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Historical documents pertaining to the history of Saint John XXIII parish in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

“When many Waterloo Catholics located in the northern part of the city in the early 1900s, they found it difficult to reach the church and school downtown. As Archbishop James J. Keane became aware of their difficulty, he directed the Franciscan…

"At first the parish was a “station” cared for by Father Jean Perrodin, the first resident pastor of St. Patrick’s at Garryowen. On Sept. 6, 1841, Bishop Loras purchased a lot for a church and a larger lot for cemetary purposes. The first church,…

"Czech families of the 1850s and 1860s were served by missionaries who knew their language. Father Anthony D. Urban was certainly one of them, but his extensive missionary travels make it difficult to determine where he took up residence at any…

“In 1880, after the church was closed for ten years, Bishop Hennessy assigned Saint Joseph Church to the care of the Protivin pastor, ten miles away. The Jesuits of Prairie du Chien gave them spiritual care in the 1880s. And Father Francis X. Boeding…

"Only four Catholic families were living in the town of Earlville in eastern Delaware County, when Saint Joseph Church was built in 1886. The project was sponsored mainly by townspeople who were not Catholic. They thought another church in the…

"About the time this Clayton County town was looking for a name, Abd-el-Kader, an Algerian chieftain, was leading his countrymen to freedom. His bravery thrilled these Americans, and they named the town for him. Missionaries visited Elkader in the…

"In 1860 Father John J. Aylward, pastor of nearby Bankston, began a frame church at Farley Junction, about a mile from the present church site. In 1867 Father Charles McGauran, pastor of Bankston, saw to the building of a rock church, which was used…

"Saint Joseph Parish in Garnavillo began early in the history of the archdiocese. According to tradition, Father Joseph Cretin, who later became the first bishop of Saint Paul, came from Dubuque and celebrated Mass in the homes of John Barrett and…

"Michael J. Quirk and Father Michael Lynch were the first priests to visit the Greeley area to care for the early Catholic settlers in the 1860s. On those occasions the James Fitzpatrick home became a temporary chapel for the Greeley and Edgewood…