Detailed History of St. Pat's Parish
In 1885 the west side parishioners from Immaculate Conception parish were requested to establish a parish of their own. Fr. Thomas F. Richardson, then of Fairfax was appointed the first pastor in1886. On land purchased at Second Avenue and Seventh Street West, he erected a small frame church. Fr. Richardson was pastor from 1886-1888. He died in the fall of 1888.
In 1888-1889 Fr. Michael J. Quirk was appointed pastor of St. Patrick's.
In the fall of 1889, Fr. Timothy J. Sullivan became the third resident pastor of St. Patrick's parish. Fr. Sullivan was quick to sense that the small frame church would soon be too small to accommodate the growing congregation. With this in mind, in early 1890, Fr. Sullivan purchased land on the corner of First Avenue and fifth Street West for the location of a new church building. Construction of the new building was started at once and was completed in 1891. As soon as the parish could use the new church, the old church at Second Avenue and Seventh Street West was moved to the rear of the new church to be utilized as a school. The Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary accepted the challenge to come and teach the children of St. Patrick's. The regular attendance the first year was 100 students.
Parish membership grew steadily and subsequently increased the enrollment in St. Patrick's school. Within 10 years the student body had outgrown the building and Fr. Sullivan began making plans to build a new school. The new building was dedicated in 1903. In December of 1914, Fr. Sullivan died; he had served as pastor for 25 years.
In January of 1915, Fr. Thomas W. Drumm was appointed pastor. During the summer of 1915, the Sisters were moved from their residence in the school building to a separate residence so that more classroom space could be provided for the growing student body. In the spring of 1919, Fr. Drumm was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa.
In July of 1919, Fr. Daniel J. Lenihan was appointed pastor of St. Patrick's. In the spring of 1924, a new rectory was built to replace the old one. As the west side of Cedar Rapids continued to grow in population, so did St. Patrick's parish and school. It was decided to build a new school and the contract was awarded in January 1929. Classes were dismissed early in the spring and the new school building was completed in 8 months.
St. Patrick Schools
In 1935 Fr. Donald G. Peters, who had been serving as Assistant pastor was appointed Administrator of St. Patrick's parish. He was to assist Fr. Lenihan with the many pastoral duties that had increased because of the fast growing parish membership. In 1946 Pope Pius XI elevated Fr. Lenihan to the rank of Monsignor.
The parish of St. Patrick's continued to grow and flourish. Parish records attest to the hard work and dedication of the parish priest and school faculty, especially concerning the sacraments and the direction of St Patrick?s school. During the years of 'Spiritual Shepherding' by Msg. Lenihan & Fr. Peters the parish saw sever all time highs. For example in 1954 there were 265 Baptisms recorded, that is an average of over 5 baptisms per week. In 1955 141 young people received their First Communion.
In the late 1940's, with the church building now approaching its 60th year in existence, it became increasingly evident that building was experiencing numerous structural defects. While it was determined that extensive alterations or reconstruction would be necessary, it was also decided that the original architectural lines of the old church be retained. On October 18, 1949 the parish Board of Directors voted for a major remodeling project at a cost not to exceed $250,000.00. On November 18th the contract was awarded at a bid of $178,700.00. For the next 2 years, services were held in the school auditorium. The remodeled church was dedicated in November 1951.
Before Remodeling 
Remodeled Alter
With the number of Sisters teaching at the parish, in 1955 plans were made to build a new convent for the Sisters. Work began in the spring of 1955 and the convent was completed in late summer 1956.
In the late 1950s Cedar Rapids continued to expand especially the West side. This expansion brought many more families into St. Patrick's, and at this time a new parish on the West side was considered as a possible solution to the overcrowding at St. Patrick's. In 1958 under the direction of Msgr. Lenihan and Fr. Peters, the Archbishop issued the necessary proxies to purchase 20 acres of land on Edgewood Road and First Avenue to be the potential site of the new catholic parish.
In the early 1960s St. Patrick's with a membership of over 1800 families, was one of the largest parishes in the state of Iowa. Also, the school with an enrollment of approximately 1200 students in K-12 was the largest parochial school in the state.
In 1960 Fr. J. Robert McDonald was appointed pastor and quickly assessed the large parish membership and over populated school. He then began to formulate the plans for the creation of the new parish. In the spring of 1961 ground was broken for the new St. Jude parish. The building was to be an educational facility and a place to worship. The building was completed in 1962. With the completion of the building, approximately 400 students left St. Patrick's school. In 1962 and 1963 a new central high school that was named LaSalle, was built on land adjacent to the St. Jude site.
In 1963 Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council. In the early years following Catholics began experiencing some changes in their religious practices. One of the major changes was when the use of vernacular during certain parts of the Mass came to be a practice. Prior to that the entire Mass had always been prayed in Latin. Now the English language was being used in liturgies at St. Patrick's. Two other big changes that were noticed in most churches, especially at St. Patrick's, were when the priest began to face the people while offering Mass, and when the people remained standing while receiving communion.
The lay people of the parish answered the call and came forth to serve in elected positions in the parish. In 1967 The St. Patrick's School Board of Education approved its constitution and by-laws. In 1973 St. Patrick's formed its first Parish Council and elected its first officers. Mr. Michael Fandel was elected as its first President.
