St. Patrick Parish — the West-Side Irish and German Parish

Organized 1858 by the Rev. Thomas Carroll, C.S.C. — first church built 1859 on Division Street — present church at 309 South Taylor Street — consolidated with St. Hedwig, 22 August 2024

Organization: Blanchard’s 1898 history states that St. Patrick’s was organized in 1858 by the Rev. Thomas Carroll, C.S.C., there being then about fifty Irish Catholic families in the town. The parish’s present mission statement, printed in its weekly bulletin, gives the same year and the congregation’s composition: in 1858 Irish and German immigrants founded St. Patrick Parish. The 1901 history of St. Joseph’s tells the sending: in 1859 the Catholic population had largely increased and the people of the western part of town considered themselves numerous enough for a church of their own; Sorin encouraged the enterprise and sent Carroll, then newly ordained and in charge of St. Joseph’s congregation in St. Alexis Chapel, to take the matter in hand. Carroll organized the congregation with Sorin’s material assistance, and on weekdays continued to attend St. Joseph’s while giving Sundays to St. Patrick’s.

First church: In 1859 Carroll erected a small brick church, 60 by 30 feet, on what is now Division Street, one block west of Taylor in the 1901 history’s location. The South Bend Mass Mob parish flyer of 2015 places the first church at Western Avenue, then Division, and Scott Street, built of brick and stone, 30 by 60 feet, holding 350 people. The church was deeded the same year to Bishop Luers of Fort Wayne, the people being too poor to pay for it; Carroll made a trip to New Orleans and collected sufficient money to pay off the entire debt, the Rev. Joseph C. Carrier officiating in his absence. Carroll remained pastor until 1864, Carrier followed into early 1865, and the Rev. William Corby then completed the priest’s residence Carroll had begun. The Rev. P. P. Cooney became the first resident priest on 18 November 1865; he lengthened the church by thirty-six feet and added a school wing, and in 1866 a schoolhouse for girls was erected by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

A congregation of several nations: St. Patrick’s was never only Irish. Its German families held separate Sunday services in the church by Bishop Dwenger’s permission, with a German sermon at the nine o’clock High Mass, until they formed St. Mary’s congregation from St. Patrick’s in September 1881. Its Polish families worshipped in the old St. Patrick’s until they built separately in 1877 as the congregation that became St. Hedwig’s. By the 1890s Blanchard counted about 200 families, with a school of about 489 pupils taught by Brothers and Sisters of the Holy Cross and lay teachers, the girls at the academy.

Present church — the dates stand: The cornerstone of the present church was laid in May 1886, on land between Taylor and Scott streets acquired under the Rev. Denis Hagerty, C.S.C. Notre Dame’s Building South Bend record gives the present property purchased in 1882, the cornerstone laid in 1886 and the Gothic brick and limestone structure completed in 1887. Today’s Catholic’s parish profile states that a new church was commissioned in 1886 and completed two years later, and calls it the second-oldest church building in South Bend. Blanchard dates the dedication to 2 June 1889. The parish flyer gives the building as built 1886–1887 and consecrated, with its altar, on 8 May 1920. The church stands at 309 South Taylor Street. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 as part of the West Washington Historic District, and underwent extensive exterior renovation in 1992.

School: The parish school dated from the 1860s additions under Cooney and the Sisters’ girls’ school of 1866; a two-story frame schoolhouse for boys followed in 1872 under the Rev. D. J. Spillard. Today’s Catholic records that for over eighty years the school taught boys only, that it became co-educational in 1950, and that it closed in 1974, after 108 years.

One staff, then one parish: In 2001 St. Patrick and St. Hedwig, across the street from each other, were placed under one pastoral staff, the Rev. Leonard Chrobot, pastor of St. Hedwig since 1995, taking charge of both; the parish flyer describes the 2001 change as a merger with St. Hedwig in which St. Patrick became a diocesan parish, ending Holy Cross staffing from its founding. The two parishes kept their separate identities under shared pastors for twenty-three years. On the recommendation of their pastor, with the advice of both parish and finance councils and after an open parish meeting on 11 July 2024, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades decreed their consolidation; the decree was given on 22 August 2024 and formed one new parish, St. Patrick–St. Hedwig Parish, the two consecrated church buildings retaining their respective names of St. Patrick Church and St. Hedwig Church, and the new parish assuming both parishes’ assets and liabilities. The decree gave declining attendance and sacramental life, especially at St. Hedwig, and the close proximity of the two churches as the grounds, and consolidation as a means to pool resources and build up one vibrant parish community. The combined parish, at the western edge of downtown in the West Washington National Historic District, is a ministry of the Dominican Province of St. Albert the Great; its January 2026 bulletin names the Rev. Reginald Wolford, O.P., as pastor, with Masses at both churches.

Sources:

1. Charles Blanchard, ed., History of the Catholic Church in Indiana, vol. I (1898), South Bend section — organization in 1858 by Carroll, about fifty Irish families, the 1859 brick church and the New Orleans collection, the succession to 1865, Cooney’s additions and the 1866 girls’ school, the German services and St. Mary’s formation in 1881, the cornerstone of May 1886 and dedication of 2 June 1889, and the school and congregation figures of the 1890s.
2. An Illustrated History of St. Joseph’s Church, South Bend, Indiana (1901) — the 1859 west-side exodus, Carroll newly ordained and sent by Sorin, and the first church on Division Street one block west of Taylor.
3. South Bend Mass Mob, St. Patrick parish flyer, 15 March 2015 — parish founded 1858, the first church at Western Avenue and Scott Street holding 350, the present church built 1886–1887 and consecrated 8 May 1920, the 1975 National Register listing in the West Washington district, the 1992 exterior renovation, and the 2001 union with St. Hedwig as a diocesan parish.
4. University of Notre Dame, Building South Bend, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, 305 South Taylor Street — present property purchased 1882, cornerstone 1886, Gothic Revival structure completed 1887.
5. Today’s Catholic, “In My Diocese: St. Patrick, mother parish of the city of South Bend,” 30 May 2017, and “St. Hedwig’s rich Polish tradition,” 30 May 2017 — establishment in 1858 under Carroll, an Irish and German congregation, the church commissioned in 1886 and completed two years later as the second-oldest church building in the city, the school’s 1866 beginning, co-education in 1950 and closing in 1974, and the single pastoral staff from 2001 under Chrobot.
6. Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, Singular Decree, Consolidation of St. Patrick Parish and St. Hedwig Parish, given 22 August 2024, printed in Today’s Catholic, 8 September 2024 — the councils’ recommendation, the grounds, the new parish name, the retention of both church names, and the assumption of assets and liabilities; St. Patrick–St. Hedwig Parish bulletins, January–April 2026 — the combined parish with two historic churches from 22 August 2024, the Dominican Province ministry, and the pastor in office.