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Saint Paul
Friday, March 29, 2024

100 years – looking back

Associate publisher Bob Zyskowski searched the newspaper’s archives to produce the following timeline of events and significant people in the life of the church in this archdiocese, which were all featured in The Catholic Bulletin and The Catholic Spirit.

1911
First issue of the Catholic Bulletin published, Jan. 7.

1915
First Mass in “new” Cathedral of  St. Paul, Archbishop John Ireland presiding.
* Pro-Cathedral of  St. Mary dedicated.

Archbishop Ireland

1918
Archbishop John Ireland dies, Sept. 25.
* World War I ends.

Msgr. Ryan

1919
Father John Volz named editor of the Catholic Bulletin.
* Msgr. John A. Ryan, a St. Paul priest, leads the National Catholic Welfare Conference’s Social Action Department, which issues a “radical” Bishops Program of Social Reconstruction calling for minimum wage laws, child labor laws, regulation of public utilities.

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1923
Nazareth Hall opens for classes as the archdiocese’s minor seminary.

1925
Bernard Vaughn named first lay editor of the Catholic Bulletin, a post he held for 33 years.

1926
Pro-Cathedral in Minneapolis named a minor basilica, the first in the United States, with the new name the Basilica of St. Mary.

1927
Diocesan Teachers College opened in James J. Hill home with 250 sisters registered for classes.

1928
Al Smith, governor of New York, first Catholic to run for president, defeated by Herbert Hoover. Smith said Republican Party used his religion to defeat him.
* Leaflet Missal plan established by St. Paul priests Father Paul Bussard and Father Edward Jennings to publish the translated prayers of the Sunday Mass.

1929
Great Depression starts.

1936
Catholic Digest magazine founded by St. Paul priest Father Louis Gales and edited by Father Paul Bussard.

1938
Catholic Youth Centers opened in both St. Paul and Minneapolis.

1939
Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli elected Pope Pius XII.

1940
Resurrection Cemetery consecrated.

1941
Ninth National Eucharistic Congress held in Twin Cities.
* Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. U.S. enters World War II.

1942
Father Patrick Peyton begins Family Rosary Crusade for peace.

1945
U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

1947
Catholics asked to pray for the conversion of Russia.
* Archbishop John Gregory Murray suffered minor injuries when hit by a car while crossing the street near the Cathedral.

1952
Father John O’Sullivan prepares couples for marriage.

1957
Pope Pius XII eases Eucharistic fast to three hours for solid food and one hour for liquids, and allows afternoon and evening Masses.
* Bernard Casserly named editor and served for 25 years.
* Diocese of New Ulm created in southwestern archdiocese.

President Kennedy

1960
John F. Kennedy, first Catholic elected United States president.

1962
Second Vatican Council opens Oct. 11.
* Cuban Missile Crisis Oct. 14 to 28.

1963
President John F. Kennedy assassinated Nov. 22.

1964
Sister Giovanni Gourhan, SSND, starts a summer program to serve Latino youth at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in St. Paul. It leads to alternative education programs for high-risk youth: the Guadalupe Area Project.

1965
Mass in the vernacular with the priest facing the congregation is approved.

1966
Archdiocese of St. Paul officially renamed Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

1967
Archdiocese establishes, Urban Affairs Commission, forerunner of the Office for Social Justice, a division of Catholic Charities.

1969
Man walks on the moon, July 20.

1970
Laity authorized to distribute Communion, the beginning of Extraordinary Ministers of Communion.
* Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan arrested for destroying Selective Service records, a protest against the Vietnam War.
* Priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis begin missionary service to parishes in Venezuela. Mission is served today by Father Greg Schaffer and Father Thomas McCabe.

1971
Musical “Hair” plays at the St. Paul Civic Center auditorium despite protest against nudity.
* Miss Pattee Kilday, a Sister of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary and a lawyer, is first woman named to the archdiocesan Marriage Tribunal and the official staff of the archdiocese.

1973
U.S. Supreme Court legalizes abortion.

1974
St. Joseph’s Academy in St. Paul closes.
* Benilde High School merges with St. Margaret’s Academy.
* The Twin Cities Catholic Chorale begins singing orchestral settings of the Mass at St. Agnes in St. Paul  Sundays, directed by St. Agnes pastor Msgr. Richard Schuler.

1975
Deacon John Spears creates “Miigeweyon” — Ojibwe for “I am going home” — to transport the bodies of Native Americans who die in the Twin Cities to their reservation burial grounds.

1976
Jim and Rose Totino donate $1 million to Archbishop Grace High School, later named Totino-Grace.
* First permanent deacons in archdiocese ordained.
* Pope Paul VI suspends Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre for refusing to recognize changes made in the church by the Second Vatican Council.
* Reconciliation Rooms offered as options to confession box.

1978
Cardinal Karol Wojtyla elected the first Polish pope, first non-Italian since 1523. He takes the name Pope John Paul II.

1978
Minnesota Supreme Court decides in favor of Catholic Bulletin in 17-month suit to obtain abortion data from state computer records. Considered a landmark decision in the public right-to-know how public funds are being used, the efforts won the National Newspaper Association’s freedom of information award. The data showed that in both 1976 and 1977 more than 2,000 claims were filed each year by abortion providers, and they were paid $414,106.94 and $391,019.84 from tax funds those two years.

