a few families in attendance and basic maintenance being done. Today the church has 34 families and over 100 members who are working to build and preserve their Catholic heritage.

St. Mary’s Parish extends an invitation the entire community this Sunday to help them celebrate their history.