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“While resident pastor of Ackley from 1870 to 1881, Father Peter O’Dowd covered at least five counties in his missionary work among the scattered Catholic settlers. After visiting the Williams area in Hamilton County to celebrate Mass in their homes…

“In 1854 the Waverly area settlers gathered for the first Mass in Bremer County. A few years later Bishop Mathias Loras bought a block of property from Frederick Cretzmeyer in 1855. It became the site of the first church and came to be known as…

“Several Brannon families came from Ohio in 1852 and were followed by their friends in later years. They built a stone church dedicated to Saint Rose, which was supplanted by a larger frame church in 1877. When lightning struck the church in 1881,…

"The second parish in Waterloo Catholic history is Saint Mary’s, which began with the appointment of a pastor in 1898. “The German Catholic Saint Mary’s Building Association” was formed in 1894 to work toward a German parish. The German Catholics…

“After the appointment of Father P. C. Kenny, churches were constructed in Vinton and Dysart under his direction. In 1879 the Church of Saint Mary in Vinton was dedicated on the feast of Mary’s Maternity, October 12, and the church in Vinton was…

"Father John Zlebcik, a native of Bohemia and missionary to the Bohemian and German Catholics from Tama to Cedar Rapids, established many parishes while resident at Norway, Iowa. One of them is Saint Mary Parish at Vining in Tama County. In 1874,…

“Saint Mary Church at Spencer’s Grove, two and a half miles north of Urbana, “stood out in the prairie like a lonely sentinel of the Lord,” according to Father Hubert Holsters, writing in the Centennial History of the Archdiocese. For many years…

“Bishop John Hennessy established the Strawberry Point parish in the southwest corner of Clayton County in 1878 and appointed Father John Hackett pastor. They had been served by missionary priests coming into the area and celebrating Mass in the…

"After Father Ambrose Martin, a Canadian convert, came to Charles City in 1867, he frequently visited Roseville. A few years later, Father Patrick Feeley became the pastor of the Charles City parish and directed the building of the first Roseville…

"Saint Mary Parish is the second parish to be founded in New Hampton. Its beginning is unusual. The school was established and in operation for three years before the first church was built. The German speaking parents in Saint Joseph Parish wanted…