Oct 27, 2012 / 12:04 pm
Chrism oil on the altar, blessings over a new baptismal font and a standing-room congregation were part of the rededication of Holy Rosary Parish in Bozeman, Mont. on Sunday, Oct. 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Bishop George Leo Thomas of Helena, celebrated the Mass that included Fathers Leo Proxell, who is the Holy Rosary pastor; Joe Oblinger, a retired priest in Big Sky; Val Zdilla, pastor at Resurrection Parish in Bozeman; and Gregory Burke, who is retired and is a former Holy Rosary pastor.
Renovation of the church began in 2005 when Father Proxell formed a committee to determine the priorities. By 2005, the parish had 1,000 registered families, more than double the 450 when Father Proxell arrived in 2001.
"We had people in the basement watching Mass on TV," he said in an article published in The Montana Catholic last December." This community is an extraordinarily well catechized community because of my predecessor, Father Beaulieu, so they were upset that people were in the basement."