"The early Catholic settlers had been served by missionary priests, among them Father Joseph Butler, who wrote and signed the earliest parish record. He recorded a marriage and nine baptisms on Sept. 23, 1866. Father Peter O’Dowd arrived as resident…
"While Father Garrett T. Nagle was pastor of Saint Boniface Parish in Garner from 1893 to 1903 and a missionary to a large area, he visited the Catholics of Woden in Hancock County about every month. Mass was usually celebrated in the home of John…
"In 1870 Father Clement Lowery went to visit Stone City from his Cedar Rapids parish. He celebrated Mass, administered baptism, and instructed the children of the French, German, and Irish immigrants, who had been attracted to work in the quarries.…
"All Saint Parish, Rowley, was established by Father William Leen after he became a pastor of Walker in 1894. After the Rowley Catholics built the church in 1896 at his direction, Father Leen continued to care for the Walker parish and three…
"Two years after Father Thomas J. Conroy returned from his World War II role as military chaplain he was appointed pastor of Sacred Heart Parish at Osage. The first Mass in the new church was celebrated on the morning of September 8, 1951. The…
"When there were enough Catholics settled in and around the town of St. Anthony, they built a church in the town in 1893 and named it for the Sacred Heart. Father John McMahon became the first resident pastor of St. Anthony and celebrated the first…
"The first church in western Howard County was Saint Patrick Church at Cecelia built in 1860 on a plot given by James Roche. Made of logs, it measured 16 by 21 feet and stood in the present cemetery. For some years before, Mass had been celebrated in…