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Cathedral of the Prince of Peace – The World’s Smallest Cathedral
By Abbot-Bishop Brian E. Brown, OSH | November 3, 2011
The Cathedral of the Prince of Peace holds the title and record, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, as the World’s Smallest Cathedral. (14′ X 17′ seating about a dozen souls) The original stone building was a wash house built around the turn of the century (late 1800′s) and has served many purposes over the years including a “cat house” for stray cats.
In the early eighties Bishop Karl Pruter, of Christ Catholic Church, and his wife moved to Highlandville Missouri seeking a quieter more contemplative life. Fr. Karl wasted no time in converting the old wash house into a place of prayer and worship. With a Bavarian blue cupola, a stained glass portrayal of Jesus as the Prince of Peace, a lovely antique altar, and two rows of pews with kneelers the Cathedral of the Prince of Peace was opend for worship. Bishop Pruter celebrated mass at the cathedral daily.
Since its beginning the cathedral has seen visitors from all around the world, as pilgrims have stopped by to offer a prayer, share a story, or gather to worship. Well known, the World’s Smallest Cathedral serves as a landmark and monument for the Free Catholic or Old Catholic Movement in America welcoming all through its humble doors.
With to Bishop Pruter’s retirement in the fall of 2007 worship services at the Cathedral of the Prince of Peace, though it had been previously sold to a developer, were turned over the Bishop Brian Ernest Brown and were continued for as long as possible.
Ultimately worship services had to be moved from the cathedral at the request of the new owners. The property was put up for sale and as a result the cupola was removed from atop the cathedral, its altar dismantled, and it was returned to use as a simple stone outbuilding.
We are trying to save this holy place, which by the way happens to be a Missouri landmark as well as a place of pilgrimage. We hope to purchase it, restore it, and once again worshiping the Prince of Peace under its roof adorned with its trademark Bavarian blue cupola. Won’t you help us? Don’t let this be the end of something beautiful and wonderful.
A letter of appeal to purchase, save, and restore the cathedral
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,
I trust this letter finds you well and in the grace and favor of the Lord. It is the work of our Lord Jesus Christ that has compelled me to write to you and send out an urgent, personal appeal. First let me catch you up on some recent events.
Offered with this letter you will find a couple of things. Let me call your attention to the pictures. You are looking at “The World’s Smallest Cathedral,” according to the Guinness Book of World Records, located in Highlandville Missouri, a small hamlet midway between Springfield and Branson Missouri just off of US Highway 65. It is The Cathedral of the Prince of Peace and serves as the cathedral for Christ’s Catholic Church, an autocephalous sacramental fellowship dedicated to Christian unity. Rather than repeat the history of the church I have also included an older newspaper article written about the historic building and the people that have worshiped there in the past. If you’d be so kind, please take a moment and look over the article below and you can get an even better feel for what the cathedral is about and what it means.
Christina, my wife, and I have been involved with ministry at the cathedral for about nine years, holding worship services there for Bishop Pruter when he was unable and for the last couple of years the cathedral was open. We’ve grown very fond of the place, its historicity, and its ministry. My predecessor, Bishop Karl Pruter, moved from the Ozarks of Missouri to Colorado in the early fall of 2007 and passed on into glory November 18 that same year. Prior to his move, Bishop Pruter entrusted the cathedral and its ministry to us and we have been faithful ever since until we had to leave and it was dismantled. The cathedral and grounds were a place you could surely feel the presence of God and it has offered a place of prayer, worship, and service to people from around the globe and from all over the United States.
Developments of several years ago necessitated the sale of the property with the good Bishop Pruter and his wife moving from the rectory, the house attached to the cathedral, to Springfield. A local land developer purchased the entire property and a housing development called “Cathedral Estates” was built on the “Garden of the Saints” which was a five acre tract of land that had been cultivated into a strolling prayer garden. The cathedral and the rectory were spared the wrecking ball and for a time the house served as a home/office for the developers and we had unrestricted use of the cathedral for ministry. About two years ago we were asked to leave and the Cathedral was dismantled.
God has laid it on my heart to save and preserve “The World‘s Smallest Cathedral,” the rectory, and remaining grounds and the current owners are amiable to the sale. Now I don’t pretend to say I’ve ever heard the audible voice of God, not that I doubt He audibly speaks to people, He simply hasn’t done so with me. Instead though, I have often felt stirrings in my heart from the Holy Spirit. It was just such a stirring I’ve felt about the cathedral and grounds in Highlandville. Here’s part of the vision for the cathedral property.
