Christ the King Parish History
The First 50 Years
Another significant name in the history of Christ the King would have to be Margo Schorno who arrived as Associate pastor in the fall of 1988. Margo developed ministries of hospitality, communication, liturgy, music, environment, bereavement, Lifeworks, resourced our already strong Altar Society and much more. She put Christ the King on the move with pilgrimages to Israel, Greece, Turkey and Italy. Until her death, just two weeks after Msgr.’s in 1999 she stood among us as “one who serves.” This year we’ve celebrated our fifty years of parish life with a standing room only concert with John McCutcheon, with a parish picnic so large we had to be excommunicated from local city picnic grounds, with a 50’s dinner dance where our Knights of Columbus seem to fit right in, with a special Sunday celebration with Bishop Cummins and now with this weekend. Where we invite you to remember, celebrate and give thanks for fifty years of parish life, and for yourselves, the wonderful parishioners who make parish life possible and something of which we can be truly proud.
When Msgr. first arrived, it was mass in the “temporary” gym, with altar against the wall and the priest back to the people. In the mid 60’s things began to change with mass in English, participation of laity and mass facing the people. By 1979 it was time because of numbers (and a new design) for a new church.
The 90’s saw the development of a strong parish council. It witnessed active participation in ecumenism with interfaith ministerial meetings, with ecumenical convocations, monthly Taize Prayer and interfaith concerts. A major development in the mid 90’s was the program called RENEW. In which over 800 parishioners joined in small church communities, twenty-eight of which continue today with even more of them during the seasons of Advent and Lent. Our religious ed ministry to public school youngsters developed from a few hundred to well over 1200 youngsters. Our St. Vincent de Paul Society continued its amazing outreach to the needy. A spirit and concern picked up by our youngsters as well. Sunday worship continued to be our central concern both inside our Church and on our own lawn with standard traditional ritual and occasional innovation for children’s liturgies, teen worship and clown ministry. Adult education has become a well attended force in our parish life, in parish hall, in ministry center, in homes and with four minute specials in Church. Our social justice ministry has addressed AID’s, homelessness and hunger, just to name a few areas. Our Youth Ministry has continued to grow and reach out with faith formation as well as with service projects both at home and beyond our parish and state.