First Christian Church, Wheatland Wyoming

When I started this blog I only intended to catalog traditional architecture, but I've obviously strayed away from that policy a lot, and nearly right from the onset.  I still think of going back to it from time to time, but I have not.

I guess that's a bit of a disclaimer for this post, and for being a bit more blunt on some of this than I used to be.  This is the First Christian Church in Wheatland Wyoming.  I'm not sure when this church was built, but it was fairly recently.

It's a nice attractive looking building, but it's largely devoid of traditional church architecture.  But for a few embellishments a person wouldn't immediately assume that it's a church.  One of those embellishments is the corner piece holding a bell, which is a feature designed, no doubt, to cause those observing it to realize that this is a church.  Otherwise, it wouldn't be immediately apparent.

Now, I don't mean to fault anyone for architecture of this type.  This is not an ugly building.  And traditional structures are expensive unless you go with the Prairie Gothic style of church which few do anymore. Still, there's something for the position that churches were designed the way that they were for a reason.  Still, if you aren't, at least this is an attractive structure.

Unidentified, Livermore Colorado. (Sometimes the photos aren't very good).

This is an unidentified, and likely abandoned Prairie Gothic church near the highway in Livermore, Colorado.

I've been by this church a zillion times, but until had to stop in Livermore the other day, I never attempted to photograph it. Stopping in, I found that unless a person is willing to is trespassing, which I wasn't, a moving highway photo is about as good as a person can do.

So why do it all? Well, at least its cataloged. 

This isn't, by the way, the only church in Livermore.  There's a much nicer newer one I'll photograph in the future.  I suspect that church replaced this one.

Painted Bricks: Blog Mirror: Pedri: An appetite for historical destruction

Blog Mirror: Pedri: An appetite for historical destruction

 Sts. Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church, Rock Springs Wyoming, which this article is about.

From the Tribune, an article about taking down old buildings:

Pedri: An appetite for historical destruction

Metropolitan Community Church, Denver Colorado.

I really know nothing about this church at all, other than its in the Capitol Hill region of Denver where a lot of older churches are.  It's not far from the large Episcopal Cathedral in Denver.  Based upon what I can find about it, it fits into the politically and theologically liberal branch of Protestantism, and its occupying a church that was almost certainly built for another denomination some time ago.  

My photo of it is awful, but I was in a hurry at the time I stumbled across it.

Lex Anteinternet: Mid Week At Work | Catholic Answers' Fr. Hugh Barb...

Lex Anteinternet: Mid Week At Work | Catholic Answers' Fr. Hogh Barb...: Fr. Hugh Barbour, the Chaplain for Catholic Answers, was on their Catholic Answers radio show on Labor Day for their daily question a...

Lex Anteinternet: September 25, 1918. The Passing of Archbishop John Ireland

September 25, 1918. The Passing of Archbishop John Ireland

Archibishop John Ireland in his later years.

On this day in 1918, a towering figure in North American religion died, Catholic Archbishop John Ireland.  He had just turned 80 years of age.

The Irish born prelate is universally regarded as having been born and possessed of a great intellect.  It's been said of him, when he was right, he was very right, and conversely, as is the case with towering intellects, when he was wrong, he was very wrong.

Ireland was born in County Kilkenny in 1838 and came to the United States at age 10 with his family. This put him in the midst of the horrible Irish potatoe famine and the accompanying waive of immigration into the U.S., Canada and Australia that accompanied it, with his family, like so many others, choosing the United States for their second home.  This meant that he arrived in the country at the depths of Irish despair and the height of prejudice against the Irish in the United States, whom were regarded as an "alien race" at the time.  But it also meant, even though hew would have grown up in the "Catholic Ghetto" era, that he came to the country sufficiently young to effectively grow up as an American.  These various factors would define his views in profound ways throughout his life.



Ireland was sent to France by the French born Bishop Joseph Cretin at age 14, at which time he'd only been in the United States for a mere ten years.  He was ordained in 1861 at age 23 and became a chaplain to the Fifth Minnesota at that time, during the American Civil War.  He served in that role until 1863 when poor health forced his resignation.  Following that he became a pastor at Saint Paul's Cathedral in Minnesota, Cathedrals having pastors who serve as the Cathedral's priest, a role quite different than that of the Bishop of course.  He became a coadjuter Bishop at St. Paul's in 1875, at the fairly young age of 37.  He became the Bishop Ordinary in 1884 and an Archbishop in 1888.