As many of you know, Christina and I have operated Shepherd’s Heart of the Ozarks, an outreach ministry within and for the people of the Ozarks, for some time. We have done this out of our home and out of our own pockets.
We have always felt a calling to minister through a “drop in center” of sorts to the poor and needy. Heaven knows there are a lot of those folks around here, in our own backyards even. Help is sparse in these small Ozark communities and often location dependent, meaning you can only receive help from within the county you live in. Poverty and homelessness is one of our best kept secrets.
The vision God has given us for the cathedral property is one of continued ministry and a “drop in center” of sorts, where people can come and network needs with services. For years, people were always able to “drop in” to the cathedral and be greeted by a clergy member offering a tour, prayer, assistance, or whatever was needed at the time. Our continuing ministry is one of simply mirroring Christ’s love in a broken world and we do that with our ministry to the “least of these.” Matthew 25:40.
We currently operate an ecumenical Christian seminary, Whithorn School of Theology, that has been approved by the Missouri Department of Higher Education to grant undergraduate and graduate religious degrees. Part of a larger vision is to be able to purchase additional property in the area and expand Whithorn to include a Christian based K-12 program with an emphasis on arts and crafts. We would like to offer such a school where we could work with at risk and “throw away” children, ones who have seemingly fallen through the cracks, and who have indeed been left behind. Our vision of Shepherd’s Heart involves many ministries too numerous to mention in this simple letter of appeal but all of them centered around this small town in Missouri and this small historic cathedral.
I can hear you say, this is all fine but what is it that you need? Simply put, we need your financial support. It is our intention to purchase the entire property for $100,000. A dear friend of mine, and brother in the Lord, once told me that you needed to let your dream or vision be large enough that you couldn’t possibly accomplish it without God. Well, while this may not be a large sum to many, to Christina and I it is an enormous sum and one we couldn’t hope to come up with without God’s help and yours. We plan on promoting the cathedral as a destination spot for visitors to the state of Missouri and as the national cathedral for Christ’s Catholic Church and indeed the entire Free Catholic or Old Catholic movement.
The World’s Smallest Cathedral is just that, the world’s. People come from all around the world and they come from many different denominations to pray, meditate, talk and share, or simply to walk around the gardens. It is an important part of Missouri and the Ozarks, and an important part of Highlandville. It is an important part of Old Catholicism and a historical cathedral in its own right. It was a parish church for a handful of us where we came as a family to pray and worship an awesome God. It is even world famous but most important of all it is a place in this crazy world we live in that God is using to touch peoples lives and speak to their hearts . Please let Him speak to your heart. If you feel that our ministry is worthy of your support, if you feel this special place is worthy of your support, if you feel Christina and I are worthy of your support, won’t you please help us?
I invite you to be a part of something larger than yourself just as we are doing, be a part of world history in helping to support The World’s Smallest Cathedral, be a part of shaping our ministry in the Ozarks of Missouri by helping support Shepherd‘s Heart of the Ozarks, but most importantly join us in answering yes to God‘s call to serve the “least of these.” This can only happen with your support. Honestly, only with help from you can we proceed. If you can at all, please be generous. May God bless you and keep you now and always.
You may also mail your donations to:
The Rt. Reverend Brian Ernest Brown, OSH
P.O. Box 1891 Hollister, MO 65673Please make checks or money orders payable to:
Bishop Brian E. Brown“Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us,
an offering and sacrifice to God.” -Ephesians 5:2
An older newspaper article on the cathedral written when Bishop Pruter still owned the property and lived there. It was one of his favorites.
Prince of Peace Cathedral
Steve Rock-Kansas City Star
HIGHLANDVILLE, Mo. – The guest book shows that visitors come from all over the country, and even the world, to this tiny hamlet in southern Missouri.
It’s not a glitzy destination like Branson, which is less than 30 miles south on U.S. Route 65. No, it’s in Karl Pruter’s back yard. There, nestled under the shade of a large oak tree, is the world’s smallest cathedral.
Pruter, a bishop since 1967 in the little-known offshoot of Catholicism known as Christ Catholic Church, is the architect and caretaker of Highlandville’s claim to fame. Officially recognized by the Guinness Book of Records in 1984, it draws as many as 3,000 visitors a year.
They’ve come from California, Texas and Florida. And Australia, Mexico and Venezuela. And on and on.
All to see the Cathedral of the Prince of Peace, a converted wash house that measures 14 feet by 17 feet and — sizewise, anyway — looks more suited to be a tool shed than a place of worship. With only four pews for the congregation, and those pews measuring just 4 feet long, it seats only 12 people.
