St. Therese, Little Flower Parish

Mission begun 1937 in the Morningside Addition — erected as St. Therese of Lisieux Parish in 1950 — present church on Ironwood Road dedicated 1958

The seminarians’ discovery: In 1937 two seminarians from Moreau Seminary, Patrick Peyton and Jack Haley, chasing the seminary’s runaway horse, found it grazing in the Morningside Addition — “Dog Patch,” as the settlement was unkindly called — and with it a small settlement of Catholics living in poverty who felt unworthy to enter the basilica, the nearest church. With their provincial’s permission the seminarians canvassed the neighborhood door to door, and the Congregation of Holy Cross began a mission for the community. Land at Willis and Warrick was donated by Mr. and Mrs. George Hepler, a chapel seating 125 was built within a month, and Father Joseph Payne, then a student at Notre Dame, took temporary charge of the mission — an assignment that lasted 35 years.

Parish erection: Sacred Heart Parish’s history at Notre Dame counts Little Flower among the parishes formed from its boundaries in 1937, the mission’s year. The parish’s own history dates its formal erection later: in 1950 the mission church officially became St. Therese of Lisieux Parish, called Little Flower. By the mid-1950s it had grown from 48 to 366 families. Mrs. Hepler donated land on Ironwood Road, and the new church there was dedicated by Bishop Pursley in 1958. The parish stands today at 54191 North Ironwood Road. On 7 September 2025 the parish dedicated its parish center as the Venerable Patrick Peyton Center, honoring its seminarian founder, by then known worldwide as the Rosary Priest.

Sources:

1. St. Therese, Little Flower Parish, “History of Our Parish,” littleflowerchurch.org — the 1937 horse and settlement story, the Hepler land and chapel, Father Payne’s 35 years, the 1950 erection, and the 1958 dedication.
2. Today’s Catholic, “St. Therese, Little Flower Honors Its Founding Father,” 17 September 2025 — the founding account and the dedication of the Venerable Patrick Peyton Center on 7 September 2025.
3. Sacred Heart Parish, Notre Dame, “Parish History” — Little Flower listed as formed from Sacred Heart’s boundaries in 1937.