1979
Pope John Paul II visits Poland, sparking formation of the Solidarity labor movement, which brought freedom and human rights to his native land.
* Pope John Paul II visits Ireland and the United States.
* Father J. Michael Joncas composes “On Eagle’s Wings.”

1980
Paulist Father Thomas Comber named publisher of the Catholic Bulletin.
* Archbishop Oscar Romero assassinated by a government soldier while presiding at Mass in San Salvador, El Salvador.
* Archbishop John R. Roach elected president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. While president, he guided the development of the U.S. bishops’ pastoral letter on war and peace and initiated the bishops’ pastoral letter on the U.S. economy.
* Bodies of four U.S. women missionaries discovered in El Salvador. Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel and lay volunteer Jean Donovan were murdered.

1981
EWTN, Eternal Word Television Network launched by Mother Angelica.
* NET Ministries team does first retreats for teens in southern Minnesota. What started as part of the St. Paul Catholic Youth Center, now is a separate ministry under the Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis and reaches across the United States and into Canada and Australia.
* Pope John Paul II wounded in shooting by Mehmet Ali Agca.
* Catholic Eldercare nursing home established in northeast Minneapolis.

1982
Daniel Medinger named editor of the Catholic Bulletin.

1983
U.S. bishops approve a pastoral letter, “The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response,” which derided the use of nuclear deterrence.
* Patty Dease and Betty Sullivan open Listening House, a storefront daytime shelter in downtown St. Paul.

Gries

1984
Patricia Gries named director of Center for Ministry and of Ministry Personnel in Archbishop John R. Roach’s cabinet — the first woman in a cabinet position.
* College of St. Catherine names Anita Pampusch first lay president.

1985
Mary Jo Copeland opens Sharing and Caring Hands in downtown Minneapolis as an outreach to the poor and homeless, funded solely through private donations.

1986
RENEW program of parish and individual spiritually launched in the archdiocese using small group faith-sharing approach.
* Bob Zyskowski named editor of the Catholic Bulletin.

1988
Archdiocesan Commission of Black Catholics established.
* National Religious Retirement Collection initiated.
* Communion from the cup approved for lay people.

1989
Mary Ann Kuharski founds a group to battle abortion by puting up billboards depicting happy babies. Prolife Minnesota grows into Prolife Across America.

1992
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet open St. Mary’s Health Clinics to provide no-cost health services to low-income and uninsured individuals and families. Today, 14 clinic sessions are held each week throughout the Twin Cities.
* Archbishop John Roach implements nation’s first sex-abuse policy following series of lawsuits.

1990
Catholics and Lutherans in the Twin Cities enter a covenant to acknowledge points
of agreement.

1994
Archbishop Harry J. Flynn appointed coadjutor archbishop, to succeed Archbishop
John R. Roach Sept. 8, 1995.

1995
Due to lack of shelter beds, Catholic Charities opens “Safe Waiting” in downtown Minneapolis, a place where homeless can sleep on the floor.

1996
Catholic Bulletin name changed to The Catholic Spirit.
* “Dead Man Walking” — film based on Sister Helen Prejean’s work with prisoners on death row — earns four Oscar nominations and the Oscar for Best Actress for Susan Sarandon, who played the St. Joseph of Medaille nun.
* Father Chue Ying Vang installed as first Hmong pastor in the United States at
St. Vincent De Paul, St. Paul.
* Archbishop Harry Flynn initiates “A Community Caring for Life” program to be established in every parish in the archdiocese to address the need for concern for life at every stage.

1997

Fred Johnson is the first black man in Minnesota to be ordained a permanent deacon.
* Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who cared for the poorest of the poor in India and founded the Missionaries of Charity, died Sept. 5. She was beatified in 2003.
* Diana, princess of Wales, dies in an auto accident.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

1999
Mercado Central opens in south Minneapolis as an authentic Latino marketplace, business incubator and cultural center.
* Mike Krokos named editor of The Catholic Spirit.

2000
Safe Place for Newborns becomes law, countering  abandonment of infants.
* Richard Schultze, founder of Best Buy, donates $50 million to the University of St. Thomas.

2004
The Catholic Spirit earns first place for General Excellence from the Catholic Press Association.

2005
Joe Towalski named editor of The Catholic Spirit.

2006
The Catholic Spirit earns first place for General Excellence from the Catholic Press Association.

2007
Archbishop John Nienstedt appointed coadjutor archbishop.
* The Catholic Spirit earns first place for General Excellence from the Catholic Press Association.
* I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River collapses.

2008
Archbishop Flynn retires, succeeded by Archbishop Nienstedt.

2009
The Catholic Spirit earns first place for General Excellence from the Catholic Press Association.

MISSING A PERSON, EVENT?Let us know if there is some event or person that we missed, or that The Catholic Spirit should consider for a future anniversary-related story.

E-mail:
catholicspirit@archspm.org
FAX: (651) 291-4460
Mail: 100 Years,
The Catholic Spirit, 244 Dayton Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55102
 


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