Centennial of St. Andrew's Catholic Church: Zeeland, North Dakota

The Germans from Russia Heritage Collection is pleased to publish this impressive book of St. Andrew's Church at Zeeland and St. John's Church, rural McIntosh County both in south central North Dakota. The Germans from Russia immigrants who settled in this area came from the Black Sea German Catholic villages of the Kutschurgan District, South Russia, today near Odessa, Ukraine.

In the Prelude, Reverend Andrew Jasinski writes: "This book is in honor of the Catholic settlers living in and around Zeeland, North Dakota, who, during the summer of 1905, built a simple church. They are now gone, but the continued presence of this church is a tribute to their desire to share their faith with their children and their children's children. This book is but a small contribution to the telling of the story of St. Andrew's Catholic Church."

"Telling the story of St. Andrew's necessarily involves telling the story of the Germans from Russia and of St. John the Baptist Church, which once stood five miles north of Zeeland, the first Catholic Church in North Dakota to serve the Germans from Russia."

"This book is the story of the courage of a people who came to the New World, bringing with them a faith deeply rooted in their history, supporting them on their journey, and which continues to be nurtured among their children. This book is but one story of the Catholic faith uprooted, replanted, and bearing fruit, in order that it be transplanted to other places and people."