“A hundred 75 years. Holy cow, I’m not even a Hindu.”
Those are the words of Father Christian Raj, pastor of St. Anne Parish in Francis Creek, in celebrating the 175th anniversary of the parish this Sunday.
They’ll have an Outdoor Polka Mass at 10:00 a.m. with Green Bay Catholic Bishop David Ricken and Father Christian.
Music will be provided by the Sugar Bush Boys after mass until 3:00 p.m.
There will be a food and beverage tent sponsored by the Rockwood Fire Department, a country store, kids’ games, and a bounce house.
Karen Suggitt is a co-chair of the event, and she tells Seehafer News, “It’s going to be wonderful. I’m so looking forward to this. We had a lot of good people come in, pitch in financially and (with their) time. Time, talent, and treasure as they say.”
Fellow parishioner and co-chair Irene McCown says having Bishop Ricken makes it special “because it makes us feel like we are doing something special and we’re worth the effort. And, everybody is so awesome about doing things like Karen said.”
It was 1848, the same year Wisconsin became a state and 13 years before the Civil War began that St. Anne’s parish was founded by 25 families speaking German, French and English.
Lifetime Francis Creek resident, Art Ewen, is a descendant of those early pioneers.
“It goes back to when they came over from Germany that they landed in this area,” he explained. “They more or less started a parish with others who came over with them. It was a migration of the Hessels and Ewens coming over on the ship.”
The first St. Anne’s church was built in 1851 on the site of the present cemetery, about an eighth of a mile north of the present worship space.
Construction of the existing church was completed in 1872.
After 175 years, Father Christian, who is also the pastor of Holy Cross in Mishicot, added that it is a great milestone, and “Everybody’s excited in our parish and I can’t thank everybody (enough) who stepped in and helped us out to make this celebration a successful one.”
