Catholic parishioners in Le Mars, Iowa have received a 7 million dollar blessing, in the from of a brand new church.
"It was almost overwhelming, and I wanted to cry through the whole thing because it's absolutely beautiful," Sandy Rolfes, St. Joseph Parishioner.
Sandy Rolfes and her daughter attended the dedication mass for the new St. Joseph's Church. They've been waiting a year and a half for construction crews to clear away the old church and to build the new one.
"I mean if you went to our church, it was still beautiful but if you looked really close, it was full of cracks, I mean even one of my friends went to church and things would be falling on top of your head," Sandy Rolfes said.
Bishop R. Walker Nickless who came out to celebrate the special mass today, says the church represents a sign of hope in the community.
"You know we built this church for over 600 people because we know that it's going to be full, as smaller churches close and other people come into the bigger cities this church will be their church," Bishop Walker said.
Pastor Kevin Richter, says, it took nearly 8 years of planning and fundraising from the community to make it all possible.
"I've watched it from the original concepts, and tweaking those concepts, all the way through the design phase, and then the construction phase, and all I can say is, over and over, the building has continued to exceed our expectations," Pastor Kevin Richter said.
While construction crews had to demolish the old church which had stood for more than a century, some things inside were saved from the wrecking ball.
"The central feature of course, of this building is that it was designed around the high altars from the old church and we just bent over backwards to bring in as many elements as we could from the old church building," Pastor Richter said.
That includes many of the fixtures inside the church as well as some of the stained glass windows. The new church now has more seating space, and even added facilities for community events. And that's got some people already re-thinking some of their big plans for the future.
"I am just so excited that if I am to get married someday, I will be really happy to get married in this church," Morgan Rolfes said.
