Polish American Bishop to Visit Thurber


Stephenville, Tex. (SPECIAL)—The Most Reverend John W. Yanta, Catholic Bishop of Amarillo, Tex., has agreed to give a talk and to offer a Polish-language Mass at the ghost town of Thurber, Tex. He will speak at the W.K. Gordon Center for Industrial History of Texas, a research facility of Tarleton State University, and will offer Mass in the nearby historic St. Barbara's Church on Friday afternoon, July 23, 2004.
This will be the first known formal visit by a Catholic Bishop to the site since the town became abandoned 70 years ago.
Thurber is a Texas ghost town located on Interstate 20 midway between Fort Worth and Abilene. Founded in the 1880s, the town prospered for five decades with an economy based on underground coal mines and the manufacture of brick. Poles formed the second largest group after Italians in the ethnically diverse community that once boasted 10,000 residents. Because the mines and brickyard closed, the town withered away in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
The Most Reverend John W. Yanta holds the distinction of being the first Texas-born Polish American bishop in the Catholic Church. Throughout his clerical career he has been involved in preserving Polish ethnic culture and helped found the Polish American Priests Association. He and the Rev. Msgr. Frank Kurzaj of San Antonio will jointly speak at the Gordon Center at 4:00 PM on Friday, July 23, on "Polish National Consciousness Among the Poles in Texas." 
Following the secular program at the Gordon Center, Bishop Yanta and Msgr. Kurzaj will shift their activities to the nearby St. Barbara's Church. It was here that most of Thurber's Poles, Italians, Mexicans, and other Catholics worshiped for decades before the death of the town. The Holy Mass is scheduled to begin at 6:30 PM.
Thurber is located on Interstate 20 at exit 367 at a point 70 miles west of Fort Worth and 80 miles east of Abilene, Tex. The Gordon Center and St. Barbara's Church are on the south access road adjacent to the exit. The ghost town site has two operating restaurants.
For more information about this event celebrating Polish culture in Texas, please contact the W.K. Gordon Center at 254-968-1886.