St. Rose of Lima Parish celebrates Golden Anniversary
Emily Boucher, 15, portrays Saint Rose in a historical presentation at Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Glen Rose as part of its 50th anniversary celebration, Friday, August 23, 2019. (NTC/Rodger Mallison)
St. Rose of Lima honored its 50th anniversary as a parish August 22-24, with Rosaries, Masses, a potluck dinner, a play conducted by youth on St. Rose of Lima, and a procession of a statue of the parish’s namesake. Father Fernando Preciado, pastor of the Glen Rose parish, celebrated the anniversary Mass.
The Beginnings
From the Somervell County town of Glen Rose, local families regularly traveled to Stephenville and Cleburne for Mass but desired a place of worship in their town.
Father Aidan Maguire, a Pallottine religious order priest, responded to their wishes in 1967 and began visiting Catholics in Glen Rose on a monthly basis to celebrate Mass in the home of the faithful.
One of the families donated a house outside the city as a place for worship. Another generous family later stepped up and purchased two lots in the city proper for a church site and the modest, donated house of worship was moved there.
By 1968, the local church was known as St. Rose, a name closely aligned with Glen Rose. When it was established as a parish in 1969, the church took the specific name of St. Rose of Lima — the first person born in the Americas to be canonized in the Catholic Church. Like St. Rose of Lima, the parish that bears her name has had a long history of benevolence and generosity.
After the De Cordova Bend Dam was completed on the Brazos River in 1969, creating Lake Granbury, the local community grew rapidly.
Through the years, St. Rose of Lima has kept pace with development. By fall of 1978, a larger multi-purpose building for use as a place of worship and parish hall was constructed.
Storms move through the area as Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Glen Rose, prays the Rosary, celebrates Mass and enjoys a pot luck dinner as part of its 50th anniversary celebration, Friday, August 23, 2019.
In 1989, the original house of worship was removed, and plans were underway for a new church. The present house of worship was dedicated in March 1993.
Today, 153 families have made St. Rose of Lima their spiritual home. They are presently involved in a fundraising campaign to build a new church.
Among them is Anthony Roofino, who moved from Dallas to Glen Rose in 1988 to enjoy country living and at the same time found joy in being part of a rural parish.
“It’s wonderful. It’s been a Godsend for me. I just love it,” Roofino said.
“Everybody knows one another, and we all wear different hats every Sunday,” Roofino continued, explaining that parishioners are often involved in several ministries from Eucharistic ministers, to lectors, to choir members, to teachers.
Being a member of St. Rose of Lima, he said, goes hand-in-hand with being active in parish ministry.
In addition, Roofino said the parish’s local Knights of Columbus council is involved in the community, sponsoring a golf tournament with proceeds benefiting the local food bank and the church building projects.
Golden Anniversaries
St. Rose of Lima Parish shares a special milestone this year with the Diocese of Fort and St. Bartholomew Parish in Fort Worth. All are celebrating a half-century of spreading the Good News as part of Christ’s Church in North Texas.
The year 1969 would prove to be an opportune time for the creation of the new diocese and two of its parishes that remain to this day active and vibrant in serving the local faithful.
Like the evolution of the Diocese of Fort Worth, the faith progression that led to the creation of St. Bartholomew and St. Rose of Lima is deeply rooted in history.
For the territory now part of the Diocese of Fort Worth, the long but steady path to existence began in the early 1800s when it was part of the Mexican Diocese of Linares-Monterrey. It evolved to become part of the Diocese of New Orleans in 1838, Prefecture Apostolic of Texas in 1839, Vicariate Apostolic of Texas in 1842, the Diocese of Galveston in 1847, the Diocese of Dallas in 1890, the Diocese of Dallas-Fort Worth in 1953, and finally the Diocese of Fort Worth in 1969.