St. Catherine’s is a distinctive Gothic Revival church constructed of randomly coursed granite fieldstones that contribute to the rustic charm of this rural church and its setting. Built for a congregation of Czech Americans, the church has a steeply pitched cross-gabled roof with gablet dormers. A stone chimney intersects the ridge of the wing near its junction with the nave roof. A bell cote is prominent on the north end of the building and contains a bell donated by Bishop Aloisius Muench. The bishop, who was of Czech ancestry, facilitated funding for the construction that began in 1936 and was completed in 1938. The masonry work was supervised by Joseph Vitek, a Czech-born stonemason and a member of the parish. Construction of the church was accomplished entirely by the parishioners, who gathered the fieldstones from their fields. The church grounds contain a grotto sheltering a statue of the Virgin Mary and three smaller grottoes for statues. The larger grotto and landscape plan are based on designs attributed to Father Mikolasek and delineated by the Kaletta Statuary Company of St. Louis, who drew Mikolasek’s plan for him.
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St. Catherine’s of Lomice Catholic Church
1934–1938, Joseph Bell DeRemer. 60th St. NE, 0.25 miles west of 112th Ave. NE, south of Fairdale
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