For those who have fond memories of attending Mass at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, St. Joseph Catholic Church in Duncombe or St. Joseph Catholic Church in Barnum and would like to have a piece of the church's history, Monday might be their chance.

Nearly a year after the three churches closed, the Holy Trinity Catholic Parish will hold an auction at Sacred Heart Church to sell items once used in the churches and rectories, including the kneelers, fonts, statues and a few remaining pews.

Some of the items have been sold privately to individuals and other religious items have been moved to other churches or to St. Edmond Catholic School.

"The pews are fewer and far between," said Mick Rathermel, operations manager for the Holy Trinity Parish. "Most of them have been sold."

Following the closings, each church was emptied and put on the real estate market, Rathermel said. The items were removed from the churches, boxed and placed in storage.

"Everything was cleared from the churches," he said. "They are completely emptied now. Duncombe still has its electric organ, which was too heavy to remove, and the stations of the cross. We have had another Catholic Church interested in purchasing the stations of the cross."

Other religious items from the churches, such as the altars, baptismal fonts and presider's chairs, have been blessed and are unable to be sold. They have been put into storage with the possibility of being placed in other churches, pending a long-range plan to be implemented by the Holy Trinity Parish and St. Edmond.

"Anything that pertained to Mass, sacraments or marriages and funerals were blessed," said Rathermel. "It's a possibility to place them in other churches, but we're in the process of making a long-range plan with St. Edmond to see what we will be doing in the future."

The altar, pews, ambo and other furnishings from the Holy Rosary Parish have been moved to St. Edmond, where they were given a new permanent home in the school's recently remodeled chapel.

Other items to be auctioned off include household items, kitchenware, furniture, tables, chairs and office equipment.

"It's a pretty basic auction," said Rathermel.

Both the Holy Rosary and St. Joseph building in Barnum have been sold. Holy Rosary was purchased by the Youth Shelter Care of North Central Iowa and houses its Girls Remedial Learning Services program. The Barnum facility was recently purchased by a buyer from California. The Duncombe church building is still for sale.

"We're taking any and all offers on Duncombe now," Rathermel said.

All proceeds from the auction will return to the Holy Trinity Parish.

Contact Emilie Nelson at (515)573-2141 or nelson@messengernews.net