The Resurrection of the Worldwide Church Starts in Kansas

A bit of a 'click bait' headline, I admit, but an excellent article. I attended the Feast of Christ the King there last October, which I recounted in my post, Monseigneur Lefebvre, the SSPX, and I.

From Gloria.tv

Father Pascal Schreiber, the superior of the Swiss district of the Society of Saint Pius X, paid a February visit to the American continent. He stopped in St. Mary's, Kansas, a town located approximately 20 miles west of Topeka on U.S. Route 24. Saint Mary's is the home of the worldwide biggest parish of the Society of Saint Pius X with over 4000 faithful.

The parish is located in Saint Mary's Academy and College. The Academy was founded by the Jesuits in 1848 as an Indian mission and abandoned after Second Vatican Council. Saint Pius X acquired it in 1978. The governor of Kansas recognized the school for the excellence of its educational curriculum. The school operates its own radio station.

Father Schreiber stresses that Saint Mary's parish has more faithful than the whole district of Switzerland, the country where the Society of Saint Pius X was founded. Its first seminary is in Ecône, Switzerland and its headquarters are located in Menzingen, Switzerland.

The Pius X’s elementary school in St. Mary's runs four parallel classes for each age group. Father Schreiber points out that in Switzerland two age groups are usually taught in the same class. In St Mary's, the first elementary school class is subdivided into two boys and two girls’ classes. Last year Saint Mary’s saw 121 baptisms and only 7 funerals. Father Schreiber explains that half of the faithful in the Pius X’s U.S. district are younger than 21.

Many faithful of Pius X are living in the town of St. Mary's. Its current mayor, John-Paul Rutledge, belongs the Society. He is the brother of Father Patrick Rutledge, the rector, headmaster and President of the St. Mary's College.

The first Sunday Mass at Saint Mary's starts at 6.00 in the morning. Father Schreiber counted over 250 participants. Main Sunday Mass is celebrated in the gym because the church is too small. The Society plans to build a beautiful church that will accommodate 1500 people.

An important factor in Saint Mary's is The Onyx Collection, a company owned by the Awerkamp family with over 530 employees. It manufactures bathroom accessories which are available throughout the continental United States. Most of its employees belong to Saint Pius X. For many years the company has been experiencing an increase in the sales turnover of annually 15 percent.