As a bishop he was a towering figure and a uniquely original one in many ways.  He would become a central figure in American Catholicism as a result, and take positions that some would regard as contradictory but which, at their best, showed his independence in thought.



As an Irish ex-patriot he was deeply concerned about the fate of the Irish in America and encouraged direct colonization of areas in the West and Midwest, taking the view that settling the Irish in rural areas took them out of the vice of the crowded Eastern slums in which many found themselves.  Several towns in the Midwest were directly founded by Ireland for this purpose and his concern over what was occurring in Eastern ghettos was not misplaced.



Perhaps almost paradoxically, however, Ireland was an extremely strong proponent of Americanization of American Catholics and he actively worked to prevent the formation of "national",  i.e., ethnic, churches.  His view left a heavy imprint on the Catholic Church in the United States and this may in some ways be his lasting legacy, although what he was working for had not been fully achieved at the time of his death in 1918.  He did not want Irish Catholics or German Catholics to be that, but rather wanted them to be American Catholics.  He urged and foresaw an American society in which Catholics were fully part of it, a dream never fully realized but perhaps principally realized (and maybe even in some ways over realized) after World War Two when American Catholics did in fact fully enter the American mainstream.  Ireland feared that if this did not happen Catholics in the United States would remain marginalized and the faith would loose adherents to Protestant denominations that were in fact mainstream.  His fears were well placed and his efforts would ultimately be successful to a large degree, indeed to such a large degree that some Catholics holding romantic views of the Catholic Ghetto of old essentially lament them even if they do not themselves recall Archbishop Ireland.

As part of this, he was a strong supporter of education but paradoxically, especially for a man who had benefited from a Catholic education himself, he supported state support of Catholic schools in some instances and even supported the municipal takeover of distressed Catholic schools even when it resulted in those schools retaining Priests and Nuns but found them unable to teach religion.  This was a phenomenal position to take at the time and it would be very unlikely to receive much Catholic support today.  Indeed, he had to travel to the Vatican to explain it at the time.  Ireland, additionally, was such a proponent of Americanization of Catholics i the United States that he opposed the use of foreign languages to instruct students, something that was common in immigrant Catholic schools at the time.



Perhaps as part and parcel of this, and perhaps reflecting his Civil War service, he was a Republican and friends with several Republican Presidents.  He was an outspoken proponent of the rights of blacks at a time when that was not a fully popular view by any means.



Conversely, these same doctrines made him a dedicated opponent of "national" or ethnic churches to such an extent that he's also remembered today for inexcusably alienating Ruthenian Catholic followers of Alexis Toth.  Toth, an immigrant Ruthian (Eastern Rite) priest received a cold shoulder from Ireland upon making a courtesy visit to him upon first arriving in his diocese. As an Eastern Priest with his own Bishop, he was not subject to Ireland's jurisdiction, but Ireland was open in his opposition to the Eastern Rite having a place in the United States and took the view, rather bluntly, that Eastern Rite Catholics should switch to the Latin Rite, which he was working to make non ethnic.  This view is completely contrary to the view of the Church today and at the time it lead to Toth, who is regarded now as an Orthodox saint, going into schism and taking his followers and taking a large number of them into the Russian Orthodox Church, to which additional adherents would later follow.  Ireland is sometimes jokingly called the father of the Orthodox Church in America as a result.



Ireland was a towering figure and more successful than not.  His impact on the Catholic Church in the United States was very large, and because of its nature, lasting.  Ironically, his impact upon the Orthodox in American proved to be very large as well, but for a different reason, and perhaps in some ways both churches owe their modern nature to Ireland.

Holy Apostles Orthodox Christian Church, Cheyenne Wyoming.

This is Holy Apostles Orthodox Christian Church in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  This church was built in 2012 and is located on the edge of Cheyenne.

This church is interesting in several ways, one of which simply the way it is named.  The Church is what would normally be called a Greek Orthodox church but presents itself as an "Orthodox Christian" church.  This stands in contrast to what we typically find with the various Orthodox churches which usually identify an ethnic component to them, such as Greek Orthodox or Russian Orthodox.  Indeed, while the various Eastern Orthodox churches are in communion with each other, they are all autocephalous and there are real distinctions between them at least to the extent that each of them has their own hierarchy.

They are also very traditional in many ways and to find one that doesn't note the ethnic component is simply unusual for them.  Also unusual is the design of this church which is highly modern (unfortunately in my view, as I don't care for this external office building appearance).

