Altar finds new home at St. Joseph's

The anticipation was finally over for the congregation of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Dickinson. Not only did they celebrate the birth of Jesus, but Fr. Keith Streifel saved the unveiling of the new altar until Christmas Eve Mass.

Word was out that St. Joseph’s was to receive the high altar from the St. Anthony’s Catholic Church that had closed at Donnybrook. It was installed a couple of weeks ago, but had been covered with a cloth until the proper moment.

“It was one of those things where everybody who had a part of this was very excited when it was finished,” said Fr. Keith. “We unwrapped it for Christmas.”

“The theology is what’s really cool -- whenever you walk into church and if there’s no tabernacle, we would bow to the altar as a representation of Christ. Christ is the priest, the altar and the sacrifice… so what comes at Christmas -- Christ,” he said.

The journey of the altar goes back to Jan. 14, 2018, with the last Mass in St. Anthony’s, located in a town of about 50 people in the northwest corner of the state. It was described as a sad day for many when the church closed its doors, especially when the church had served the community since 1905. Instead of watching the religious articles deteriorate, the diocese was to disperse them to nearby parishes.

Meanwhile, Fr. Keith mentioned how nice it would be to have a white altar to lighten things up, but the altar needed to coordinate with St. Joseph’s historic altars. CCD coordinator Ann Morel read an article in the Dakota Catholic Action about the closing of the Donnybrook church.

“... and she said the altar just matches ours,” said Fr. Keith. “I called to see whether anyone had claimed the altar because the diocese brought all the church furnishings to store in Bismarck. We figured out whether we could use it and brought it here.”

He suspects the altars at both the Dickinson and Donnybrook churches were created by the same company because they matched so well.

“I feel the altar belongs here, it really does. It fits with everything,” he said.

Ann Morel’s husband Doug not only does maintenance for the church, but he’s a carpenter by trade. He narrowed the altar and lowered it. He created a back wall with the design that matched the front of the altar.

Then a family in the parish learned that the altar needed a new stone top. They were looking for a memorial for their mother, who was in hospice.

“They offered to buy the stone in memory of their mother, who at that point, was in on the deal,” said Fr. Keith. “I didn’t expect this to be done until Easter -- it was still at Bismarck at this point. But we got this altar and everything fell into place quickly.”

He contacted Pam Bares and her dad, Tony Volesky, to give the altar a new coat of paint.

“We’ve been restoring religious statues for like 20 years,” Pam said.

The altar’s centerpiece is a carved image of the Last Supper.

“This is so old that the bonding agent is camel hair -- that’s how old it is,” she said. “We’ll restore the whole thing (Last Supper image) after Christmas. It will take a couple of months.”

“Everything fell into place,” said Ann Morel. “Everything was such an easy task it was meant to be our altar.”

Reprinted with permission.