Long-closed Melrose parish clings to its heritage

MELROSE, Wis. (AP) - For God’s sake, get her to the church on time.

Actually, there’s no need for that “My Fair Lady” plea for Mary I. Murray Woods. This fair lady has been getting to St. Malachy Catholic Church on time twice a year since 1990.

That’s the year Woods and other former parishioners cut a deal with La Crosse diocesan officials to save the church from the bulldozer, Woods recalled as one of the church’s semiannual Masses approaches at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

The La Crosse Tribune (https://bit.ly/1FEnN03 ) reports that Bishop William Freking closed the parish near Melrose in 1980 for lack of priests and declining numbers. The wooden, hilltop church dates to 1869.

“In 1989, there was discussion because the church started to look not so good, and the diocese recommended tearing it down,” she said.

Woods, whose relatives deeded the land to the diocese in the 1880s, wasn’t about to let that happen to the house of God next to the cemetery where her great-grandparents and grandparents are buried.

“I had very strong feelings, and I didn’t think that should happen,” she said.

“I feel things get torn down, and then we don’t have the history,” said the 64-year-old Woods, who has been guardian of the Jackson County History Room at the Black River Falls Public Library for 20 years.

Diocesan representatives told the former parishioners that the church - also referred to as St. Malachy’s at Rock Creek - could continue in its sentinel position over the nearby creek if they could raise the money to maintain it.

Within a month, they had raised $15,000 to keep their treasured 24-foot-by-46-foot church above ground, she said.

The pact between them and the diocese stipulated that they could host two thanksgiving Masses a year - one in the spring and the other in the fall - but no weddings and no funerals.

Burials still take place at the cemetery.

“There are probably a little over 150 marked graves, and also over 50 people that I know of who are buried in unmarked graves,” Woods said. “The cemetery is kept up, I truly believe, because the church is still there.”

The minimal upkeep and insurance costs for the church come from donations and an annual fall raffle for two tickets to a Green Bay Packers game, she said - “I have a friend who gets the tickets for us.”

The church is named after St. Malachy, a 12th century archbishop of Armagh, Ireland, noted in part for the “Prophecy of the Popes,” which predicted that there would be only 112 more pontiffs before the Apocalypse.

Most historians consider the prophecy a hoax, but it is resurrected from time to time; its defenders interpret it to mean that the end of time is near because Pope Francis would be the final occupant of the Chair of St. Peter.

Woods deflected comment on that issue, saying, “I don’t think that is in my area of expertise.”

What is in her wheelhouse is her chronicle of those who are buried under the windblown grasses atop the Jackson County hill.

“Basically, I feel that the people buried in the cemetery are my good friends because I know a lot about them,” said Woods, a member of St. Kevin Parish in Melrose, the mother church of St. Malachy.

Those interred there include a Bohemian, a Czechoslovakian, an English person and a couple of Germans, she said, adding, “I’d say 99 percent are Irish, and we fly the flag of Ireland” for the biannual Masses.

“My ultimate goal is to compile obituaries of all the people I know are buried there, and have a representative of each person at one of the Masses. I have a big binder of information on people with stones and am trying to find the obituaries on those without markers,” she said.

Woods hopes to write a book with the information, as well as detailing the priests who served there, in time for the church’s 150th anniversary in a few years.

“I know it’s a lifelong commitment, but it has many rewards,” she said, crediting her husband, Curt, and their children, Murray Woods of Onalaska and Emalea Cogdill of Melrose, for their patience and assistance.

The church and its history often are ignored in other diocesan accounts, she said, adding, “It’s just as important to me as the (St. Joseph the Workman) Cathedral” in La Crosse.

On Friday, Woods and cousin Elaine Musser will clean the church to get it ready for the 80 or so people who usually turn out for the spring Mass. Another cousin, Donnie McCormick, whose ancestors donated the land, will decorate the graves of the 12 veterans buried in the cemetery.

Asked whether the tradition will continue after she joins her friends as a permanent resident on the hill, she said, “There is a younger generation that has interest in that cemetery. I’ve made those connections, and I don’t see it not continuing.”

An architect who inspected the church told her it has a solid foundation.

“This church is going to stand forever,” she vowed.

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Information from: La Crosse Tribune, https://www.lacrossetribune.com