Bishop Keehner rededicates renovated Denison St. Rose of Lima Church

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
 
“And I saw that the temple was filled with the glory of the Lord,” Ez 43:5, from the first reading of the rededication Mass for the renovated St. Rose of Lima Church in Denison.
 
In September 2024, St. Rose of Lima Parish kicked off a $2 million fundraising campaign, Witness His Glory, to finish what was begun in 2006 when the church was built, and to enhance the worship space.
 
Bishop John E. Keehner presided at the rededication Mass last night, in the church filled with parishioners, diocesan priests and deacons.
 
The renovation
Father Michael Cronin, St. Rose of Lima Parish pastor, pointed out the renovation included new reredos inclusive of a Last Supper rendering from the original St. Ann Church in Vail, new murals, new and repurposed framed artwork, statuary, upgraded lighting, new hard surface flooring and a new baptismal font among other improvements.

 Photo gallery
A major portion of the project, 12 stained glass windows that depict the saints included in Eucharistic Prayer 1, will not be installed until January 2026.
 
An exact casting of Michaelangelo’s Pieta was placed in a niche in the church’s entryway. Other statuary included new and repurposed statues of the patron saints of the former parishes that make up St. Rose including St. Mary (Dow City), St. Rose of Lima, Sacred Heart (Manilla and Manning), St. Boniface (Charter Oak) and St. Ann (Vail).
 
The St. Mary and St. Joseph statues in the renovated church date back to the original St. Rose of Lima Church and are now placed by the columns in the sanctuary.
 
A niche or compartment was placed underneath the altar so that the altar relics – St. Candidus and St. Clement, both Roman legionnaires, could be permanently sealed in the compartment as part of the rededication rite. The pastor noted that the church’s altar stone was originally consecrated by Bishop Joseph Mueller on Feb. 2, 1952.
 Bishop Keehner places the relics in a niche below the altar, which was then sealed.As the renovation work was underway, it became evident of repairs that needed to be made to the St.Rose building. 
“There were areas that needed to be reinsulated,” Father Cronin said. “After 20 years of setting we had to repair drywall, recaulk and repair cracks in the foundation. They aren’t visible (repairs) but it’s maintenance that needed to be done to care for the building.”
 
In the months to come, the parish will need to replace carpet in the sanctuary. It wasn’t in the original scope of the project, the pastor explained, but the adhesive under the carpet is disintegrating
 
Rededication preparation
To prepare for the rededication Mass and hosting the bishop and guests, the pastor moved all the liturgical items, linens and vestments back into the sacristy. The parishioners were invited to a “cleaning party” the night before to ensure all construction dust and dirt were removed prior to the Mass.
 
As St. Rose of Lima Parish readied for the rededication and reopening of the church for Masses, they are also preparing for Christmas Masses next week. Preparing for two major liturgical events is challenging for parish musicians.
 
“Since the Mass was trilingual – English, Spanish and Latin - and with the rarity of a rededication of a church and our proximity to Christmas, I reached out to the Cathedral Choir. I wanted our local musicians to concentrate on Christmas,” Father Cronin said. “I am extremely grateful to the Cathedral musicians with their familiarity with the text and the liturgy for coming to lead the music at our Mass.”
 Cathedral musiciansCurious parishioners had been stopping by to catch a glimpse of the renovations, especially as the project neared completion. 

Some asked Father Cronin if the church installed new Stations of the Cross because “the darker walls really make the stations pop.” “(This week) I had a guy come in and said, ‘I just stood there for five minutes in awe.’ There were some people from Carroll that came to stop in and see the church,” the pastor said. “Some told me it looked just like their church in Mexico. I think the style appeals to many traditions.” Just days before the rededication Mass, 

Father Cronin said he was also taken aback once he stepped back to spend a few moments looking at the renovated church.
 
“I saw the renderings and thought I knew what I was getting into. Now that I’m standing here in person, I’m in awe,” he said.
 
The Mass
Bishop Keehner, Father Cronin, visiting clergy and the faithful assembled in the parish hall prior to the start of Mass. Following a blessing from the bishop, the group processed into St. Rose of Lima Church chanting “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord,” led by the choir. The altar relics of Sts. Candidus and Clement were carried in as part of the procession.
 
