September 7: The Chapel Car Priests

Welcome to the American Catholic Daily Reader Podcast. Today is September 7th, and our story is The Chapel Car Priests. In the first decades of the 20th century, no regular Sunday Mass took place in Florence, Oregon. Instead, Catholics in Florence and the surrounding towns contented themselves with a monthly liturgy, or spent hours traveling to distant parishes in distant towns. Some simply stopped going to Mass altogether. That changed in 1958, when the Catholic Church Extension Society funded the construction of St. Mary's Mission Church.

Nine years later, on September 7, 1967, St. Mary's, Our Lady of the Dunes Catholic Church, was officially established as a parish in the Archdiocese of Portland. The society that made St. Mary's possible began six decades earlier, when Father Francis Kelly, a Vatican diplomat and priest for the Archdiocese of Detroit, realized that despite the church's growth in urban America, the church in rural America was dying for lack of priests. To correct that problem, Kelly founded the Catholic Church Extension Society. Beginning in 1905, missionaries traveled the country in chapel cars, railroad cars purchased for the society that went wherever the trains would take them.

When the train stopped, the chapel car priests preached missions. They also distributed food, clothing, money, and other material goods to the rural poor. As the Society grew, it began building churches, sponsoring missionaries, and underwriting ministry programs. Kelly's increasingly high profile as a diplomat and writer helped the Society's work as well. Kelly became the second bishop of Oklahoma in 1924. By the time of his death in 1948, the Catholic Church Extension Society had grown to become one of the largest Catholic charitable organizations in the United States.

Today, as Catholic Extension, it continues to provide approximately $20 million in support each year to people, ministries, and parishes in 34 states. 44% of all U.S. dioceses receive some form of aid from the Society, with one in five Catholics benefiting from its efforts.

As for St. Mary's, if you ever find yourself along the central Oregon coast on a Sunday, Holy Mass begins at 11 a.m. The Chapel Car Priests show that dedication and creativity overcome obstacles. Faithful service meets people where they are, often requiring innovation and perseverance.

Consider someone in your community who might feel far away from support or care. Reach out or offer assistance this week. Thank you for listening to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Join us tomorrow, September 8th, for another story of faith and courage in America.