Them E S sAGE
CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF EVANSVILLE
VOLUME 22
NUMBER 1
September 6, 1991
tion
to Jasper church window: 'Unto Us a Child is Born'
By PAUL R. LEINGANG - Message Editor
When Magdalena and Joseph Friedman donated money for stained
glass windows in their church, they could have had no idea that a grand-
nephew of theirs would 5ring nationwide attention to one of the windows
almost a hundred years later.
Kenny Krempp is the Jasper native and St. Joseph parishioner who at-
tracted the attention of the United States Historical Society to the Nativity
window in the church. Krempp is the grand-nephew who only recently
realized that the Nativity window had been donated by members of his
family in 1898.
The historical society, a private, non-governmental organization, has
r ' " '
eproduced the scene m a stained-glass and pewter collector s plate. Ten
thousand of the plates have been produced. The plates are available for
$160 from the society, or for $150 through the church. A portion of the
price will be returned to the parish, according to Krempp.
The original window itself cost $300 in 1898 when it was made and
installed by the Artistic Glass Painting Company of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Parish records show that a total of $6000 was collected for all of the
church windows, starting with the first donation in December 1897. The
Friedman family donated both the nativity scene and the window depict-
ing Christ's resurrection.
Krempp discovered the connection in one of the newspaper articles
which have reported the story of the window's selection by the historical
society. The article quoted parishhistory, listing the Joseph Friedman
family as the window's donor. Magdalena Friedman was the daughter of
Louisa Krempp, Kenny Krempp's great-grandmother.
There is extensive church involvement on the other side of the fami-
ly, too. Krempp's grandfather, Anthony Michael Hochgesang, a stone
mason, cut his intials into a stone block in the church tower he helped
build in the early part of this century. And his father before him worked
as a stone mason for the church foundation and walls.
The Krempp family continues to make its mark. Kenneth Krempp and
ibis three sons own and operate Krempp Lumber Company, building mate-
rials suppliers and general construction contractors. Company projects
have included Precious Blood and Holy Family churches in Jasper, assis-
tance at St. Celestine Churchin Celestine, and some recent work at St.
Meinrad Archabbey.
not consider himself a collector of any sort, but a dozen
year since 1979,
Kenneth and Jane Krempp display a collectors' plate which they broug
as a gift to Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger. The plate is a limited edition,
It depicts a nativity scene from a stained glass window at St. Jose
Church, Jasper. ':
,--Photo by Paul Leinga
In September 1990 he took a snapshot of the nativity windc N at .!
Joseph Church and sent it in to the society. He thought it was at least a
beautiful as the other windows depicted on the p!ates hehad purchase
Robert H, Kline, chairman of the society,s bod of direct msp0i
ed quickly when he saw the photo Krempp sent, Hecame to see the wi!
dow for himself and selected it as one of four windows to be consider
for the 1991 plate.design,
United States Historical Society be- Pictures of the four were sent to
look nice at Christmas. He has purchased plates for their favorite --the nativity scene from St.
See, ST.,
Response is 'extraordinary' to school affinity card
By PAUL R. LEINGANG
Message Editor
"'Extraordinary' is a weak
Word,, to describe the re-
Sponse to the new Catholic
SChOols affinity card in the
bioce
, se of Evansville, said
mStin Clements, diocesan de-
v.elopn)ent director. 'Extraor-
Umary does not begin to de-
Scribe the success of the effort
which combined mail order
offers and a direct appeal
from parish pastors.
'!The key to the success has
been the cooperation and
support of the pastors," said
Clements. About 1600 appli-
cations for the credit card had
been received at Citizens Na-
tional Bank in Evansville by
Friday, Aug. 30, he said.
Letters written by Bishop
Gerald A. Gettelfinger were
mailed by the bank Aug. 15.
Pastors received their cards
in advance of the general
public so that they could tell
their parishioners about
them.
The reception of 1600 ap-
plications represents about a
five percent return, which is
quite a success by mail order
standards, according to the
development director. He an-
ticipates an even higher rate
of return in the next few
Soviet political upheaval gives
church leaders reason for hope
By JOHN THAVIS
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) --A week of
C.ontinuing political convul-
Sions in the Soviet Union left
church leaders optimistic
about the prospects for reli-
geio° us and political freedom,
pecially in three breakaway
Baltic republics. . _
The Vatican joined several
Western nations in officially
rgnizing Lithuania, Latvia
Stonia Aug, 29 -- a
move that would have been
COnsidered risky and
Provocative two weeks earli-
er, but which made sense as
the Soviet Union appeared
headed toward break-up after
a failed military coup. On
Sept. 2, President Bush an-
nounced the United States
was recognizing the indepen-
dence of the Baltic nations
and establishing diplomatic
relations.
Meanwhile, with the Com-
munist Party virtually swept
aside and reform appoint-
ments being made by Soviet
President Mikhail Gorbachev,
the bishop of Moscow and
others predicted even
brighter days ahead for the
church and its pastoral life.
The Vatican hadwaited pa-
tiently for some 50 years to
recognize the Baltic states,
home of an estimated 3.2 mil-
lion Catholics.
A telegram sent by Secre-
tary of State Cardinal Angelo
Sodano said the Vatican "re-
joices" to see the indepen-
dence of the Baltics and an
end to the forced annexation
by the Soviet Union in 1940.
The telegram said a "nor-
mal exchange of diplomatic
representatives" would fol-
See SOVlET page 9
weeks.
"Based on the current re-
turns, we could realize a total
of about 3000 applications,"
Clements said. Such a return
rate would represent about a
10 percent return, and that
would be considered "mirac-
ulous" by mail order stan-
dards.
Consumers who use their
"Tradition" affinity cards
Visa and Mastercard are both
available pay no member-
ship or annual fee. Con-
sumers will pay 19.4 percent
interest on their unpaid bal-
ance.
Half of one percent of every
purchase 50 cents of every
100-dollar purchase will
go to Catholic schools. The
ZIP code of the purchaser de-
termines which deanery will
receive the school money.
Within a deanery, the money
will be divided up according
to the number of students in
each school.
