In Leoville, Kan.

(Published Feb. 20, 2009)
By Sister Rosalyn Juenemann CSJ

When Father Martin Schmitt became pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Leoville he built a convent for the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1910, a grade school in 1912 and a new church in 1914. The church was Romanesque style trimmed in limestone and dedicated on August 15, 1915. The first baptism was Mary Bruggeman who later became Sister Demetria CSJ.

During Mass on November 23, 1923, the people saw their church go up in flames started from a furnace fire. The parishioners tried to control the fire but to no avail. My Dad told how his overcoat burned in that fire.

Immediately after the debris was cleared, the parish began to construct another new church. More than a hundred men laid the foundation and basement in a day and a half. Bishop Tief blessed the cornerstone of the twin tower Romanesque church which stands as a monument to the faith of the Catholics of the parish. My Dad and Mother (Fred Juenemann and Rosa Anna Kaus) were engaged at this time. Dad helped in trying to save the church and build the new one. My parents were married in the church hall, the church built in 1885, on February 13, 1923.

A new rectory was built in 1962 and later the Leoville schools closed and consolidated with the Hoxie District.

In 1985 the Leoville Immaculate Conception Parish celebrated and gave thanks for a century of faith. The twin-towered church continues to loom out of the prairies as a gigantic expression of the Leoville people who brought the Catholic faith to the area.

Many vocations were nurtured in Immaculate Conception Parish in Leoville. Some of the families who gave a son or daughter to the religious life or priesthood were: Reichert,Meitl. Heim, Kruse, Bruggeman, Kaus, Juenemann, Zodrow, Ritter, Koerperich, Dempewolf, Stegeman and others.

In reflection on Leoville’s faith history I was deeply filled with gratitude for the long line of faith shared and lived for generations to follow. Although I had lived only a few of my earliest years in the Leoville Parish, it always felt like home deep inside. We would visit our grandparents, aunts and uncles who lived there until their death. From the stories my parents would tell of the earlier years of living in the parish, it was very obvious that the Catholic faith and community life were centered in deep dependence on and gratitude to God and for one another in surviving the depression years.