By Pauline Masson – One might not think of a dish of free homemade ice cream as a symbol of collective worship. But there is a unique place in our community where it is.
For one local church, the invitation to come and enjoy a dish of ice cream is a tradition appealing to neighbors and passers by, much like the popular gospel tune, “All Are Welcome in this Place.”
Once a year, for the past 45 years, the individual members of Catawissa Union Church have been freezing up batches of home ice cream which they offer free to their members and the community as part of their ‘all are welcome’ theme.
The beautiful white frame chapel at the corner of Hwy N and Wild Plum Valley, was already sixty-two years old before they thought to celebrate their inclusive mission with ice cream. From their inception in 1915, worshipers here have always clung to their togetherness.
On their Facebook page, they proclaim, “we are a beautiful mosaic of traditions where variety is valued and all are welcome”
Their story began in 1915 when the Catawissa community was largely Catholic. Two years earlier, Catholic parishioners of the St. Patrick of Armagh Rock Church, wearied by deteriorating country roads that were at times impassable, convinced the St. Louis Archdiocese to build a second Catholic church in Catawissa, the white frame St. James Catholic Church in the center of little railroad community to enable their congregation to get to Mass with more ease.
Ever mindful of the value of worship, the all inclusive Protestants of the Catawissa area had helped the old Catholic parish that been in the neighborhood since 1843, in ways that continues to astonish Catholic leaders to this day. They had provided overnight lodging for the priests on horseback before the St. Patrick’s log church was built. They had allowed the traveling priests to use their homes as sanctuaries to marry young couples and baptize children.
After the Rock Church was completed, Catawissa Protestants provided willing hands to help prepare the church grounds for an annual picnic and maintain the growing cemetery that is still in use and is arguably the only Catholic cemetery in the region – and maybe anywhere – where some Protestant graves still bring descendants to the beautiful burial ground. Local lore assures us that the Protestants earned their place here.
No Catholic bishop who has visited St. Patricks in recent decades has failed to give thanks to the contribution that area Protestants made to their Catawissa parish.
But generous as they were to their neighbors, the devout Catawissa Protestants wanted a church of their own where they could worship in Protestant tradition. Visiting among themselves, the protestants of various denominations realized that no single denomination had enough members to build and support a church. So they decided to combine their resources and skills and build a church where they would all worship together.
Calling themselves The People’s Union Protestant Church Association, they constructed their sanctuary on the wedge of land at Highways O and HH (now Plum Valley). A hundred and seven years later, the interdenominational congregation is still welcoming worshipers to their church.
Early church members attended Sunday services sitting on chairs and singing hymns accompanied by an organ loaned to the new church by W.E. Kramme, one of the church founders.
One year after the church was dedicated, a Ladies Aid Society was formed and by 1919 the society had raised enough money to buy an organ so the Kramme family could take their organ home. Three years later, in 1922, the ladies bought the pews for the church that are still in use today.
The picturesque church building is a white frame structure that faces south. Its profile is reminiscent of the traditional country church buildings that dot the landscape across the U.S. But its symmetrical facade sets it apart. It is embelished with a gabled front entrance, bold arched windows and a spacious, open bell tower that give it something of a wedding cake look. Which is a fitting description. Beautiful desserts are quite at home. here.
I was there for the 45th annual ice cream social last Saturday where church members served up barbecue sandwiches, homemade ice cream and an array of beautifully decorated desserts that would have made Martha Stewart or Paula Dean proud. Shiny iced sheet cakes of varied colors, home made pies with fluffy meringue and browned crumbles and four-inch high angel food cake with boiled seven-minute icing.
Kippi Bay said every lady in the congregation has been asked to bring two desserts for the social and the result was breathtaking.
The previous evening eight ladies had gathered at the church to cook up custard for the ice cream.
At 8 a.m. on Saturday, using the ice cream machine that the late Bob Almsted had built for the event 20 years ago, half a dozen men were at the church freezing 27 gallons of ice cream – five gallons each of chocolate, vanilla, peach, pineapple and strawberry, and two gallons of sugar free vanilla – that was scooped up to church members and visitors.
Before selecting their favorite flavor of ice cream, diners were offered hot dogs or barbecue sandwiches served by the custard cookers of the previous evening.
Four ladies who quilt there every Thursday morning were on hand to hawk raffle tickets for a spectacular 84’ by 98’ queen size hand made quilt with an exotic, modern motif in shades of black, gray and white. The winning ticket will be drawn on October 22 and the ticket holder does not have to be present to win.
Among the crowd of ice cream aficionados I spotted two pastors and their wives, visiting from area churches, one couple that I knew from Robertsville, and a table of Pacific residents enjoying the camaraderie. But the groups that seemed to be having the most fun were the Catawissa Union congregation members who had put it all together.
One of the MANY TRADITIONS savored by OUR COMMUNITY