Ridge Historical Society
Catholic Churches in the Ridge Communities: Sacred Heart Mission Church and Holy Name of Mary Parish
By Carol Flynn
Sacred Heart Mission Church at 116th and S. Church St., and Holy Name of Mary Parish at 112th and Loomis St., both in Morgan Park, are two more of the historic Catholic churches in the Ridge communities recently affected by the Archdiocese of Chicago’s “Renew My Church” initiative. The fates of these two churches are interconnected.
Sacred Heart Mission Church was founded in 1892 in Alsip as a “national” church, that is, to serve a nationality of immigrants without defined geographic “parish” boundaries. In this case, the church was founded for the French settlers in the area. Many of them worked at the Purington Brick Yards at 119th and Vincennes, and Sacred Heart moved to its present location in 1904-5.
A frame church was built, and the story goes that the brickyard employees were allowed to take “seconds” of bricks to use for the church. By 1922, when enough bricks had been saved, the present brick facade was added. The church as it stands now is actually the old frame church clad with this donated brick. With time, most of the French families moved on and were replaced by German and Irish workers.
Holy Name of Mary Parish was founded in 1940 to serve the African American residents in Morgan Park. Black Catholics, some of whom were the descendants of slaves from the State of Louisiana, traditionally Catholic, petitioned the Archdiocese to form a parish, and worked to raise the money to build the church.
Holy Name of Mary was not the first Black parish in the Archdiocese – St Monica’s Church was founded as a “national” church at 36th and Dearborn St. in 1893 to serve the growing Black community on the south side – but it was the first formed by Black Catholics themselves.
Sacred Heart Mission Church was closed by the Archdiocese from 1979-1982, but the congregants never gave up on their campaign to “Save Our Shrine,” and the church was reopened in 1983. At that time, it was made a “mission” church, operating out of Holy Name of Mary Parish. A “mission” church serves a special, non-geographic ministry, and maintains a separate identity from the parish that sponsors it.
Now, the Archdiocese is combining Holy Name of Mary Parish with two others from the area (SS. Peter and Paul and St. John De La Salle) into a new parish with a new name effective this summer. Holy Name of Mary Church will remain open and be the sole location for regular Masses.
The Archdiocese also reviewed Sacred Heart Mission Church and took no action on that church at this time, but announced its “future structure will have continued discernment.”
The four most historic Catholic churches connected to the Ridge communities have been affected by the “Renew My Church” initiative – St. Benedict in Blue Island, St. Margaret of Scotland in Washington Heights, and Holy Name of Mary and Sacred Heart in Morgan Park.