<p>Father Paul Kaech performs a ceremony to “re-bless” the historic McGowan Church following a recent break-in.</p>

McGOWAN Saturday morning, the congregation of St. Marys Catholic Church gathered for a Reparation Mass following an unfortunate break-in that occurred the week before.

Under the advisement from the archbishop at the Archdiocese of Seattle, Father Paul Kaech led a Reparation Mass at the church to re-bless the worship space.

Kaech stated that on June 11, he discovered that the church altar was desecrated and there were some items stolen in the break-in. The Pacific County Sheriffs Office is investigating the case, but there are no leads at this time.

So on June 22, the congregation gathered outside and were met by Kaech and deacons Jerry Sadler and Dick Wallace, who entered the church and sprinkled Holy Water throughout the space to purify and bless the area before holding mass.

Its a cleansing and purification mass for the church, Kaech explained of the procedure. So this week we had Sunday Mass, but the week before we didnt because we didnt have a cleansing Mass, so we had to stop for one week.

Now that the Raparation Mass has been held, Kaech says the church will continue with regularly scheduled summertime gatherings.

P. J. McGowan, born in 1817 in County May, Ireland came to the United States in 1841. He worked his way westward and in 1853 bought 120 acres on the north shore of the Columbia River for $1,200. Here, he established a salmon business. He sunk dozens of pilings in the river from which nets were hung to trap fish. He also purchased fish from Native Americans, employing them to help pack and ship salmon to Hawaii and England, to New York and Boston.

Being a devout Catholic, McGowan saw the need for a new and larger church than the cedar plank church originally built near the site in 1848. The new 30 x 60 foot church was constructed of Port Orford cedar at a cost of $3,500. It has a choir loft in the rear and a shed was built onto the north end to serve as a sacristy. The first mass was held on Dec. 4, 1904, and the church was dedicated on May 20, 1906. The picture of the Assumption of Mary hanging over the altar, the crucifix, candle holders and sanctuary bell date back to the beginning of the church, as well as the bell in the bell tower, which is dated 1904. The first marriage performed there was of Maria Sabo and William Clancy on May 17, 1905, and the donor of the church, Patric McGowan was the first funeral, held on Sept. 28, 1910. He was 96 years old.

Many different priests were entrusted with the care of the church. Portland Dominicans came once a month by boat for Mass. In 1939, priests from St. James Parish in Vancouver came to say Mass. Then, in 1940, the priest from Raymond took over the mission. Soon after, because of the vast area the priest had to cover, St. Marys of McGowan was abandoned and remained unused for nearly 20 years.

In 1961, a renovation was done and mass was again offered the first Sunday of August 1961. At that time, a beautiful driftwood Madonna was presented by Maureen Mulvey and still stands at the back of the church. The church remains much as it was completed in 1905. There is no power and no water at the site.