When a new senior housing and care facility opened in Corcoran, its leaders wanted to make a concrete connection with the Catholic Church.
They settled for granite, as in a granite altar that had been in St. John the Evangelist church of St. Gabriel in Hopkins since the church was built in 1969. In 2023, 10 years after St. John merged with nearby St. Joseph, also in Hopkins, to form St. Gabriel, the parish closed the St. John campus and decided to sell off significant liturgical items, including the altar.
But options were limited for the altar, which, according to canon law, had to either be placed in a different church or other Catholic building to be used for the celebration of Mass, or destroyed.
The pastor of St. Gabriel, Father Paul Haverstock, contacted Father Tom Margevicius, director of the Office of Worship in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, to see if there were any places where the altar could go. Turns out Father Margevicius had been contacted by St. Therese of Corcoran, one of four St. Therese senior living and care facilities in the archdiocese. The facility was scheduled to open in fall 2024 and its leaders were looking for liturgical items to place in their newly built chapel.
It was a perfect fit. Once Father Haverstock talked to staff at St. Therese, he quickly agreed to donate the altar, a tabernacle, plus other items like candles, holy water fonts and Stations of the Cross. A local company, RK Wolfgang, Inc. in St. Paul, refurbished some of the items and installed everything in the St. Therese chapel, including the altar. The owner of the company, Jacob Brooks, noted that his grandfather, Ray Brooks, built the tabernacle, which is made of bronze and brass and has a cedar liner inside.
The altar and other items from St. Gabriel “are such an important piece of what we’re able to include in the chapel now, because of their historical significance,” said Jen Bettencourt, vice president of philanthropy at St. Therese, who estimated the value of all the items at more than $100,000. “You just imagine the number of Masses that were said at that altar, the number of parishioners (who) were able to worship in that space. Now, for generations to come, our residents, our greater community, (are) going to have those same items and that same presence here. So, (it’s) pretty special.”
On Jan. 9, Father Glen Jenson, pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle in Corcoran, less than a mile from St. Therese, came to the chapel to place a relic of St. Felicity inside the altar before the top was installed. He said he hopes to celebrate Mass there once the altar is dedicated, which it will be Feb. 21, with Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Father Haverstock concelebrating.
“The chapel opening is a big deal,” said Father Jenson, 65, who will be looking in the next few years for a place to retire and will consider St. Therese as an option. “I’m very hopeful that we can get a full, robust pastoral care program here” to go along with the chapel and the regular Masses that will be celebrated there.
One of the amenities at St. Therese, which has 99 independent living units plus assisted living and memory care units, is a small café that is open to the general public. Father Jenson said he eats there regularly and calls St. Therese, chapel included, “a glorious place.”
Father Haverstock has had to navigate the transition of the liturgical items from St. John the Evangelist to St. Therese. He came on board as pastor in 2020 and saw that some parishioners were struggling with the decision to close the church in 2023. Most people were able to gracefully let go, he said, and the ones who had difficulty have been comforted in knowing that the altar and other meaningful items will continue being used and will always be a reminder of the church for which they were built.
“A number of different people have expressed to me their joy and gratitude to know that the altar will go to a place where Mass will continue to be offered,” he said.
Father Haverstock noted an important lesson that has come out of this whole process: “Change is hard, and God is faithful.”
