Submitted
ANTONINO — Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church, 695 210th Ave. in Antonino, will have a special Mass and dinner in honor of the 150th anniversary of Volga Germans arriving in Ellis County.
The Mass will begin at 4 p.m., followed by dinner at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18. No reservations are required. Free-will donations will be accepted.
Bishop Gerald Vincke of the Salina Diocese will be a special guest a both events, plus former pastors will be on hand to join in the celebration. The community is invited.
Polka music, Volga German stories, and memorabilia will be featured. The church’s 2005 Centennial books and clocks will be on sale. Our Lady Help of Christians was founded in 1905.
According to the church’s website, “German Catholics who emigrated from Russia to Ellis County as early as 1876 began settling land that was farther and farther from the original colonies. Antonino was the first parish to branch out from the mother church of St. Francis in Munjor.
“Six settlers donated land for the town, church and cemetery, and each family in the parish donated $5 per family member to build the church,” the website said.
Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia arrived in 1907 to teach, first in a public school and later in a parochial school. When the public school district built a new grade school in 1939, it employed the nuns as teachers. The last sisters left in 1974, the website said.
A new church and rectory were built in 1952.
Capuchin fathers have served the parish since its inception. The current pastor is Father Job Varghese.