Part VI of Corpus Christi Catholic Church series

Hannah Gross
NLJ Correspondent 
With Leonard Cash
 
In Part 6 of historian Leonard Cash’s series on Corpus Christi Catholic Church, we ended with the Rev. Bernard Schneiders, who served from 1924 to 1933. 
During that time, according to “A History of Corpus Christi And Its Missions,” a booklet written by Elizabeth Thorpe, the church and rectory received many updates. Furnaces were installed in both, the boardwalk was torn up and turned into a cement sidewalk, the church’s foundation was “repaired and rebuilt several times,” and the rectory was repainted, reshingled and cemented in the cellar. 
In an article from News Letter Journal from June 8, 1933, we learn that Schneiders retired. A native of Holland, he returned to his home country, where he was later visited by some Newcastle families, according to the booklet. 
To fill his vacancy, the Rev. Nicholas Endres was transferred to Newcastle from his post in Thermopolis. He originally hailed from Belgium, and a report in the July 6, 1933, paper said he was ordained in Belgium in 1906 and afterward moved directly to Wyoming as a “slim dark-eyed, eager young man.” 
“He had but few English words at his command, but this deficiency was surmounted by his will to learn and by the zest with which he took up his missionary work,” the article says.
Endres had to adapt to the foreign people, customs and language, when he moved to the United States. He was fascinated with the legendary Buffalo Bill, whom he had the pleasure of meeting when he first landed in New York. 
Endres was said to be the “Apostle of the Big Horn Basin” and declared himself “working for the biggest company in the world — the Catholic Church.” 
He was loved by Catholics and non-Catholics alike, and the Thermopolis parish, although sad to see him leave, wished him happiness in his new adventure in Newcastle and believed he held “capacity for friendliness that undoubtedly in his new parish his friends will equal in number those who are now so deeply regretting his departure.”
On Sept. 14, 1933, the paper reported that Endres had received a letter from Schneiders, who was well-pleased with his home country of Holland. He wrote that the area had grown and changed for the better with new highways and buildings since his ministry in the United States, and the large church that Schneiders was attending was said to be beautiful, seating 1,000 people, complete with a boys’ choir. 
The reverend enjoyed taking walks on the “beautiful countryside” at sea level (compared with the high elevations of Wyoming), but he did miss his Newcastle friends. 
Endres also undertook an international expedition, according to an article from Sept. 19, 1933. Leaving Dan Doherty from Powell in charge of the Newcastle parish, Endres began his trip in Thermopolis before heading to the World’s Fair in Chicago and then off to New York, where he set sail for Belgium on Oct. 20. 
He hadn’t been to his home country in 20 years, and while he was on that side of the globe, he visited Schneiders.
However, his absence was not temporary. The July 19, 1934, paper said that when Endres returned to the United States, he wasn’t coming back to Newcastle because of his health, so the Rev. James McBride filled his vacancy as the permanent pastor. 
According to Thorpe’s booklet, Endres wrote in his resignation that he, as the “oldest priest in service in the diocese, find(s) that this parish is a physical hardship, with its many and far-flung missions, on (his) strength and years.” 
As McBride settled into his new position, he faced a problem that was common among many of the previous priests. 
“The main problem Father McBride faced in Newcastle was the one that seemed to confront almost every new priest — the furnace!” the booklet says. Fortunately, he solved the problem by installing an oil burner.
On Feb. 14, 1935, the paper reported some unfortunate news. Former Newcastle pastor John Nicholson passed away in a “sudden and unexpected death” in Laramie. McBride, along with John Morley from Gillette, traveled to Laramie to attend Nicholson’s funeral at 10 a.m. on a Monday morning. Bishop McGovern was to speak at the memorial. 
As seems to be the trend with Newcastle’s Catholic priests, McBride was also of European descent, and he returned from a four-month visit to his family in Ireland, according to an article from Feb. 1, 1938. This was his second trip since his initial arrival in the United States, and Father Penny from Lander oversaw his flock during his absence. 
McBride left for Europe on Oct. 4, 1937, but he first made a stop in New York to watch the New York Yankees play against the San Francisco Giants in a World Series baseball game. 
McBride’s trip to Ireland started in Cove, and from there, he went to Cootehill in County Cavan. 
According to the booklet, McBride received $1,000 from the diocese in 1936, “which was due from the Dixon estate.” Instead of investing the funds in government bonds, it was decided “to find a more profitable local investment.”
The money was evidently put into the treasury, Cash said. The Thorpe booklet says that “there were 19 baptisms and 8 marriages in 1938. The church of Corpus Christi and its missions are free from debt and there is $1,000 in the treasury.” 
In 1937, the booklet also reported that a “special collection” was taken up to paint the church and rectory, but along with the “material demands,” the spiritual progress also grew. 
The Oct. 20, 1938, News Letter Journal reported that McBride was leaving for Gillette, where he had been recently transferred, on Oct. 29, to celebrate Mass on Oct. 30. The article said McBride served his Newcastle community “in a very efficient and successful manner.” John Mullins was transferred to McBride’s former position in Newcastle and would celebrate his first Mass here the same day that McBride celebrated Mass in Gillette. 
“These were peaceful years, and Father McBride endeared himself to the gentlemen of the parish by having a poker and cribbage club. It was hard to let him go in October, 1938,” the booklet says. 
As the community awaited the arrival of Mullins, the Oct. 27, 1938, paper offered its readers a brief history about his life. Mullins was ordained in Cheyenne on Sept. 12, 1923, and pastored in both Pine Bluff and the Holy Rosary church in Lander, where he served for 14 years (according to his obituary, he was born on June 21, 1900, in Ireland).
During his first four years in Lander, Mullins also shepherded the Riverton parish. Other ministry experiences included Hudson and Dubois. 
While in Newcastle, Mullins held a children’s party at Christmas, according to the booklet, and he was the first priest to do this on record. He resigned his position in 1943 because of health and passed away shortly thereafter on Sept. 13, 1944, at St. Margaret’s Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, reported an article from Sept. 14, 1944. 
In next week’s installment, Cash will take us through the long discussion leading up to the eventual construction of the church building that is used today.