St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Obernburg, Sullivan County, New York From the Sullivan County Democrat, Callicoon, New York dated September 9, 2003: BEGIN St. Mary's Is the Heart of Obernburg Story and Photos by Jeanne Sager St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church holds a special place in Sullivan County history. When traveling priests first took to the roads and began saying mass in the area, they started in Obernburg. And as the church gears up for its sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, there's as active a congregation as that which got the parish off the groun in 1854. Despite its size (there is a membership of just about 100 families), St. Mary's is the center of the small Obernburg community. It's the place where folks chose to put Sullivan Renaissance to work in the hamlet, and it's the place where most folks find out what's going on. "It's a warm, welcoming place with a lot of history and a fascinating congregation," said Rita Greier, a longtime congregant and secretary to parish priest Father Gus Richardson. "We have such a varied group," she continued. "We have people who have been here since dirt and families who just moved in a few weeks ago." "This is a small parish," Richardson noted, "Which is nice because you really get to know the people." It's an active congregation, Greier added, where people pitch in. St. Mary's is known throughout the county as having one of the most active Catholic Youth Organizations (CYO) around. "We have a really great group of kids," Richardson said. "They like it, and if they like it, they really get into it." The CYO program has been so successful that graduates of the program, folks who are now young adults making their way in the community, return on Sunday evenings to take part in the goings-on, taking leadership roles to ensure that the youth of the future have the same advantages they had as teens. There's also an active Sunday School, as well as a Parish Council and Altar and Rosary Society and Holy Name Society. The number of parishoners usually swells in the summer and declines in the winter when snowbirds head to Florida. St. Mary's was actually opened as a church in 1852 when a simple wooden frame was set up in Obernburg at a cost of $133.41. Mass was said just four times a year. Dissatisfied with the infrequency of mass and the inability to provide their children with regular church services, the German residents petitioned Archbishop John Hughes of New York for their own, resident priest. In 1854, Hughes responded, sending Father Joseph Roesch, an Austrian missionary priest, to serve St. Mary's as well as Catholics living in Jeffersonville, French Woods, and Narrowsburg. A new church was erected in 1861 and still stands today. As the years progressed, St. Mary's became the home to a Catholic school and dozens of priests. The school later closed, and eventually St. Mary's split off to become a separate parish with its own priest. Richardson has been the head of the church for closing in on nine years, and a well-loved member of the parish. His motto, "Smile, God loves you," has gone from his end of mass goodbye to a catchphrase in the parish. "We like where [the church] is located, we like the atmosphere, we love the people and we absolutely love Father Gus," said Barbara Schultz, who has been attending St. Mary's with daughters Melinda and Teresa and husband Joe since the late 1980s. "We've made a lot of really great friends going to church there," she said. The church is full of "good, hard-working people," Richardson said, much like those who started St. Mary's 150 years ago. "It's an active congregation where everyone pitches in," Greier explained. "When someone needs help, people step up." Greier's nephew, Tim Krofecheck, has been a member of the church since he was a child, and when he was in a near-fatal accident last year, the CYO planned a fundraiser which drew almost the entire church. "That's the sort of thing people do," Greier noted. "If they see someone needs help, they want to help, and they think of ways to help." Masses at St. Mary's are held on Saturdays at 4 p.m. and on Sundays at 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Masses held Monday through Friday are at 9 a.m. Holy day masses are held at 9 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. with a vigil at 7:30 p.m. A St. Anthony Novena is held on Tuesday morning during mass, and the St. Jude Novena is held during Thursday morning mass. Upcoming events include the kickoff of CYO on Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. and a penny social on Oct. 11. Cenacle of prayer and living rosary will be held on Sept. 12 and Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m. For more information, call 482-5541 or visit www.saintmaryschurch.us. END From The