In 1969 Fr. Paul Maguire was appointed pastor of St. Patrick's, he continued to stress catholic education. Due to declining enrolment, the grade school of St. Patrick's Parish in Fairfax, Ia. closed and the remaining students were in search of a new school to attend. Even though Fairfax was closer to St. Jude's School, St. Jude's could not accommodate any more students. In the fall of 1970 an agreement was made between the parishes of St. Patrick's Cedar Rapids, and St. Patrick's Fairfax for their students to attend in Cedar Rapids. An agreement that continued until the west side schools consolidated in 1994.
In 1973 Fr. Martin T. Laughlin was appointed pastor of St. Patrick's, 1973 saw the beginning of the weekly bingo program when the State of Iowa legalized bingo within the state. In addition to the monetary benefits the program provided to the support of the parish school, the underline benefit was the community of friends it built among the workers of the program. Six volunteer teams supported the program, each with 25-30 people. Friendships were formed, and folks became active in the life of the parish, a benefit that is still felt today, some 30 years latter.
With the development of I-380 through the heart of the City, as well as the city's urban renewal program saw the removal of almost 200 family homes and apartment dwelling. Many of the people being displaced were from St. Patrick's. This was a real concern to Fr. Laughlin for the continued growth and future of the St. Patrick's neighborhood. Fr. Laughlin continued to make his concerns known to public officials and other civic leaders, and worked hard to guide development around St. Patrick's parish and neighborhood.
In 1979 Fr. John W. Dalton was appointed pastor of Sr. Patrick's. Capitalizing on the direction Fr. Laughlin had on the spiritual growth of the parish, Fr. Dalton introduced the parish to the Christian Experience Weekend. (C.E.W.) The weekend experiences were conducted at St. Patrick's school. Soon the C.E.W. candidates were coming from other catholic parishes from around the city as well as the surrounding. To this day, the positive effects of C.E.W. is evident not only in the Parish, but the community as well.
In 1982 Fr. Robert Hirsch was appointed pastor of St. Patrick's, shortly into his pastorate Fr. Hirsch organized the Shamrock Festival Committee for the express purpose of having an annual parish festival. This social event could assist in bringing parishioners closer together by providing an opportunity for more people to get involved in a parish project, as well as being a parish fund raiser. The first Shamrock Festival was held on June 19th 1983. It was a great success and a decision was made to continue this community project, of which it did for about the next 10 years. Because of illness and at the suggestion of his Doctor, Fr. Hirsh resigned as pastor in 1983.
In 1983 Fr. John Hemann was appointed pastor of St. Patrick's. During his leadership, the Sisters of Charity longtime providers of teachers for the school, informed the parish that they would be unable to provide Sisters to teach at the school. Upon the resignation of the Sisters of Charity, Mr. John Krumbholtz, a former student of St. Patrick's, and a graduate of LaSalle High School, was hired as the first lay principal. In 1984 the church was air-conditioned. In July 1986, the Sisters of Charity moved from St. Patrick's convent. The convent was remodeled in 1987 and was dedicated as the Parish Center and parish offices later that year.
In 1986 Rev. Mr. Jerry Pettit was Ordained to the Order of the Permanent Deaconate and was the first Permanent Deacon assigned to the Parish. Deacon Pettit remained in the parish until 1992 when the Archbishop re-assigned him to Immaculate Conception Parish located on the east side of Cedar Rapids.
In 1990 Fr. Phil Recker was appointed pastor. It was during his tenure as Pastor, that due to the increasing priest shortage, the Parish lost its Assisting Priest, when Fr. Ivan Nienhaus was transferred out of the parish. In 1991, due to health reasons, Fr. Recker, after only a short 10 months as pastor, requested the Archbishop for re-assignment to a smaller, less hectic parish.
In the Summer of 1991 Fr. Joseph M. Schneider was appointed pastor of St. Patrick's. During his leadership, the West Side schools (St. Jude, St. Ludmila, and St. Patrick) were consolidated in 1994. The consolidation was implemented to provide more learning experiences for the students. The consolidated schools were named The Holy Family School System. Grades K thru 4th elementary students were housed at St. Ludmila's and St Jude's, and the 5th thru 8th middle school students were housed at the St. Patrick's building.
In 1996 Fr Steven J. Rosonke was appointed pastor at St. Patrick's. During his leadership, several major improvements to the Church were made. Also, with the completion of the Xavier High School building and the consolidation of Regis and LaSalle high Schools St. Patrick's Middle School building was vacated. With the parish now having a vacant school building, a parish committee was appointed to examine the space requirements for St. Patrick's Parish. Following almost two years of studying the parishes present and as well as the foreseeable future needs, plus receiving input from the Parish Board of Education, the Finance Committee, the Parish Council and two Parish Town Meetings, the Committee made the recommendation to the Parish Council to tear down both the School Building and the Parish Center Building and build a new modern Parish Center. At the present time, a capital campaign is about to begin and plans are being finalized to begin construction in the spring of 2004 on the new facility.
In 2003 the parish of St. Patrick's celebrates its 118th year as a parish community. During this time the parish has seen many changes. We went from being a struggling, new west side parish in the beginning to being one of the largest parishes in the state of Iowa in the early 60?s. Today, while maybe not the largest in the state, we still remain a very thriving and viable parish. Our parishioner households number over 1100 and we continue to grow with each passing year. While we are for sure proud of our past, we are more excited about our future. While we pride ourselves on having one of the most beautiful churches in the area, we have more of a pride on the liturgical celebrations we have within the church. The dedication, willingness to serve, spirituality, and since of community of our parishioners is very evident by anyone who visits us. We welcome new parishioners and invite them to become part of our future as we celebrate our past.
