St Teresa History

The Early Years

On February 3, 1926 due to the rapid growth of Lincoln, the Diocesan Consultors approved a proposal for a parish to be erected in East Lincoln with boundaries of 0 St. on the north, Garfield and Normal on the south, 27th on the west, and the city limits and territory adjacent to the city limits on the east.

On April 24, 1926 Bishop Francis Beckman appointed his Vicar General Msgr. Albert Petrasch as temporary administrator of the new parish. It was one year after St. Therese of Lisieux had been canonized so it was called St. Therese of the Child Jesus or The Little Flower Parish. Until a basement church could be completed in the spring of 1927,a private home at 636 S. 36 St. was used for Mass. The parish numbered 20 families.The Oblates agreed to take over the parish and Father William Healy, O.M.I. succeeded Father Petrasch in May of 1927.

The debt on the new, unfinished building was $41,500 and the total income for 1927 was $3,500. The building consisted of a church in the basement, with plans for classrooms and living quarters for the sisters above. The top floor was to be used as a lunch and meeting room. Oblate Father Daniel McCullough came in 1928 and served until 1933.

Through bazaars and other parish projects of the Altar Society led by Mrs. Gus Sobott, Father McCullough and parishioners were successful in paying the $1,500 interest plus $1,000 on the principal. The "h" was gradually dropped and the parish became known as St. Teresa, perhaps because the first Catholic church in Lincoln built in 1868 at 15th & M streets was known as St. Therese Pro-Cathedral. A pipe organ from St. Francis DeSales on 18th and J was moved to the basement church to replace the reed organ in 1932.

Another mortgage of $39,000 was arranged and work began on the school above the church basement. Two south rooms were completed so school could begin in September 1930. Two Dominican Sisters from St.Catharine's in Kentucky, Sister Theona and Sister Martha, were the first teachers and occupied the rest of that floor (all of these roomsare now the Thrift Shop).

Kay Harding remembers starting school that first year in 4th grade with kindergarten to 3rd grade in one room and 4th to 7th grades in the other. One nightwhen the sisters went down to pray in the church, they were frightened by a tramp and Father was called to evict him. That was Kay's memory! Her sister, Genevieve Huerstel,remembered that punishment for misdeeds was memorizing poetry, and she still remembers the poems she learned.

The Oblates, who saw no hope of paying the large debt in those days of depression, drought and crop failures, left in 1933. Father Maurice Helmann came for three months and arranged for the sisters, who now numbered five, to move to 717 South 36th, a dwelling which had served as the rectory. Father moved to St. Francis DeSales rectory.

In September 1933 he was succeeded by Rev. Adolph Mosler, who organized a finance committee consisting of E.A.Becker, T.M. Blockwitz, E.J. Fogerty, and JohnMcCullough. Next, the Dominican Order operated the parish from June 1934 to January 1935 with Father Ralph D. Goggins, O.P. asadministrator. There was a charge of $1.00 perchild per month to attend school. Then came Father Andrew DeMuth who contracted tuberculosis and had to leave in March of 1936.

Father Mitchell Kaczmarek was ordainedon April 30, 1935. He was appointed administrator of St. Teresa Parish in late 1936 and was named pastor on September 10, 1938 taking charge of a small parish with a huge debt. With youthful energy, enthusiasm, and good rapport with the congregation, the pastor and parishioners gradually rescued the parish from the verge of bankruptcy: Twenty of the 39 families pledged their personal property to make sure payment would be made on the debt.

Soon, two Masses could not accommodate the parish,and Father received permission to offer three. In 1948 the first assistant arrived. Father Daniel Kealy.

Father Kaczmarek had been living in the church/school building until 1942 when he moved into a little house next to the convent.(Both houses were on the site of the presentchurch. In 1949 the parish bought the Kilbhouse at 635 S. 36 St. to be the rectory, where the Roy Loudons now live. From 1942-1949 the rectory had been where Bud Imlay later raised his family on 37th St.)

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