STEVENSVILLE — St. Mary Parish has a long history in the Bitterroot. Over the weekend, the parish’s newly remodeled Catholic church celebrated a grand re-opening.
“We have historic grounds where the first missionaries, basically laid the foundation of Christianity in the Bitterroot Valley,” said Father David Severson.
St. Mary Parish Catholic Church is right next to the historic St. Mary’s Mission, the first church built in what is now Montana. Like the Bitterroot Valley, the parish has been growing. The church is most of the way through a major renovation to keep up.
Check out the renovations here:
“This is a humble little parish. This church was built in 1954 and we currently renovated it,” Father Severson said. “It was definitely a vision, but really it was born out of necessity because we were running out of room. So, our masses, our divine worship were packed and we're limited, as you know, with so many pastors in the valley.”
They added a new altar, some new pews, more space and made the church more ADA-accessible. They also repurposed stained glass from East Coast churches. While a lot is new, they also took care to honor the church’s history.
“We can't settle for less, and we wanted to upgrade everything. So, it was space and then put a face lift on the whole thing,” Father Severson said. “More space in the back for families and whatnot and then this beautiful facade, where you come in and you see this is a temple of God, right?”
The renovation happened thanks to years of donations, planning and volunteers, who are still helping with the final touches.
“God works and we roll up our sleeves and get on our knees, and that's really what happened with all the lay faithful here who were convinced, right?” Father Severson said. “The Lord started with a few disciples, and that's what we did, and it's contagious.”
Saturday they celebrated the renovation and consecrated the new altar. But, the work is not over yet. They are still raising money to finish off the remodel and they are always welcoming visitors who come by to check out the history next door.
“When people come and visit, they didn't always know this was the parish church. So, we're not just preserving history here, but this is where rubber hits the road, so to speak,” he said. “We have baptisms, funerals and weddings, etc. But, I just wanna invite folks to come by and see it, right?”