While not knowing for sure, I suspect that these departures from tradition here were intentional and reflect an effort to deal with a decreasing ethnic component in the Orthodox Churches which they are going to have to deal with in order to survive. At the same time, however, it also may reflect an increased interest in the Orthodox community among traditionalist Protestants of various kinds who have investigated their own churches origins in the wake of numerous doctrinal changes in recent years.  There's been a bit of a boom, more than a ripple but less than a tidal wave, of traditionalist protestants coming into the Orthodox Churches, typically the Greek Orthodox Church, as a result of that.  This church, in its name and design, seems to be designed with an eye towards accommodating that. 

Redemption Church, was Kaycee United Methodist Church, Kaycee Wyoming

We rarely feature a church twice here, although occasionally we do if there's a reason.  This is one such example.

We posted on the Kaycee United Methodist Church quite some time ago in this post:

Churches of the West: Kaycee United Methodist Church, Kaycee Wyoming: 

Kaycee Wyoming is a small ranching community in southern Johnson County. This Methodist Church is located there.

Here's the same church today:

The church is still there, but it's no longer a Methodist Church.  It's name indicates that it is the "Redemption" church which causes me to suppose its likely some type of non denominational protestant church.  That doesn't surprise me much because, in modern times, having a sufficient population of Methodists in a small town such as this would be a bit of a surprise for Wyoming.  I'd have expected the Baptist church, which is often the default protestant church in this part of the country, but a Methodist church is quite specific.  This is not to say, of course, that this pattern always holds.  For example, Shoshoni has a prominent Presbyterian church.

For much of modern small town Wyoming today, however, what we'd expect to see is probably a non denominational protestant church, maybe a Baptist church, a Catholic church, and a Mormon church.  We might omit any one of those, or perhaps half of those, depending upon how small and isolated the town is.  This contrast notably from a century ago, or half century ago, when an Episcopal Church would almost be a default for any small Wyoming town and we'd see more active small, but denominational, churches.

In all of this Wyoming follows a bit of the modern trend, although that trend isn't really properly analyzed as a rule.   There are very distinct doctrinal differences between the various protestant churches but a lot of rank and file protestants don't really acknowledge them very much which has given a boost to "non denominational" Christian churches which are not quite as non denominational as it might seem in real terms.

Anyhow, this church appears to have changed roles a bit.  I wonder what denomination originally built it?

Grace Mission Baptist Church, Kaycee Wyoming.

This is Grace Mission Baptist Church in the small Johnson County town of Kaycee, Wyoming.  Other than the location and that its a Baptist church, I don't know much about it.

Holscher's Hub: Echos of Parco. Sinclair Wyoming.

From our companion blog; Holscher's Hub: Echos of Parco. Sinclair Wyoming.:

Not too many people stop at Sinclair who are just passing through.  But at one time that wasn't true.  And that's why the town has what was once a luxury hotel (now a Baptist church), a spacious park, really nice tennis courts, and the like.  Only the sign on the hotel remains, as well as a historical monument, to remind us that Sinclair is the town's second name.  It was originally Parco, a company town founded by the founder of what is now the Sinclair Refinery, the Producers & Refiners Corporation.

This post has had the unusual distinction of being on three of our blogs.  It's put up here because, as noted above, the Parco Hotel is now used as a Baptist church.

Or at least part of it is.  The hotel is quite large and it doesn't appear that the church occupies the entire building.  Oddly, Sinclair has an abandoned church that looks as if it would serve this purpose better, but then that's engaging in a lot of speculation.

Abandoned Church, Sinclair Wyoming

Given the Spanish style of this abandoned, but apparently still maintained, church in Sinclair, my guess is that it was contemporaneous with the  construction of Parco, as the town was originally called.  All the principal buildings that were built in the early 20th Century along the refining town on the Lincoln highway, were built in that style

I'm not sure what denomination used this church, or even when it was last in use.  As noted, it's still receiving maintenance even though it is not serving as a church and is partially boarded up.  Oddly enough, the Baptist Church in Sinclair is using the giant Parco Hotel of the same vintage for its church.

St. Barbara's Catholic Church, Powell Wyoming

This is St. Barbara's Catholic Church in Powell, Wyoming.  This church was built in 1964 on the site of the original St. Barbara's which it replaced.

