July 9, 2010
The Cornerstone
Catholic bookstore a ministry for its owners
Kimberly Marsh and Mary Winnecke look at merchandise at the Cornerstone, a Catholic bookstore in Evansville. Kimberly is the store manager, and Mary is a sales associate. (Message photo by Mary Ann Hughes) Click for a larger version.
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
Less than a week after the Cornerstone Catholic Books and Gifts announced its closing, Melanie Seibert, president of Artex Corporation in Evansville, announced that her company had arranged to keep it open.
The Cornerstone, “serving Evansville, Indiana and Owensboro, Kentucky Catholic communities since 1983, will be acquired by Artex Corp. in a proposed agreement between the two businesses,” Seibert said.
“We are so excited to be able to continue the fine tradition of the Cornerstone as a premier book and gift store serving the local Catholic and Christian community,” she added. “The Cornerstone is a community treasure, and we are both thrilled and humbled to be called to continue the ministry that the Simms have nurtured for so many years.”
“Ministry” has always been the word owners and operators have chosen.
The Cornerstone was opened in 1982 after Marita Dieter and her two friends, Kathy Flynn and Sandy Lutz, heard that a bookstore at the Catholic Center in Evansville was being closed by Bishop Francis R. Shea.
“We all went to Holy Rosary Church at that time,” Dieter said, and when the women heard the news “we were crushed because we all liked to read.” They went to their pastor, Father William Deering, and they told him “we felt terrible that there was no Catholic bookstore.
“We were allowed to start a Catholic bookstore” in the former church building at Holy Rosary. “It was 1982, and we knew nothing about how to run a bookstore. We started researching. Father Deering was very supportive, and Father [David] Nunning was there too, and he was very helpful.”
The new owners painted, installed carpeting and built bookshelves. “A store was going out of business, and we bought their fixtures. Father Nunning gave us a crash course in bibles. We sat on the floor, and he went through all of this with us,” Dieter said.
She laughs at the memory, remembering, “We had to sit on the floor because we didn’t have any furniture.
“The first thing we sold was a family bible. We couldn’t believe we had made a sale.”
Although they were running a business, they resolved that their “sole purpose” was “to be a ministry, to serve the diocese.”
“It was hard work,” she remembers, “researching, and getting things in. First, we ordered the bibles. Then rosaries and medals. We found suppliers, and we advertised in the Message. We started going out to parishes and making ourselves known.”
Lutz said the three owners “all liked to read books, and we wanted the store to be friendly. We wanted people to leave with a smile. It was a ministry for us.”
She remembers that as they began planning for the store “all the doors opened up. In our minds, this was something we were supposed to do.
“We didn’t even have a cash register at the beginning. We used a cigar box.” The three women had 11 children, and “they all helped out” in the store, Sandy said.
“We went from soup to nuts,” she said, explaining, “we had conservative to liberal, a variety of items and authors.”
Dieter said the three women had made a Cursillo weekend together before they even thought of establishing a Catholic bookstore. “We were all readers, and we all wanted good Catholic literature. We were all very good friends, and we worked very hard.
“We didn’t hire anyone for a long time or pay ourselves for a while. We were putting everything into the inventory.”
Looking back, she said, “it was a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. We got to know the priests, and we got to know the diocese. Everybody was thrilled to death to have a Catholic bookstore in the area.”
The partnership lasted over 10 years. “Then Kathy developed breast cancer, and Sandy moved to New York,” Dieter said. “I did not want to run it by myself, and we put out the word.
“Anne Simms was the DRE at St. Joseph Church in Vanderburgh County, and she ended up buying the store.” About that time, Holy Rosary parish needed more room, and Simms moved the store to its current location on Bayard Park Drive.
“What a time we had. We always felt blessed to be there. It was not easy, but it was a ministry, and we did it with a great sense of pride and joy.”
Store manager Kimberly Marsh has been with The Cornerstone for sixteen years and will continue in her role in the new combined enterprise, according to the announcement from Artex.
Parishes that were notified of the decision to close the store are now being notified that there does not need to be a disruption of service to them for their annual orders of liturgical books and candles or the many other products they need throughout the year.
The sale is expected to be completed by the end of July. The store location will be moved in August to the Artex location at 1424 North Royal Avenue in Evansville. Until then parishes and patrons can continue to shop at the current location, 4671 Bayard Park Drive in Evansville.