This is the Catholic Church we attend here in West Yellowstone. Having a church in this small town was a dream of a resident. She made this dream a reality and the building was completed in 1950. As you can see, it's a real A-frame building, inside and out.
This area is surrounded by forests. To coincide with the 50 year celebration, the windows were changed in 1998. The stained glass windows were designed to reflect the environment, depict the changing colors of the sky, snow and foliage and reflect the beauty of yearly weather patterns in these mountain woodlands. The liturgical colors of green, white, red and shades of purple and gold were integrated into the design giving definition to this space as a place of worship. The windows were designed locally. The glass used are a complex of glasses: some mouth blown, some hand rolled, and others machine made, some from Germany, some from France, and others from the U.S. (Some of this information is from a brochure we picked up at the church.)
The building is beautiful, but it's the people that make a church. Sister Pat is the Pastoral Administrator and lives here in town. She is the first smiling face we see as she cheerfully greets us all when we enter. Father Joe, the priest who presides over weekend masses, commutes from Bozeman, 90 miles each way, each weekend. He has been retired since 1991, and does this as a volunteer. We are very fortunate to have him. He does a wonderful job of creating community out of a mixture of a few yearly residents, summer residents (like us), and visitors who are here for only one weekend. We are usually an international group.
Hospitality time after Sunday Mass is a time to talk to the visitors and have homemade cookies with coffee or lemonade.
This area is surrounded by forests. To coincide with the 50 year celebration, the windows were changed in 1998. The stained glass windows were designed to reflect the environment, depict the changing colors of the sky, snow and foliage and reflect the beauty of yearly weather patterns in these mountain woodlands. The liturgical colors of green, white, red and shades of purple and gold were integrated into the design giving definition to this space as a place of worship. The windows were designed locally. The glass used are a complex of glasses: some mouth blown, some hand rolled, and others machine made, some from Germany, some from France, and others from the U.S. (Some of this information is from a brochure we picked up at the church.)
The building is beautiful, but it's the people that make a church. Sister Pat is the Pastoral Administrator and lives here in town. She is the first smiling face we see as she cheerfully greets us all when we enter. Father Joe, the priest who presides over weekend masses, commutes from Bozeman, 90 miles each way, each weekend. He has been retired since 1991, and does this as a volunteer. We are very fortunate to have him. He does a wonderful job of creating community out of a mixture of a few yearly residents, summer residents (like us), and visitors who are here for only one weekend. We are usually an international group.
Hospitality time after Sunday Mass is a time to talk to the visitors and have homemade cookies with coffee or lemonade.
The rustic, yet beautiful interior and pews.
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
1 comment:
Those windows are really beautiful!
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