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Begun from Belgian Sacred Heart Parish (1898) — transferred and renamed Corpus Christi, 1961 — present church dedicated 9 June 1985
Transfer from Sacred Heart: Corpus Christi began as Sacred Heart Church on Thomas Street, the Belgian parish established in 1898 under Father Henry Paanakker, C.S.C. As families moved out of the downtown area, Bishop Leo A. Pursley suggested in 1960 that the parish look for a new location in northwest South Bend. Monsignor Elmer G. Peterson found the present site, and the diocese purchased a 29-acre farm.
Corpus Christi: Groundbreaking for the new parish took place in June 1961. The school was finished in September 1962 and Mass was held in the school basement; Monsignor Peterson was Corpus Christi’s first pastor. The parish marked its 50th anniversary in 2011, dating itself from the 1961 founding. Ground for a separate church was broken on 22 July 1984, with Auxiliary Bishop Joseph R. Crowley officiating, and the church was dedicated on 9 June 1985 — “the House That Prayer Built,” in its pastor Father Denis Blank’s phrase, after the parish’s Holy Hour program of perpetual adoration begun in February 1981. The parish, at 2822 Corpus Christi Drive, counts about 700 families in its own account and keeps the records of the old Thomas Street Sacred Heart.
Sources:
- Corpus Christi Parish, “About Our Parish,” corpuschristisb.org — the Sacred Heart origin and 1898 date, the 1960–62 transfer, the first pastor, and the 1984–85 church.
- Today’s Catholic, “The neighborhood parish of Corpus Christi,” 28 March 2017 — the same history and the 29-acre purchase.
- Today’s Catholic, 3 July 2011 — the parish’s 50th-anniversary procession with Bishop Rhoades.