Echo, Basket Historical Society of the Upper Delaware Valley, Long Eddy, New York, Vol XIX, No 6, Summer 2004: BEGIN Please Note! St. Mary's Church Sesquicentennial Celebration Cardinal Egan of the Archdiocese of New York will celebrate a special Mass at 11 am on August 29th at St. Mary's. Afterwards a Celebration Banquet will be held at the Rockland House. About twenty plus visitors from Obernburg au main in Germany will be joining in the celebration. For further information call Fr. Gus Richardson, OFM, at 482-55541 [sic] or Rita Greier at 482-5759. END From The Echo, Basket Historical Society of the Upper Delaware Valley, Long Eddy, NY, Vol XX, No 2, Winter 2004-2005: BEGIN Saint Mary's Update (Sesquincentennial Celebrations) The German immigrants who settled in a corner of western Sullivan County in the mid-1800's formed the County's first Catholic parish, St. Mary's in a village called Obernburg, which they named in honor of the Bavarian village they left behind. Resuming the honor, a delegation of 17 people from the original Obernburg, including the mayor, traveled to their American namesake for the parish's 150th anniversary Mass at which New York City's Cardinal Egan led parishiners [sic] in greeting them with warm applause. The church was filled to overflowing for the Mass. Many were descendants of the original small group that came to the mountains all those years ago. Father Gus was there at every turn to see that all went well. The red and gold vestments of the founder of the church were displayed at the entrance of the sanctuary. The garment, now faded and stained with age, was the one that Rev. Joseph Roesch wore for the very first sermon on September 3, 1854 at the alter of the little church on the hill. Congratulations to all those who worked for so long and hard to make this a great day for the Church and its parishioners. END above newspaper article, Newspapers->Misc->StMarysRCChurch.jpg From "History of Sullivan County" by James Eldridge Quinlan published in 1873: BEGIN The other is St. Mary's Church (Roman Catholic) at Obernburgh. Rev John Ranfeisen, its first pastor, was here as early as 1852. He was succeeded by Rev. Joseph Roesch, a native of Prussia, who has labored here amoung the German population for many years. The present church-edifice was built in 1861, but was not consecrated until June 23, 1865, when ninety-five persons were confirmed. The members number about 350. END From the Sullivan County Democrat (Vol LXIII), Callicoon, New York dated October 21, 1954: BEGIN Centennial Soon for St. Mary's Church Fr. Joseph Roesch, 1st Pastor, Left Complete and Concise Records By Charles S. Hick St. Mary's Church at Obernburg is ready to celebrate its centennial. This is an event in which all of Sullivan County has an historic interest. It marks the beginning of a Catholic parish within Sullivan County. The mass immigration of Germans into the lands of western Sullivan County in the latter part of the 1840-1850 decade brought many Catholics. These people came from a land where the ministrations of the church were a part of their daily lives. Upon reaching the wilds of America in Sullivan County they sorely missed the functioning of the church. Eventually the settlers around Obernburg were visited four times a year by a Catholic priest, Rev. John Raufeisen, residing at Ellenville in Ulster County. This was unsatisfactory to the Catholics at Obernburg and they petitioned Archbishop John Hughs of New York to assign them a priest to live among them. In answer to this petition, the Archbishop sent them a young missionary priest, Father John Roesch, recently arrived from Austria. Left Historical Records This young priest must have been a moat competent and highly educated man as the records he left behind him indicate. These records were meticulously written and carefully assembled even to the minutest detail and give information about the early settlers, in most cases lost to the families themselves, but of great historic value. His jurisdiction covered much of Sullivan County and part of Delaware County adjoining. The eastern part of Sullivan County continued under the priest in Ellenville in Ulster County. Father Roesch's task must have been a very difficult one and one that taxed his physical strength. Looking back over the years it makes one marvel how he accomplished all the work he did. He carried his vestments and other supplies he needed as he walked to the places he visited in the exercise of his priestly duties. He never had a horse. He visited Jeffersonville regularly where a mission had previously been established by the Ellenville priest. He built a new church at Jeffersonville, another at Narrowsburg and still another at French Woods in Delaware County. No Highways Existed It must be remembered that road and travel conditions of a hundred years ago