The Cathedral Parish of St. Raymond Nonnatus 1917-1992
Written by Robert R. Morris

Part 4: The Immigrant Community
As the economy of Joliet and the entire Chicago region blossomed during this time, there was a tremendous need for workers in the many factories producing the products the nation and region demanded. A steady supply of industrious, grateful and hard workers was found in the growing stream of immigrants that were coming to this country during the late 1800's.

They were escaping war and famine, persecution and madness. They came from places like Italy and Poland, Lithuania and Russia, Ireland and Hungary, all to take their place in the pageant of humanity that came together to form a nation that was greater then the sum of its parts.

For the most part, these immigrants that filled the factories to make the United States thet economic envy of the world were Catholics.

And the Catholic Church in the late 1800's and early 1900's formed a mission to the immigrant peoples. The Church was there to offer them a place for familiar worship, to guide them in the baffling world of the American culture, to provide a meeting place for their countrymen and countrywomen, and to help them assimilate into the new culture for which they risked their lives.

The first Catholic chuch in Joliet serve the first settlers, as St. Patrick's Church was established in 1838. But as the immigrants continued, churches blossomed in the community, often one being divided from another.

The immigrant community of Irish, Poles, and Italians was moving to Joliet's growing west side after the turn of the century. They attended St. Patrick's but the numbers were swelling at such a rate, the parish church was virtually overwhelmed with faithful. During the first years of the 20th century, St. Patrick's ministered to the needs of a multi-ethnic, but primarily Irish-American, faith community. Finally, the news came to the parish that it would be divided to better serve the Catholics of the Joliet community.

Such was the fate of St. Patrick's church during those dreary days of World War I. For St. Patricl's, Joliet's oldest Catholic Church, was subdivided to form St. Raymond's.

On June 28, 1917, the Archbishop of Chicago, George Mundelein, wrote to Father Francis Scanlan, appointing him the pastor of the newly formed parish of St. Raymond Nonnatus.

Back | Index | Next