THELEAVEN.COM | VOL. 36, NO. 12 | OCTOBER 31, 2014
Father David McEvoy, O.Carm., pastor of Immaculate ConceptionSt. Joseph Parish in Leavenworth, delivers the opening remarks on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Carmelites’ arrival in Leavenworth.
Xavier students cheer the arrival of the stagecoach at Immaculate Conception Church. From right to left are fourth-graders Leona Sanford, Olivia Timmons, Morgan Varney and John Dang.
Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann greets, counterclockwise from his right, Prior General Father Fernando Millan from Rome, and Brother Guenter Benker and Father Tobias Kraus from Germany, as Father McEvoy looks on.
‘SACRED REMEMBRANCE’
L
E AV E N WO RT H — What better way was there to celebrate a 150th anniversary than with a little horsing around? We’re not speaking metaphorically. Real horses were involved — and a stagecoach. Carmelites from across America and overseas, and well-wishers too, gathered on Oct. 23 in Riverfront Park in
Robin and Rick Dunn of Dunn’s Landing in Wellsville lead the stagecoach full of Carmelite dignitaries from Riverfront Park to Immaculate Conception Church in Leavenworth.
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Carmelites celebrate frontier heritage Leavenworth for the opening celebration of the order’s North American founding. The celebration — from Oct. 22 to 25 — featured liturgies, keynote presentations and special events. The opening included a reenactment of the 1864 stagecoach ride to Immaculate Conception Church (the Old Cathedral site) by the founding German Carmelites: Father Cyril Knoll and Father Xavier Huber. The modern stand-ins were Carmelite Prior General Father Fernando Mil-
lan from Rome, Prior Provincial Father William J. Harry from Chicago, and Carmelite Brother Guenter Benker and Father Tobias Kraus from Germany. The red and yellow stagecoach, drawn by matching black horses, traveled north up the Esplanade, then west on Kiowa Street, and finally to Fifth Street, pulling up in front of Immaculate Conception Church. The stagecoach was followed by a procession of Carmelites carrying American, German and papal flags. The remainder of the procession in-
cluded Third Order Carmelites, local Catholics, a trolley and private vehicles. Just as Bishop John Miege met the two pioneering Carmelites, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann was waiting for the visitors in front of Immaculate Conception Church. When the two German Carmelites first arrived in 1864, they mistook Bishop Miege for a workman, because they found the hearty prelate chopping firewood. It was a quick education in the ways of the American frontier: In Europe, bishops did not have to produce their own firewood. In opening ceremonies at the park before
the stagecoach ride, pastor of Immaculate Conception-St. Joseph Parish Father David McEvoy, O.Carm., greeted the sesquicentennial participants. Leavenworth Mayor Mark Preisinger read a proclamation, and Father William blessed a commemorative marker. Following the stagecoach ride, there was an opening Mass at Immaculate Conception Church, at which >> See “FLURRY” on page 4
Story by Joe Bollig \ photos by Todd Habiger
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