St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. You're rolling through Denton County now, and the story of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Pilot Point goes back a long, long way; back to a time when belonging to this faith out here on the Texas frontier meant you were going to earn it.

Pilot Point was organized in 1854, and for the Catholics who settled there, the nearest place of worship was a two-day journey away: Gainesville or Sherman, take your pick. Two days there, two days back. For a Sunday service.

That's not devotion, that's an expedition. These were largely German settlers, and they brought their faith with them the way you bring something you simply cannot leave behind. Then, in the 1890s, the firm of Flusche Brothers and Sullivan recruited a number of German settlers to Pilot Point, and the need for a Catholic church in town wasn't just a wish anymore; it was a matter of arithmetic.

In 1891, sixty-three residents and visitors gathered for the first Mass given in the town. Sixty-three souls. Some of them had been making that two-day ride their whole lives.

By 1892, the parishioners raised funds to build a structure, and on March 7 (the feast day of St. Thomas himself), the Diocese of Dallas consecrated St. Thomas Aquinas Church.

The timing of that consecration date was no accident, and the marker doesn't pretend otherwise. The very next year, the church opened a school and secured land for a cemetery; tending to the living and the departed both, the way a proper community does. By 1904, the congregation had grown enough that members built a larger sanctuary.

Things were moving. Then came the 1930s. The economic depression hit, and the parish felt it like everyone else did.

But here's where the story turns. In 1936, the church began to grow again; and the marker credits Father Paul Charcut, who was actively involved in both church and civic affairs in Pilot Point. Under his leadership, St.

Thomas Aquinas established significant programs to assist the less fortunate in the area through charitable contributions. The congregation sent members into civic leadership, into religious vocations, into U.S. military service during wartime. This church wasn't just a building at the end of a two-day road anymore.

It had become the kind of institution a community leans on. And today, the marker tells us, it continues in that same historic role: spiritual and community leader for the surrounding area. From sixty-three gathered souls in 1891 to a church still standing and still serving.

That's Pilot Point, and that's St. Thomas Aquinas.

What the marker says

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church has provided for the spiritual needs of residents in this region since the late nineteenth century. Before that time, Catholics in the town of Pilot Point, organized in 1854, had no nearby place of worship. Early area Catholics, many of whom were of German origin, had to travel two days to attend services in Gainesville or Sherman. By the 1890s, the firm of Flusche Brothers and Sullivan recruited a number of German settlers to the town, increasing the need for a Catholic Church. Sixty-three residents and visitors gathered in 1891 for the first Mass given in the town. By 1892, parishioners raised funds to build a structure, and the Diocese of Dallas consecrated St. Thomas Aquinas Church on March 7, the feast day of St. Thomas. The following year, the church opened a school and secured land for a cemetery. In 1904, members built a larger sanctuary. The parish prospered until the economic depression of the 1930s. In 1936, however, the church once again began to grow under the leadership of Father Paul Charcut (1908-1968), who was actively involved in both church and civic affairs in Pilot Point. In the following years, St. Thomas Aquinas Church established significant programs to assist the less fortunate in the area through charitable contributions. Congregation members have also served as civic leaders, while others have entered into religious vocations or participated in the U.S. military during wartime. Today, the church continues in its historic role as a spiritual and community leader for the surrounding area. (2007)