Welcome to St. Patrick's Catholic Church

The First Parish of the Joliet Diocese (Established 1838)

What a busy weekend at St. Patrick's Church in Joliet! On May 12th, the US Post Office donated a couple truckloads of food to our pantry, helping our 300 families get fed during the summer months! Our Fatima Rosary Group met around our Mary Garden to pray this annual devotion while Deacon Chuy Dominguez baptized four children in our church. Julie Dillenburg baked three dozen loaves of fresh, warm bread for our First Communion Bread Service on Saturday night (where we invested our seventy-five First Communion kids with scapulars and blessed their religious articles with their families). On Sunday morning, our Religious Ed children gathered at our Rosary Garden for the annual May Crowning Event. Finally in the afternoon, Fr. Jose Luis Torres led a Consecration of Mary Liturgy in our Church for those invested in this devotion. What a wonderfully crazy, busy, spirit-filled weekend!!!

The Patron Saints of Ireland:

St. Columba of Iona (Feast - June 9th)

St. Brigid of Kildare (Feast - February 1st)

St. Patrick of Ireland (Feast - March 17th)

The History of St. Patrick’s Church dates back to 1838 with the arrival of the Rev. John Francis Plunkett, an Irish immigrant who came in answer to the call of the dying canal workers during the malaria epidemic of 1838. Father Plunkett was appointed the first pastor of St. Patrick’s Church by Bishop Gabriel Simon Bruté of Vincennes (now Indianapolis), Indiana.

With the building of the I&M Canal, many immigrant families had come to the area, most of whom were Catholic and came from the Emerald Isle. As the community grew, Fr. Plunkett began construction of a new church on Broadway Street just west of the Canal and south of Jefferson Street. Thus was born St. Patrick Church, the oldest Roman Catholic Church in the Diocese of Joliet and the second oldest in the Metropolitan Chicago area. It is now considered a landmark of Joliet.

During the next 177 years and seventeen pastors later, St. Patrick Church has flourished and experienced many changes. Our longest serving pastor came from Tipperary, Ireland in 1917, Rt. Msgr. Philip L. Kennedy. Upon his arrival, Msgr. Kennedy erected a new St. Patrick’s Church, School and Rectory. The first Mass was offered in the new church on Sunday, March 2, 1919. Msgr. Kennedy served St. Patrick’s from 1917 until the time of his passing in 1961.

St. Patrick’s has refocused itself back on its immigrant roots, not only serving those long-established parishioners who can trace their lineage back to the early years of the parish’s history but those new to the area from foreign countries who wish to receive spiritual assistance while providing for their families. To quote Pope Francis, St. Patrick’s Church of 2014 truly is “The Church of the Poor” in both flesh and the spirit, made up of a immigrant population from throughout the world. It truly is our pleasure and honor to serve all of them, namely all of us, pillars and neophytes to the parish, in the name of the Lord.

Buy a Copy of Fr. Pete's Homiletic Biography for Cycles A, B & C of the Liturgical Year; all Proceeds Go Towards St. Patrick's Church! To buy a Paperback Copy of the Cycle A Homilies, CLICK HERE! To buy as an EBook of the Cycle A Homilies on the Kindle, CLICK HERE! To buy a Paperback Copy of the Cycle B Homilies, CLICK HERE! To buy a Paperback Copy of the Cycle C Homilies, CLICK HERE!

The 100th Anniversary of the

St. Patrick's Church Building

In 1917, George Cardinal Mundelein divided St. Patrick's Parish community, assigning two young priests the task of building two new churches - Fr. (Monsignor) Philip Kenndey was assigned to build the new St. Patrick's Church (moving from Broadway St. to its current location) and Fr. Francis Scanlan creating the new St. Raymond'a Church one mile north on Raynor St. Mr. Charles Wallace created identical churches in the process, with St. Raymond's eventually rebuilding their structure into the Cathedral parish of the diocese in the 1950s while St. Patrick's retained its original outside structure. The inside of St. Patrick's has evolved through the years, though its basic outside facade remains the same. Ad Multos Annos, St. Patrick's Church!