First United Methodist Church, Powell Wyoming

This is the First United Methodist Church in Powell, Wyoming.  Other than its location, I can't provide any other details about this modern architecture church.

Grace Reformed at City Park, formerly First Presbyterian Church, Casper Wyoming

This isn't a new addition to the roll of churches here, but rather news about one of them.  We formerly posted on this church here some time ago:

Churches of the West: First Presbyterian Church, Casper Wyoming: This Presbyterian Church is located one block away from St. Mark's Episcopal Church and St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, all of whi...

People who have followed it would be aware that the Presbyterian churches in the United States are undergoing a period of rift, and this church has reflected that.  The Presbyterian Church, starting in the 1980s, saw conflict develop between liberal and more conservative elements within it which lead to the formation of the "moderate conservative" EPC.  As I'm not greatly familiar with this, I'll only note that the EPC is associated with "New School Presbyterianism" rather than "Old School" and it has adopted the motto  "In Essentials, Unity; In Non-Essentials, Liberty; In All Things, Charity. Truth in Love.".

The change in name here is confusing to an outsider in that this church is a member of the EPC, but it's no longer using its original name.  As it just passed the centennial of its construction, that's a bit unfortunate in some ways. 

We'd also note that the sought set of stairs is now chained off.  We're not sure why, but those stairs must no longer be used for access.

Traditionalist Anabaptist In Wyoming?

Starting at some point about six or so years ago, which means its actually probably more like ten years ago as things that occurred about that time seem more recent to me than they really are, I started running into some type of traditionalist Anabaptist from time to time here in Wyoming.

The first ones I ran into were at the rest stop outside of Waltman.  There was a travel trailer there with a flat tire that was being repaired and the people with it were outside of the trailer.  In my naivete, as I didn't expect to run into Anabaptist here, I thought at first "oh. . . reenactors", as the women were all wearing what appeared to me to be very traditional 19th Century style dresses with sun bonnets and the men were wearing straw broad brimmed hats, blue shirts, and jeans; and sporting that type of beard which lacks a mustache.  Very quickly I realized, however, that they weren't reenactors, they were some sort of community of Anabaptist adherents or perhaps a family of Anabaptists traditionalist.

Now, for those for whom this term is a mystery, what I'm referring to is Christians who are members of a traditionalist Anabaptist denomination, such as the Amish, traditionalist Mennonites, or Hutterites.  The most famous of these groups is, of course, the Amish, but there are some Mennoites in Colorado and Nebraska and there are Huttertites in Montana and the prairie provinces of Canada.

This is the Greeley Mennonite Church in Greeley Colorado.  The church was originally a Lutheran church but I don't know when it the Prairie Gothic church was built. 

 

Now, while these groups are all Anabaptist, they are not all the same, and I don't want to suggest that they are.  That is not my intent at all.  And while it is my understanding that all Amish are traditionalist in the sense I'm using it (which would likely be grating on their nerves and be regarded as singularly unfair by them), and I think that this is also the case for Hutterites, it is not true for Mennonites.  Indeed, there are Mennonite congregations that are not distinct in dress and which are not otherwise traditionalist such as limiting the use of technology over time.   I'm frankly unclear on which denomination the group I've been seeing belongs to, and that's what I'm curious about.

 

I've noted above the first instance in which I encountered them.  The second time was, oddly enough, in Sam's Club. There were a group of women who met the description set out above, except I see that their head covering is a simple covering, not a sun bonnet, buying huge lots of flour and other baking goods.  Since then I've run into them here and there, most recently at the past two gun shows here in town.

On the first of those occasions two men and a boy were present selling old farm equipment.  A woman was present selling baked goods, and seemed to be married to one of the men.  The men were all dressed as described save for wearing cowboy boots, which causes me to lean towards Hutterites.  This past weekend they were back but it was two different women and a different man, and they were all selling baked goods. The man was wearing heavy work boots.

The presence of traditionalist Anabaptists in Wyoming would be a new thing and I'm curious.  Does anyone know who they might be, what group they're actually in, and where their community or communities are located?

St. Anthony Catholic Church, Guernsey Wyoming

This modern architecture church is St. Anthony Catholic Church in Guernsey Wyoming, the training headquarters of the Wyoming Army National Guard and a farming, ranching and railroad community.  The church is served by St. Rose of Lima in Torrington, which was posted here just the other day.

There are an unusual number of St. Anthony's Catholic Churches in Wyoming.  I'm not sure how this came about, but there are at least four, including this one.