On the night of May 5, 1944, Father Carl F. Goeckeler, pastor of St. Peter in Chains Cathedral, was asked by Archbishop John T. McNicholas to establish St. Antoninus Parish. The new church was nearly complete at that time, and the Archbishop dedicated it and formally installed Father Goeckeler as pastor on June 25, 1944.
And so, as we say, "the rest is history." The school was opened in 1948 in a prefabricated building of four classrooms placed over a basement with four classrooms and restrooms. Dominican Sisters from Adrian, MI, came to staff the school.
Soon a new campaign began to add nine more classrooms to the school, a new auditorium/gymnasium, a library, and to add nine more rooms and a chapel to the Sister's convent. Auxiliary Bishop Edward McCarthy, brother of the present pastor of St. Antoninus, dedicated the new facilities on November 30, 1966.
Father Goeckeler died on August 7, 1967, having served the parish admirably for 23 years. His successor,
Fr. Donald McCarthy became pastor on September 4, 1984, after having taught at Mt. St. Mary Seminary and served as Director of Education for the Pope John Center of Medical-Moral Research and Education. He led the parish in building an upstairs church above the original basement. Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk dedicated the new church on April 10, 1992. |