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St. Mary's Parish Church

History

St. Mary's Parish began as a part of St. Patrick's parish of St. Charles in 1853.  At that time, priests from St. Patrick's came by horse and buggy to offer Mass once a month.  Then, in 1867, Dr. and Mrs. Joseph McConnell deeded to Bishop Duggan of the Chicago Diocese land to be devoted to "building of a respectable house of worship". This led to the construction of the original stone church in 1868. In 1871, when the parish of Holy Cross was formed in Batavia, West Chicago--then known as Turner Junction--was one of its missions. When St. Mary's became a separate parish in 1894, the first resident priest, Rev. Ambrose Goulet, made plans for a new church and erected the present building, using stone from the old church  as the foundation. Plain wooden altars from the first building were used until new altars could be purchased. The first rectory was built in 1897.

In 1910, Fr. Gaffney, the new pastor personally began digging the church basement to have two rooms for church functions. He also installed the bells. Due to his foresight the parish acquired land next to the rectory where he hoped to build a parochial school. He helped organize the Altar Boys, and Knights of Columbus, Council 1555, later named for him. Fr. Gaffney began holding religious education classes for the children of the parish. This practice was continued by the other pastors until the building of the school.

St. Mary's celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 1944 with the church interior being remodeled. DePrato Studios of New York designed and installed new altars and statues. Grace Jemsek hand painted the Stations of the Cross. The old windows were replaced with new glass depicting parts of the "Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary". A new tabernacle was installed. In 1948 St. Mary's became a part of the Joliet Diocese, formed from the Archdiocese of Chicago and surrounding dioceses. During this time, the first religious education classes (CCD) were instituted using lay teachers.

The 75th anniversary of St. Mary's in 1969 saw a growing parish with a Parish Council, Parents Club, Religious Education, Athletic and Scouting Programs all flourishing under Fr. Henry Wilkening. A Spanish speaking associate, Fr. Benjamin Hernandez and Sr. Margaret Mary Neirincyx were assigned to assist the Spanish-speaking community.

Our Centennial Year had its official kick off in July 1993 with a large celebration called Maryfest. Plans were implemented for a Centennial Choir to present various programs throughout the Centennial Year under the direction of Mr. Ronald Benner. The first event had over 100 people in the choir. The statues and crucifix were restored after 50 years by Patrick Caddie from the former DePrato Studios.

Please click on the bullet below to see more details about the history and development of St. Mary's Parish.  Clicking the bullet again will close the list.

 

Detailed History Fr. John Dore replaced Fr. Goulet in 1898 and served until 1905. Fr. Henry Read served for 5 years until ill health forced his resignation in 1910. In 1910, Fr. Gaffney, the new pastor personally began digging the church basement to have two rooms for church functions. He also installed the bells. Due to his foresight the parish acquired land next to the rectory where he hoped to build a parochial school. He helped organize the Altar Boys, and Knights of Columbus, Council 1555, later named for him. Fr. Gaffney began holding religious education classes for the children of the parish. This practice was continued by the other pastors until the building of the school. Fr. Bernard Heeney who served from 1914-1918 had a great interest in music and became friends with the Methodist minister. The next pastor was Rev. Michael Fennessey whose interest in education finally prompted the building of the school in 1922 on the land purchased by Fr. Gaffney. Chosen as the teaching staff were Sisters of St. Joseph under the direction of Sister Mary Thomas. The Sisters lived on the 2nd floor of the school. One of the organizations founded in 1919 was the Catholic Daughters of America, Court 432, first known as the Daughters of Isabella, dedicated to helping subsidize education and missionary efforts and is still active today. Rev. Leo Hartke, his successor in 1925 directed his efforts in obtaining a convent for the Sisters. That building stood directly south of the old school. Fr. Joseph Connelly beCame pastor in 1931 and stayed until 1938 working very hard to keep the parish going during the Great Depression. Fr. Connelly was succeeded by Rev. Francis McLaughlin in 1938. As the suburbs continued to grow space became a concern so in 1954, a new 8 room school was constructed at the southeast end of the parish property. The new school was dedicated in 1955. Fr. Basil Doyle became pastor in 1956 and served until 1959. In 1959, Fr. Nunan built a new convent for the 16 Sisters of St. Joseph who staffed the school. A Parents Club was organized in 1960 to help furnish the convent, then continued afterward to help fund school needs. Fr. Nunan also purchased three additional lots for parking and playground use. An athletic program for theparish youth was started by Mr. Gus Kimball. Fr. Nunan organized a program to convert the Church basement into an auxiliary chapel doubling seating capacity and permitting extra Masses on Sundays. Franciscan priests from Christ the King Seminary would help with extra masses as well as teaching in the religious education programs along with Seminarians and Lay Teachers. In 1963, Fr. Nunan approached Mr. Jesus Alfaro Jr. and arrangements were made for Maryknoll missionaries to say Mass and help with religious education in Spanish for the Hispanic community. The new pastor in 1974, Fr. Anthony Stockinger was bi-lingual and was able to serve both the Spanish and English communities for 4 years. A house on York and Garden Streets bequeathed to the parish by Ms. Elsie Mueller was then utilized for the Spanish Apostolate.   Fr. Joseph Butters became pastor in 1978. A house on the corner of Vergie and Oakwood was purchased for use as a rectory and office. The old rectory was torn down. Plans to remodel the church interior were begun. Fr. Butters left the parish during this time and the remodeling was completed by his successor Fr. James Ratigan in 1980. Remodeling consisted of altars being cut and facades moved back and a new altar being built from the old altar rails by Tom and Marvin Butler. The statues were moved, the stations of the cross repainted, confessionals removed, and the basement chapel remodeled by Carroll Wienecke to include a kitchen. In 1982 Fr. Bill Conway returned to the parish to be the first bi-lingual diocesan associate pastor assigned to St. Mary's. Through the Diocesan Program of Renewal, small Christian Communities were started and still continue today. A Food Pantry was started to help with food for the needy and went from a part time program to one now fully organized with an Inter-church Board of Directors. An Ecumenical Church Service was held and after this effort, the churches joined together to start a homeless shelter program called PADS to furnish shelter once a week in West Chicago. A new Apostolate to the Aged Program led by Sr. Monica was begun in 1984. After 62 years, the Sisters of St. Joseph left St. Mary's in 1989 as the Sisters were branching out into other ministries, although Sr. Monica still serves on a part time basis by visiting the elderly and sick of the parish. In 1990 Fr. Vernon Arseneau became pastor. Both Fr. Arseneau and his associate Fr. Gerald Simonelli were bi-lingual and thus were able to serve this bi-lingual parish. One of the first projects was to utilize the old convent as parish offices. In 1993 an Ecumenical Program called "Moms in School" to assist in day care for school age mothers was started. In July, an access ramp for the disabled and funerals was completed on the Church.