By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic
Photographer: Jim Davis
This bronze statue is a rendering of the picture "Grace," snapped in 1918 by photographer Eric Enstrom of Bovey, Minnesota. The life-size statue stood on the grounds of St. Maurice, but was stolen sometime after 2014.
DANIA BEACH | St. Maurice at Resurrection Church slowly disintegrated, its wooden beams giving way to South Florida's subtropical storms and sun. But the congregation was made of stronger stuff, continuing its work for God after moving to Resurrection Church across town.
"I could see it rotting away, like someone dying," said Paula McCoy, who attended from 1970 to 2017. "But the demolition was cathartic, putting a loved one to rest."
The members felt attached to their old church home on then-rural Stirling Road ever since converting it from a horse stable in 1970. They cleaned out the stalls, carried out the hay and reused the wood for benches and picnic tables.
Resurrection parish, which merged with St. Maurice in 2009, was founded in 1958 — also the birth year for the Diocese of Miami. The members met at various venues — a middle school, an American Legion hall and the Dania Jai-Alai fronton —before building their distinctive A-frame church building. It was dedicated by Bishop Coleman Carroll in 1963.
Even after the merger, St. Maurice members stayed in their beloved stable for five years, despite the growing mold, sagging awnings and disintegrating beams. They finally realized that repairs would be too costly and moved to the sturdier Resurrection building in 2014.
McCoy said she supported the move. "It was easier to hear that we were moving than that we were closing," she said.
But the demolition of the old structure was still painful, for her and others. As it came down, six of them stood outside the fence, tearfully singing and reciting poetry.
"It felt like part of my life died," said Mary Ann Burns, who has attended St. Maurice since 1972. "It was my home, where I grew up, personally and spirituality."
But Burns did take a memento: wooden lettering from an outside wall, that said, "Joy is the Infallible Sign of the Presence of the Lord." It's now at her house.
The parishioners brought other mementos to Resurrection, including the holy water font and a statuette of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The wooden crucifix in the chapel was made from trees on the old land.
One statue didn’t make it, though: a life-size bronze reproduction of the 1918 photo "Grace," showing a man praying over bread, soup and a Bible. Someone stole the statue after the 2014 move.
Msgr. Jean Pierre, St. Maurice's pastor for three and a half years, listens to the alumni's stories but says it's "a lot of nostalgia." He said he prefers to move the members forward, focusing on the future and what they can do now.
"My role is to give them the opportunity to use their talents, and the time that God gave them, to serve the community," he said. "The Church is them: the people of God."
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