Members of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish-Toronto/Lost Nation gather for a potluck at Sacred Heart Church in Lost Nation last month.
By Lindsay Steele
The Catholic Messenger
Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish recently celebrated its 10th anniversary with a potluck dinner after Mass. The former St. James Parish in Toronto merged with Sacred Heart Parish in Lost Nation to form Our Lady of the Holy Rosary (OLHR) in 2015.
The churches in Toronto and Lost Nation take turns hosting Mass on Saturday nights, and eucharistic ministers, lectors, greeters and musicians serve at both locations. The first Mass of the month includes a reception for parishioners to mingle. Parishioners Chris Meyer and Linda Sander said they appreciated the leadership of then-pastor Father Francis Odoom, and the continued leadership of the current pastor, Father Bob Cloos, for helping the parish become stronger through the changes.
The parish regularly collaborates with four area parishes with whom they share a pastor: Assumption & St. Patrick-Charlotte, St. Patrick-Delmar, Immaculate Conception-Petersville and Ss. Mary & Joseph-Sugar Creek. The five-parish evangelization team works to address some of the biggest challenges facing the rural communities, including aging parishioners, smaller numbers of people attending Mass, and fewer young people attending religious education, said Meyer and Sander, who are members of the team.
The parishes “face each challenge together as a family of God,” the women said in a joint email to The Catholic Messenger. “We hope to remain viable in the eyes of the diocese and bring the Eucharist to the faithful. We hope to keep the parishioners we have, regain some of the lost sheep and spread the Good News to new parishioners.”
