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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.

Ridge Historical Society

Catholic Churches in the Ridge Communities

By Carol Flynn

The Ridge Historical Society has been concentrating on saving the Pike House lately, but there are other changes also in the works for historic properties in the Ridge communities. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago recently announced more changes to neighborhood churches as a result of its ongoing initiative, Renew My Church.

The latest changes involve three historic churches in the Ridge communities, St. Margaret of Scotland, Holy Name of Mary, and Sacred Heart Mission. These changes follow those announced previously for St. Benedict Church in Blue Island.

St. Benedict was the first Catholic parish established on the Ridge, in 1861. The congregation built its first church at York and Gregory Streets in 1864, and built its first school in 1880. The “modern” church there now dates to the 1960s.

St. Benedict merged with St. Walter Parish of Morgan Park, which was established in the 1950s, and St. Peter Claver Mission church of Robbins, started in 1958. As of last fall, the name of this new parish is St. Mary Magdalene Parish.

Last week, it was announced that St. Margaret of Scotland Parish will merge with St. Kilian Parish, with St. Margaret of Scotland Church remaining open as the home base.

St. Margaret of Scotland Church was the first Catholic church founded in the Beverly/Washington Heights/Morgan Park/Mount Greenwood area. The congregation was originally formed as Sacred Heart Mission out of St. Benedict Church in Blue Island, not to be confused with the current Sacred Heart Mission which will be discussed in another post. The early Sacred Heart Mission was also affiliated with the Academy of Our Lady school, which was founded around this same time at 95th and Throop Streets.

The Village of Washington Heights was established in 1874, and the Catholic parish was founded, still called Sacred Heart. It covered a huge territory, from State Street west to today’s LaGrange Road, and from 87th Street to 119th Street. The earliest members of the congregation were German Catholics from Prussia and Bavaria, with a smattering of people from “Hibernia,” an old name for Ireland.

In the early 1890s, the parish name was changed to St. Margaret of Scotland, and when a family donated land at 99th and Throop Streets, the church building from further east was hoisted onto rollers and moved across the prairie to the present location. The current church was dedicated in 1928.

Other parishes were eventually founded on the Ridge – St. Barnabas in 1924, St. Christina in 1926, St. Cajetan in 1927, Christ the King in 1936, Holy Name of Mary in 1940, and St. Walter in the 1950s.

Now, St. Margaret of Scotland Parish will merge with St. Kilian Parish, which is located at 87th and May Streets, effective in July 2022. A new name will be chosen for this new parish. The plan is that St. Margaret of Scotland School will remain open and retain its current name.

Next post: The special circumstances of the current Sacred Heart Mission Church and Holy Name of Mary Parish in Morgan Park.