St. Patrick Catholic Church
Urbana IL

Parish Mission: To be the parish of Joy of the Gospel

“The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and the community. While certainly not the only institution which evangelizes, if the parish proves capable of self-renewal and constant adaptivity, it continues to be “the Church living in the midst of the homes of her sons and daughters”.[26] This presumes that it really is in contact with the homes and the lives of its people, and does not become a useless structure out of touch with people or a self-absorbed group made up of a chosen few. The parish is the presence of the Church in a given territory, an environment for hearing God’s word, for growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration.[27] In all its activities the parish encourages and trains its members to be evangelizers.[28] It is a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey, and a centre of constant missionary outreach. We must admit, though, that the call to review and renew our parishes has not yet sufficed to bring them nearer to people, to make them environments of living communion and participation, and to make them completely mission-oriented.”

 

https://www.stpaturbana.org/  

 

In 1901 Bishop Spaulding of Peoria purchased land in Urbana for St. Patrick’s and sent Fr. John H. Cannon, a priest who had launched several other parishes in the diocese, as its pastor. He celebrated Mass at St.Mary’s Parish in Champaign (the oldest parish in the county, founded in 1854) on June 30, 1901, where he announced that the cornerstone of the new parish would be laid the next day and the new church dedicated the following Sunday. That’s exactly what happened. In just over 37 hours of continuous work, a wood frame building was constructed, just north of the present church. Fr. Cannon obtained the pews and the altar from a parish he had previously founded in Farmer City.He chose to name the parish for St. Patrick, perhaps because many of his new parishioners were of Irish descent. With 40 or 45 families in the new parish, parish life was off and running! The wooden church was dedicated on July 7, 1901; by the end of the week, plans for the permanent church had been selected.

On July 17, the parish held its first funeral, that of Thomas O’Brien, a brakeman on the Peoria Eastern Railroad.OnJuly 18, William Murnin and John Daly were shot in Urbana and later buried from St. Patrick’s. Before the first month was up, Nellie Winifred Harty, daughter of Edward and Margaret (Smith) Harty,was baptized.The first wedding, of Nellie Hauersperger and James Mallady, was celebrated on October 9. Plans for the permanent church and a rectory began immediately. The architect was George P. Stauduhar of Rock Island, who designed over 200 churches in the upper Mississippi valley.The cornerstone was laid on October 27, 1901.

Beginning November 6, a 10-day fair was held to benefit the church fund. One unusual donation of $1000 was given with the stipulation that no bell be installed in the bell tower. (The donor lived across the street from the church and did not want to be awakened from his Sunday morning slumber by the ringing of bells!) The total cost of the church and rectory was $56,000. On the day of the dedication of the permanent church,May 24, 1903, only $12,000 of the original indebtedness remained.

The time capsule in the cornerstone was opened in 2003, revealing artifacts of 1901 and a list of parishioners who contributed to the building of the church. The original time capsule, with all its original contents,was replaced in the cornerstone, and a new time capsule containing additional parish records and memorabilia was inserted in the space behind the stone on October 25, 2003.