PARK CITY — Sitting along the edge of a hill just west of Main Street, three old-timers look out over a bustling business district. If they could talk, they'd probably reminisce about how times have changed in the more than a century they've survived — and how today's crowd of worshippers differs from their 19th century predecessors.
While the financial fortunes made here have shifted focus from silver to snow, the need for spiritual sanctuary has remained — growing in recent years to the point that these three humble churches along Park Avenue have had to "grow up" too. So while the old St. Mary's Catholic Church, Park City Community Church and St. Luke's Episcopal Church all reside within a four-block radius, their upstart "offspring" have established themselves as comparatively huge sanctuaries along U-224 in recent years.
Known to many here as "church row," the main highway into town now boasts four large Protestant churches — if you include the new Creekside Christian Fellowship on the frontage road just east of the Kimball Junction exit along I-80. Also anchored along that stretch is the new St. Mary's, a $2 million-plus structure that is already bursting at the seams and will soon be joined by a new $3 million parish center now under construction on an adjacent lot.
For local Catholics, it's a coming of age that reflects not only the religious yearning of the growing community but the burgeoning Hispanic population that has migrated here in recent years.
As the oldest continually operated Catholic Church in the state, the little Park Avenue building once served Irish Catholic immigrants drawn to the mining town. Today's immigrants come from Mexico, drawn by the need for service industry workers to operate the tourist town's expanding hospitality venues.
"Easily 20 percent or more of Park City is Hispanic now," says Father Bob Bussen, who left Catholic administration in Salt Lake City eight years ago to shepherd St. Mary's. "There are anywhere from 1,600 to 1,800 in town, about 2,500 total in the (Snyderville) Basin. I hear the mayor saying the town population is about 6,500 — so that represents a significant portion of the population."
"Father Bob," as he is affectionately known here, says he sees about 450 worshippers at the Spanish Mass held each Sunday night. While that may seem to be a hefty congregation, the numbers aren't what the priest would like them to be.
"As a faith group, this Hispanic community has a lot of work to do. Most are coming from Mexican ranches and rural parts of the country, where they are culturally Catholic but they really don't know their faith. Many have never had the chance to go to a regular Mass — their only experiences with church are baptisms, weddings and funerals."
Education and language barriers also pose challenges when it comes to helping his parishioners integrate into the predominantly white, high-income, well-educated, English-speaking
community. The new parish center will help in that effort, and plans are on the drawing board to open a Catholic school here in the foreseeable future, Father Bussen said.
While his congregation has its own opportunities and challenges, ministry in the Park City area is different from anywhere else in Utah, he said. "Sometimes we have trouble finding out who we really are. For eight months of the year, we welcome the world here. Catholics go to Mass when they travel," and at times the locals can get lost in the crowd.
"You could show up here every week for eight months, and I wouldn't know whether you were a regular."
It's only for about six weeks from mid-April through May, and again in October and November, that the town's population stabilizes with actual residents.
His Protestant colleagues agree. "We lose a lot of our members out the back door," said Larry Wagley, senior pastor at Park City Community Church.
He and Pastor Berris Samples try to keep up with the names and faces of their 600 congregants, but because so many tourists flock to the church, it's difficult to keep track.
"Frankly, it's sad to say, but we don't discourage (the attrition) — we simply don't have room for everybody right now," said Pastor Wagley, adding that his congregation, which has existed in Park City since 1881, is stable enough and financially strong enough to build another church adjacent to the current building finished just nine years ago. Plans for that expansion are now under way, and portable trailers to the side of the building attest to the need for additional space.
Unique in the Beehive State, which was settled by Mormons seeking freedom from religious persecution, the bulk of the spiritual community here doesn't center around Latter-day Saints. "This is more of a Protestant town" than anywhere else in the state, which gives it an entirely different religious flavor from other communities.
"Most people who live here weren't born here. It's not like LDS culture at all — most people aren't born and raised in their religious belief but come here seeking a real church family. They don't have relatives and grandparents and cousins — all that extended family," Pastor Samples said. "They come here for that."
Another unique feature of the Community Church ministry is its recreational programs. "We use nature as a way to draw people together: We have a skiing group, a fly-fishing group and a mountain-biking group. I think we do that type of ministry more effectively than any church in America, because we live in the setting where that can be accomplished."
You can reach Carrie A. Moore by e-mail at carrie@desnews.com