St. Joseph's Catholic Church (Salem, Oregon)

St. Joseph's is the oldest Catholic church in Salem, Oregon and currently serves some 3,500 families and conducts services in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. [ [http://www.salemhistory.net/places/st_vincent_de_paul_church.htm Salem Online History St. Vincent de Paul] Second parish formed from St. Joseph's and Brooks parishes] The parish school staff has been recognized for excellence in education as recently as 2005. [ [http://www.ncea.org/departments/npcd/Excellence2005.asp NCEA] ]

History

St. Joseph's was founded in 1853 when Father James Croke rented a two story building on the corner of Church and Chemeketa streets that had been a Masonic hall. Father Croke, an Irish priest (brother of Archbishop Thomas Croke) has been described as "the ubiquitous apostle of Western Oregon".Schoenberg, Wilfrid S.J. "A History of the Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest 1743 - 1983", "The Pastoral Press" Washington D.C. 1987 pp. 140-142 ISBN 0-912405-25-2]

The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary religious education order arrived in 1863 and bought the building. It became the Sacred Heart Academy dedicated on 1863-08-22 and opened with 80 students on September 7th. A church historian has noted that the then pastor Leopold Dieleman, "threw enough holy water on the building to put out a fire" and quotes Father Dieleman as saying, "The devil that day had danced his last polka in the building". [Schoenberg, Wilfrid S.J. "A History of the Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest 1743 - 1983", "The Pastoral Press" Washington D.C. 1987 p. 188 ISBN 0-912405-25-2] The following year St. John Evangelist Church opened on a rise of ground known locally as “Piety Hill”. [http://www.salemhistory.net/places/st_joseph_church.htm St Joseph Church Salem Online History.net] ] [http://www.stjosephchurch.com/history.html History of St. Josephs] ]

In 1873, the sisters completed a new academy building on the corner of Center and Cottage Streets. A new church was erected on the corner of Chemeketa and Cottage Streets and was named St. Joseph Church (per the archdiocese history of Oregon the name change was possibly to avoid confusion with another parish named St. John's [ "'Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon: 150th Anniversary 1846 - 1996" "Editions Du Signe" 1996 p. 58 ISBN 287718-360-2] ) and opened in 1889.The parish’s current church was dedicated in 1953. A new parish center was completed in 1999.

References

External links

* [http://www.stjosephchurch.com/ St. Joseph Homepage]