Mass Times
Sunday Mass:
On the 1st, 2nd, 4th, or 5th Sunday of the
Month Mass will be at 11:00 AM & 5:30
PM on Sunday.
On the 3rd Sunday of the month we will
have a 5:30 PM Mass Saturday night and
an 8:30 AM Mass Sunday Morning before
Fr. Jose leaves for Petersburg.
Most Mondays and Tuedays we will have
Daily Mass at 7:25 AM. If weather
prevents the Sunday 11:00 AM Mass, Fr.
Jose will fly over on the afternoon jet,
and have Adoration at 4:00 PM,
Confession and then a 5:30 PM Mass.
This will give us one definite morning
Mass if the weather issues continue.
All Are Welcome
Phone: 907-874-3771
Cell # For Fr. Jose 907-723-2789
P.O. Box 469, 120 Church Street
Wrangell, AK 99929
Fr. Jose Thomas, Parish Priest
St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church
Wrangell, Alaska
Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church
Wrangell, Alaska
The St. Rose of Lima Church is significant to state
and local history because it represents the first
Catholic parish in the State of Alaska. Through the
years the building has been modified, with major
changes taking place in 1926. Since then the church
interior has not been significantly altered.
The church began when Father John Althoff, a
newly ordained priest, accompanied by Charles
John Seghers, Bishop of Victoria, Vancouver Island,
arrived in Wrangell in the spring of 1879. Althoff,
himself a craftsman, enlisted the aid of Wrangell’s
Irish Catholics and that year, they built the little
church named St. Rose of Lima. In April of 1898, St.
Rose of Lima, in disrepair for a number of years,
was torn down. Father Althoff only served three
years in Wrangell before he was transferred to the
Juneau parish. For the next twenty years, Wrangell
had no resident priest and the parish was served by
priests who were stationed in Juneau, Douglas and
Ketchikan. Even the bell, installed by Father Althoff
in 1879, was taken to Juneau and not returned until
1921.
The Catholics in Wrangell, however, wanted a new
church. They began soliciting donations for a
building fund in January, 1908. In August of that
year, contractor H.D. Campbell hired the carpenters
and work on the building began. More building
supplies arrived that summer and by December the
building was completed, financed entirely by
donations. Leo McCormack is credited as the
moving spirit behind the new church building. In
July, Father Brown from the Juneau parish
presented McCormack the Cross of Pope Leo XIII
and a certificate of merit from the Holy See
signed by Cardinal Merry Deval. It was the first
decoration of its kind in Alaska.
The church was dramatically altered by Father
Monroe, Wrangell’s second resident priest. Father
Monroe arrived in 1924 and rebuilt St. Rose of Lima
Church, adding a library, a heating plant, and a new
priest’s quarters equipped with a room for parish
meetings. Monroe also dedicated himself to
beautifying the church grounds. In June of 1939, at the
age of 84, Monroe retired to a Seattle hospital. At the
hospital, doctors had discovered Monroe had broken
his back in 1932 while working on the church.
Nonetheless, he continued to work at St. Rose for
another seven years. By the summer of 1931, the
major remodeling had been accomplished at an
estimated cost of $4,000. Monroe continued detail
changes in the interior of the church in 1932. He
added pressed tin walls and ceiling along with
wainscot under the windows. Fr. Monroe designed the
interior and exterior changes himself as he worked
alongside his help.
Through the years, diocesan clergy have served the
parish of Wrangell. In 1985, Fr. Gerard Gottenbos,
O.M.I., volunteered to the diocese to serve as pastor
for St. Rose of Lima. Through the efforts of Bishop
Michael H. Kenny, Fr. Gerard and the Oblate
Conference of the United States, St. Rose became a
permanent mission of the Missionary Oblates of Mary
Immaculate in 1990.
The church remains basically unaltered since Father
Monroe’s work in the 1930s. Today, the St. Rose of
Lima Church, set back from the street on a large
landscaped lot, contributes to the beauty of the
community of Wrangell.
May 4, 1879
©
Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church Wrangell, Alaska
Email: jospamcbs@gmail.com