Mesa parish celebrates 50 years of being a Catholic family

By Ambria Hammel | Dec. 3, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

MESA — Christ the King Parish’s annual fiesta marked both its annual feast day and its 50th anniversary as a community. Hundreds showed up for the nine-hour celebration Nov. 21 enjoying food, fellowship, children’s activities and live music.

It was also a time to reminisce and look to the future, thanks in part to the new pictorial directory the parish released at the same time.

Doris A. Nicolaus didn’t need the directory to tell the parish’s story, but she picked one up anyway. Nicolaus, alongside her husband and four of her six children, became charter members of Christ the King when nearby Queen of Peace Parish was split in 1959.

Like other longtime parishioners, some of the Nicolaus children graduated from Christ the King’s elementary school. They learned from the Presentation Sisters, whom the founding pastor, Fr. John Cullinan, invited over from Ireland when the school opened in 1964.

Nicolaus’ father, Joseph Mayer, also played a big role, she said. When the community transitioned from the “old church” to the current one, her father made the altar out of the old church pews. He also built the kneelers, ambo and the celebrant chairs.

Now, the next group of community leaders is leaving their mark on the parish. Parishioners donated enough time and talent to the new St. Peregrine Shrine — which opened for perpetual adoration Nov. 22 — that Christ the King saved thousands of dollars in treasure. The shrine, named for the patron saint of cancer sufferers, will help patients and their family members draw closer to God during difficult times.

And many, including the teens, pitched in to run the fiesta.

“The priests come and go, but the people stay. They’re here to do whatever it takes,” Ellie Rael said during a short break from kitchen duty.

She’s seen a lot of growth during her 40 years at the parish and said volunteers make the community strong. More than 900 are active in at least one ministry.

“Sometimes I don’t know if I’ll have enough people to help in the kitchen, but they just come,” Rael said.

She sees fellow parishioners as her extended family.

Eleanor and Ralph Martinez, parishioners for 49 years, see the parish priests as family too. Open communication with the ordained clergy really adds to parish life, according to Eleanor.

Fr. Steve Kunkel, pastor since 2006, hoped the 50th anniversary celebrations and the parish’s new adoration chapel would enhance both parish life and prayer life.

“It’s not just a parish they come to,” he said, “it’s their community.”

Anniversary celebrations wrapped up on Thanksgiving when Fr. Kunkel buried a time capsule, which included an autographed copy of the directory.