Bishop Dennis Walsh blesses the renovated Mazzuchelli Center at St. Anthony Parish in Davenport July 27. To his left is the parish’s pastor, Father Rudolph Juarez.
By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — Bishop Dennis Walsh blessed and rededicated the renovated 1838 church building on the grounds of the second-oldest Catholic parish established in Iowa — the oldest in the Diocese of Davenport — on July 27.
More than 100 people gathered inside St. Anthony Parish’s current church building. Its nave was built in 1853 and the wings in 1884. Bishop Walsh led Evening Prayer, recited in English and Spanish.
Following prayer, Sister Priscilla Wood, O.P, talked about Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, O.P., a Dominican priest who founded and built St. Anthony Parish, in addition to many other churches in the Midwest.
Father Rudolph Juarez, pastor of St. Anthony Parish, talked about St. Martin de Porres, O.P., a Dominican lay brother who served the poor and needy. The bishop blessed a statue of the saint, purchased for this special occasion.
John Cooper, the parish’s pastoral associate and business manager, thanked all who made possible the renovation of the Mazzuchelli Center. He said the project would have cost well over $1 million, but work was accomplished for around $927,000.
The parish, founded in 1837, opened its church doors in 1838. The lower level served as a courthouse/town hall and residence for a priest and the upper level for the church. Antoine LeClaire donated the land for the 25-foot by 40-foot brick building. In 1844, an expansion to the original church allowed room for more classes at St. Anthony School, which the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary taught.
By 1853, the faithful had built a new church next door to the original building, which became the full-time school. St. Anthony Catholic School closed May 31, 1968. The building over the years served as classroom space for religious education, the parish library, youth ministry, McAnthony Window, meetings and more.
Workers replaced the stucco that adorned the exterior with permastone in the 1940s. “The original bricks were brittle,” Cooper said. Replacing them with permastone saved the building.
By 2002, the parish’s pastor at that time, Msgr. W. Robert Schmidt, was expressing concern about the original church building’s condition and doubted it was worth saving. Parishioner Bill Ashton of Ashton Engineering stepped forward to evaluate the building from the crawl space to attic. His several-hundred-page report that included pictures, diagrams, Historical Register information and letters from various city departments, concluded the building was worth saving.
Renovation, not restoration, began in 2023. Today, the lower level houses a dining area for McAnthony Window patrons, who depend on a free meal, and rooms for classes such as financial literacy and Alcoholics Anonymous. Movable walls add space flexibility.
The parish dedicated the lower level to the late Dr. Alan and Peg Hathaway, longtime parishioners and donors who volunteered in Brazil, providing dental care. The second level provides rooms for some religious education classes, one of which displays a mural depicting the history of St. Anthony Parish, and is dedicated to the late Mary Buczek, a parishioner whose estate also left money to the parish.
Artist Pat Bereskin, along with Brad Bisbey and Laura Warner, worked on the mural that is a tapestry of parish history. It features Native Americans, a man introducing Father Mazzuchelli to snowshoes to continue his ministry, priests and women religious who served the parish and lay people.
Another classroom contains a scaled-down replica of an altar the faithful would have seen in the original church, based on altars in Wisconsin where Father Mazzuchelli had built other churches.
Parishioners stood on stairs, in alcoves and even in the parking lot as Bishop Walsh blessed the center. He prayed, “May the Father Mazzuchelli building continue to be a place of gathering and a place of refuge for the poor and needy. May it be a place where parishioners and community members can rejoice in the Lord, find support in their sorrows and be instructed in the faith. May it be a center of human formation and learning for young and old alike so that united in one purpose and one heart, they may give thanks to the heavenly Father.”
In dedicating the statue of St. Martin de Porres in the current church, Bishop Walsh prayed, “… we gather to bless this image of St. Martin de Porres, your son and servant of the poor. Listen to our supplications, so that upon contemplating this likeness of St. Martin, we may be moved to a greater solicitude for those in most need. … Whenever we see this image of St. Martin de Porres, may we strive always to be transformed into the likeness of Christ, your Son…”
Carlos Valdez of St. Anthony Parish and a native of Peru was instrumental in bringing the statue to the parish. He was inspired to do so after visiting the tomb of St. Martin de Porres with Miguel Moreno, the Davenport Diocese’s director of Multicultural Ministry. Helping with the effort were the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of the Poor, Jose Manuel Duran and the Maria Sanchez family.
Sister Wood told the gathering that Bishop Donald Hying of the Diocese of Madison recently blessed the new Father Mazzuchelli exhibit, “A Journey of Faith and Service” at the Dominican motherhouse in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. It is open to the public.
She provided an update on the sainthood cause for Venerable Father Mazzuchelli. A miracle case submitted to Rome lacked the medical evidence to prove a miracle, she said. However, another case involving a great-great-great nephew of the priest may be submitted as a possible miracle. Referring to sainthood, she said, “If it is God’s will, it will happen.”
