MARION, Ky - September 30 was bright and warm with a stiff off-and-on-again breeze. Inside St. William of Vercelli church there was an air of excitement as the congregation gathered for the 11 a.m. Mass. Outside gaily covered picnic tables vied with wind dancing balloons for attention… there was a celebration brewing. The parish of St. William was 40 years old and the mortgage on the property would soon be toast, literally! The only cloud over this day was the fact that Martha Mills could not attend the Mass and festivities.

Jim Fred, now deceased, and Martha Mills are credited with helping to found the modern-day Catholic Church in Marion' Kentucky, in 1962. Prior to that date, Catholics here had to drive to Sturgis, Princeton, or other towns to attend Mass and many just didn’t, or couldn’t, do it. The Mills's were sure that a church in Marion would bring some of the fallen-away back to the fold and would be gratefully supported by the approximately 70 Catholics in the county. Mr. Mills, encouraged by Fr. Carl Glahn, pastor of St. Paul in Princeton, wrote a letter to Bishop Francis R. Cotton in early 1960, asking him to consider a church here.

It's official

After two years of study and dedicated work, Christ the King parish was official. Until a more suitable place could be found it was decided to use the basement of the Mills’ home. According to a history of the parish written by Martha Mills, "the ladies of the parish worked many long days, often into the night, cleaning and painting the basement. Folding chairs, kneelers, and an old altar were borrowed from different places… a confessional was designed out of bed sheets."

Served by their first priest, Fr. Leonard Reisz, the first Mass was celebrated on August 5, 1962 at 4:00 p.m. There were 33 participants of the new Christ the King parish in attendance. Margaret Weldon, one of the original members, remembers Fr. Reisz as "an obvious man of God. He was an outstanding human being who gained the respect of everyone in Crittenden County." Under his leadership a house was purchased at the site where the church stands today. Walls were torn out to form a suitable chapel with Fr. Reisz, parish men, and some of the older boys doing the work. The house was heated with a coal stoker furnace, which Mr. Mills would go on Saturday to fire. The water had to be turned off during the winter to prevent the pipes from freezing and the women tell of drawing water from a cistern and heating it on a stove in order to clean. Such was the beginning.

St. William of Vercelli dedicated

Four years later, on the last Sunday in November, 1966, Bishop Henry J Soenneker dedicated a new church building. The name of the Parish was changed to St. William of Vercelli at the request of Mr. William O’Brien who made a sizeable donation through the Extension Society.

Ground was broken on June 20, 1996 for the present building. Sister Frances Spaulding, who served the parish at the time and assisted the ground breaking, remembers it well and with humor, "The others had spades and they gave me a big flat shovel." Try as she might, it wouldn’t do the job and a photo published in The Crittenden Press captured her dilemma for posterity. On June 7,1997, Bishop John J. McRaith dedicated the present church building.

Many have worked tirelessly over the years to build and maintain this parish of Catholic Christians; priests, religious and laity have given and served with love to further God’s work in Crittenden County. Forty years later, the work goes on and the celebration testifies what has been and what is yet to come.