Nearly a year ago, Tom Lillie, Don Kramer and Ken and Jerry Stockwell arrived for a visit in Rocky Point and brought a beautiful gift for St. Joseph’s – a set of Windsor Windows French doors from Epic Window and Doors, where Tom’s daughter Jolene is employed.
The company offered a significant discount because the doors would be going to a mission church in Mexico, so Lillie purchased the doors and he and his crew brought them down in their toy hauler and installed them. They left equal distance on each side to be filled in with wood panels or glass blocks, or perhaps, stained glass.
Last month the “perhaps” became a reality. Two gorgeous stained-glass panels were installed, with help from numerous people.
Ginger Sundin from Blazing Sky Glass in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., created the computerized design, depicting the bread and wine of the Eucharist celebration.
Gonzalo Acoltzi from Curios Tlexcala on Rodeo Drive and three family members turned that design into two beautifully artistic panels of stained glass at a discounted price for the church. Then sexton Bob Keller installed the panels.
“We are very excited that this stunning addition to the church will be in place for the Christmas season,” Keller said. “It is a magnificent gift for our mission chapel. Something we really never pictured in this humble house of worship.”
The donor who made the glass panels possible is Ken Stockwell who is dedicating them in honor of the entire Stockwell family.
St. Joseph’s church in La Cholla offers the only bilingual Mass in Puerto Peñasco. Service is at 8:30 a.m., each Sunday. To reach the church, take the road past the Sandy Beach resorts and the sand road past Wrecked at the Reef. As you wind toward Cholla Bay, the church is on the right and well-marked.
Visitors will notice construction on the back of the church where a small apartment is being built for Padre Marco Lopez, the new pastor for St. Joseph’s. The community and visitors have contributed more than $30,000 over the last six months, making it possible to complete the structure. Fund raising continues to purchase doors, windows, flooring, appliances, cabinets, HVAC units, plumbing and lighting fixtures and furniture for the residence.
Those who would like more information about the church, can call sexton Bob Keller at (928-706-6928) or e-mail him at: bob@keller.net.
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Cutlines:
Maria del Carmen Gil, who along with her husband Gonzalo Acoltzi own Curios Tlaxcala on Rodeo Drive, helps St. Joseph sexton Bob Keller load the custom stained-glass panels for transport to the church.
Bob Keller fits the panel depicting the bread of communion.
The other panel depicts the wine which is transformed for the Eucharist.
