Parishioners at St Mary’s church in Joplin, Missouri got an early Christmas present this year: their new church building, to replace one destroyed in a devastating tornado three years ago, was dedicated by Bishop James Johnston the week before Christmas.
In May 2011, a tornado devastated the town, destroying the church, the rectory and the parish school. The tornado killed 161 people and destroyed several schools and hundreds of homes.
The priest at St Mary's, Fr Justin Monaghan, survived the storm by sheltering in the bathtub at the rectory.
“It's like Christmas,” Glenn Damaso, of Joplin told the local newspaper, The Joplin Globe. “Losing the church and trying to be guided and looking for a place to call home — now we have this place.”
After receiving the key to the church and the blueprints, Bishop Johnston, Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, blessed the structure and said the first Mass.
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