Once the bishop and his servers reached the threshold of the church, he asked Father Cronin to open the doors of the church to complete the procession to the altar.

 Bishop Keehner requested that Father Cronin open the doors to the church to begin the Rededication Mass.The bishop blessed the water that would be used to sprinkle the people as a sign of repentance and a remembrance of their baptism. He concluded with sprinkling of the altar with the holy water while the hymn I Saw Water was sung.
 
“May God, the father of mercies, by the grace of the Holy Spirit cleanse us who are the temple where he dwells,” Bishop Keehner prayed over the people following the sprinkling rite.
 
The Liturgy of the Word included readings from Ezekiel, Psalm 122 (sung), 1 Peter and the Gospel from John in Spanish. Neither candles nor incense were carried at the Gospel reading as the church had not yet been rededicated.
 
Homily
“Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood to offer sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ,” Bishop Keehner opened his homily with the first lines of the second reading of the Mass from the First Letter of Peter.
 
He stressed that as the living stone, Christ builds his church using his faithful, “as if we were individual bricks, built one upon the other, supporting one another so that we are no longer individuals but one new reality.”
 
In the rededication, the faithful are the church of God but also recognize that the church building is for worship and celebrating the sacraments and the Eucharist, the bishop reminded the faithful.
 
“In the words of the prophet Ezekiel, God’s throne shall be where God sets the soles of his feet and dwells among us,” Bishop Keehner said, referencing the first reading of the Mass.
 
He referenced the Gospel passage from John proclaimed by Deacon Hector Mora of Storm Lake St. Mary Parish, which depicted Christ’s cleansing of the temple in the early days of his ministry.
 
“It offers us an opportunity to consider what it is that we might cleanse from our own lives and our own hearts – those things which pollute our souls – our anger, our greed, our impatience, our self-righteousness – those many things which are so easy for us to idolize so that they, rather than God, become the center of our lives,” he said.
 The bishop challenged the faithful to reflect upon their roles as people of God joined by their common faith and baptism.
 
“And let us renew our commitment, promised at baptism and ratified every time we celebrate the Eucharist, to become living temples of the Lord, living temples in which the Holy Spirit finds a dwelling place … living temples which proclaim the goodness of God who loves us and who wants us to conform our lives, our hearts to him that we might know his life and know it in its fullness,” he concluded the homily.
 
Rite of dedication
Following the homily, the Litany of the Saints was chanted, including invocations for St. Rose of Lima, patron saints of all the churches that make up the parish and Sts. Candidus and Clement. Deacon David Penton of Divine Mercy Parish of Kossuth County presented the relics of Sts. Candidus and Clement to the bishop, who then placed them into the aperture below the altar. Following placement of the relics and sealing of the aperture, Bishop Keehner chanted the Prayer of Dedication.
 
For the anointing of the altar and walls of the church, the bishop removed his chasuble and donned a gremial – linen apron-like liturgical garment.
 Anointing the walls of the church“May the Lord by his power sanctify this altar and this house, by which our ministry we anoint so that as visible signs, they may express the mystery of Christ and the church,” he prayed before the altar. 

After the anointing, the brazier to burn incense was placed on the altar to which the bishop added the incense as he prayed. Incense was also added to thuribles for the deacons of the Mass to incense the church, the walls and the people.
 
Parish staff members wiped the oil from the altar and adding an altar cloth and candles. The lighting of candles on the anointing sites as well as other lamps and candles in the church, concluded the rite.
 
The Mass continued with the liturgy of the Eucharist. Following Communion, Father Cronin offered his gratitude to Bishop Keehner for rededicating the renovated church, the parishioners who supported the project and to all who made the renovation and the rededication Mass possible.
 Photo prior to the 2025 renovation.Bishop Keehner also offered his thanks to Father Cronin and the St. Rose of Lima parishioners for their work leading up to the rededication. He noted that the most touching moment of the Mass was “when the members of the parish carefully and lovingly cleaned the altar” after the anointing, demonstrating their love for the parish.
 
A reception was held in the parish center following the Mass.

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