were far different than they are today. The roads were little more than trails. Few of the settlers had horses and if they did they had anything but farm wagons in but a few instances. Yet records show that the O'Meara family living hear Black Lake in the town of Bethel buried its dead in the consecrated grounds of the Obernburg Cemetery and the Scullin family living at Beaverkill, then the largest settlement in the town of Rockland, had their babies baptized at Obernburg. The Scullin family carried its babies to Obernburg. How the dead of the O'Meara family were brought to Obernburg is not known. Father Roesch left behind him an "Introduction" as he has entitled it, written in German script by his own hand during the early years of his stay in Obernburg. This gives clearly and concisely the beginnings of St. Mary's of Obernburg. This is a document of great interest and even greater value. We hope to give this to our readers. END From the Sullivan County Democrat, Callicoon, New York dated October 28, 1954: BEGIN Centennial History Of St. Mary's Church 1st Pastor Recorded Names of Settles [sic] in Obernburg Region in 1846 By Charles S. Hick Below I give a translation of the notes written by Father Joseph Roesch, first pastor of the Obernburg Church. It should be noted that he uses the name "Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary." Today the name of the parish is known as St. Mary's. Presumably it has never been officially changed but merely shortened by usage. Another fact that gets your attention is that so many of the early settlers came from a village named Obernburg in the German Kingdom of Bavaria. At the time there was no German Empire. The name Obernburg was very probably selected by Fr. Roesch for the settlement. There was no post office here until about 1880. The settlers at Obernburg had to go to Fremont Center for their mail. Documents issued by the church, such as baptismal certificates, gave the post office address of the church as Fremont Center. It appears that his brother, Rev. George Roesch, came from Austria with him and had been located at Foster's Meadow on Long Island. Given below is the translation of Fr. Roesch's records: Catholic Parish of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary at Obernburg, Town of Freemont, Sull. Co., State of New York. Joseph Roesch, Priest INTRODUCTION In the year 1846 this entire region was still almost a dense forest only here and there an American family was making a miserable living. There was at that time no railroad, no tannery, no grist mill or saw mill. Into the forest there came in the winter of 1847 the first Catholic settlers, built log cabins for themselves from the felled tree trunks, chopped down the trees, set fire to the branches, brush and twigs, then with enormous effort dragged together in big piles the left over tree trunks and destroyed them by burning. Thus clearings were formed, meadows, fruitful fields, and small gardens. To be sure, at first, orchards were out of the question; only gradually small fruit trees were brought from other neighborhoods. Since this report is only concerned with the German speaking Catholic settlers, the first settlers are recorded here. There came in 1847: Bolthasser Weber and wife, Anna Mary (Knobel) from Abernburg, district Aschaffenburg, bishopric Wurzburg, Kingdom of Bavaria. Michael Anton Hoffman and wife Barbara (Krebs) from Klein-Wohlstadt near Obernburg in Bavaria. Anton Schneider from Elsenfeld near Obernsburg in Bavaria. Ignatz Dietrich from Oos, Baden. Joseph Wegmann from Buntenthal in Rhenish Bavaria and wife Veronica (Dilger) from Obernaih in Wurtenburg. In 1848, the brothers, John and Peter Rutz from Weselberg, government Pirmasenz, in Rhenish Bavaria. In 1849, John Herbert and wife Gertrude (Kornflen) Bavaria. Michael Sator from Upper Aidenbach, near Obernburg in Bavaria, in December 1851 married Margaret Fischer from Elsenfeld, in Bavaria. 1850, Fridolin (in American, Frederick) Baudendistel from Mosbach, near Augsburg in Bavaria and wife Helene (Federic) from Gainshurst in Baden. Jacob Farber and wife Mary Anna (Keck) Bavaria. Phillip Deckelmann, from Obernburg and wife Eva (Laubender) from Weissach in Bavaria. 1851 Karl Brustmann from Pren. Bisch Pohlen and wife Elizabeth (Werther) from Nassau. Frank Engert and wife, Margaret (Salendar) from Volbach near Wurzburg in Bavaria. Henry Hirsch from Dorman near Aschaffenburg, in October 1851 married here to Katharine (Neumeyer) from Holsbach in Baden. Philip Kimmes for Hessen-Dormstadt. END From the Sullivan County Democrat, Callicoon, NY in September of 2004: BEGIN The heart of Obernburg, St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, celebrated 150 years of spreading the Word of God on Sunday with a visit from Cardinal Edward Egan, archbishop of the New York Archdiocese. END