While Branson boasts all things big and gaudy — “the world’s largest banjo!” screams one sign — Highlandville, which didn’t even exist until 1994, uses the opposite approach to put itself on the map.
“Nationally, if people talk about Highlandville, they’re talking about the cathedral,” Paul Weeks, the city’s mayor, said. “Other than that, they don’t have any idea what or where Highlandville is.”
This wasn’t Pruter’s intention when he moved to this town.
He’s also not averse to drinking a beer or two, bragging that, “I come from a long line of beer-drinking Bavarians.”
An educator for more than 30 years, Pruter, 84, now teaches at Ozark Technical Community College in nearby Springfield.
He’s in Highlandville because he found it to be a quiet and peaceful place to settle on five-plus acres and indulge his loves of prayer and writing. He’s lived in many places over the years, including Boston, Philadelphia, Maine, New Mexico and even Bavaria. But it was during a visit to Fayetteville, Ark., that he fell in love with the Ozark region.
That led him to Highlandville, population 872. Here, just across the street from a neighbor whose yard is populated by dogs and cats and chickens and geese.
The “cathedral” was already on the property then, in 1983, but it was nothing resembling a cathedral. So Pruter, remembering that he once read on a book jacket about a different church that was recognized as the world’s smallest cathedral, went to work.
Anymore, he said, the Guinness designation “has a life of its own.”
Sure enough, city officials brag about the cathedral in tourism brochures and fliers. The Missouri version of “Off the Beaten Path: A Guide to Unique Places” includes a nugget about the cathedral that says, in part, “This you have to see to believe.” Mention of the cathedral has even made cameo appearances in places such as the Chicago Tribune and the Sunday Times of Perth, Australia.
Shirley Fenley, Pruter’s next-door neighbor, sits on her front porch and marvels at the cathedral’s popularity.
But here’s the irony: Pruter has little interest in tourists. Oh, he welcomes them warmly and even leaves the cathedral unlocked 24 hours a day. He asks for no money when they arrive and is happy to be a tour guide the moment his doorbell rings. But there’s not so much as a single sign pointing the way to the cathedral, nothing on the streets and highways leading to Highlandville that advertises its existence.
“We do not promote it that way,” Pruter said.
The cathedral is not a novelty, he insists, but a solemn and serious place of worship. It’s not a Las Vegas wedding chapel, either, and he refuses to marry couples who simply want a good story to tell in 25 or 30 years.
“We’re not trying to attract the looky-sees,” Pruter said. “We want people who want to meditate.”
Why, then, seek the Guinness designation in the first place?
Pruter, sitting in the yard just a few feet from the cathedral, looks straight ahead. He swats a mosquito from his arm and finally shakes his head.
“That’s a good question,” he said. “I guess it was a way of calling attention to what the Old Catholics are doing in this country.”
The Old Catholic Movement, of which Christ Catholic Church is a part, broke from Rome in 1870 over the doctrine of papal infallibility. There are three bishops worldwide in Christ Catholic Church: one in Canada, one in Australia and Pruter. There are only about 2,000 total members of the church, Pruter said, and the closest church to the one in Highlandville is more than 500 miles away in Houston.
They celebrate a more traditional form of the Mass than Roman Catholics, and the priest says the Mass facing the altar instead of the congregation. The priests also are allowed to marry.
Pruter was married to his first wife for 49 years before her death in 1992. Together, they had seven children. Pruter has been married to his second wife for five years.
In the cathedral, there’s a picture of St. Peter. Standing beside him is his wife.
“We have that there to remind our fellow Catholics that our first pope was married,” Pruter said. “I’m following that tradition.”
And creating one of his own, trying to attract esoteric Catholics in a predominantly Baptist belt.
Here, Pruter or another priest says Mass on a daily basis. The typical Sunday crowd consists of eight to 12 people, but the weekday total is sometimes as few as four.
“Myself, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,” Pruter said. On those days, he said, he doesn’t bother giving a sermon because “the other three have already heard it.”
This cozy but reverent cathedral looks nothing like a tourist trap. It looks, well, like a church. But because it’s serviced by a bishop, it’s formally called a cathedral.
It has an altar, a tabernacle, kneelers, a stained-glass window, even a Baldwin organ. Ivy climbs the walls of the exterior, and a cross sits atop a painted cupola that looks like a blue onion perched on the cathedral’s rooftop. There’s an enormous walking garden on the immediate grounds, and there are more than a dozen statues honoring various saints located among the flower beds.
The question now is how long it will retain its claim to fame, whether the Guinness recognition will live as long as Pruter does. Pruter figures it will.
“Unless,” he said, “somebody makes a cathedral out of a phone booth.”
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