Father Jerry Stookey waves to people after Mass June 28 at Holy Rosary in Minneapolis. He stood outside the church after all weekend Masses to give parishioners a chance to say goodbye.  DAVE HRBACEK  |  THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Dominican order says goodbye to parish, but will continue local presence

Holy Rosary in Minneapolis has marked numerous milestones throughout its 142-year history. A major one occurred June 30 with the departure of its last Dominican pastor. Dominicans have served the Phillips neighborhood parish since its founding.

Parishioners learned in February that the Dominican friars of the Central Province had decided to conclude their ministry at the parish. The final Dominican to lead the parish was Father Jerry Stookey, who had served as Holy Rosary’s pastor since July 2018.

Father Joseph Williams, pastor of St. Stephen in Minneapolis and archdiocesan vicar for Latino ministry, has been appointed the parish’s parochial administrator.

Joining Father Williams are Deacon Ramon Garcia Degollado as the director of parish life and pastoral care, and Pro Ecclesia Sancta Father Yamato Icochea, who was ordained May 30 and is a sacramental minister. Father Williams said Deacon Garcia will oversee pastoral care, and Father Icochea will celebrate Masses and hear confessions.

Despite the Dominicans’ departure from Holy Rosary and significant personnel limitations in the Dominicans’ Central Province, its members continue to live at their priory at nearby St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis and serve in other roles in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Young Dominicans have expressed a special interest in campus ministry and teaching, said Father Joseph Marchionda, prior provincial of the Dominican Friars’ Central Province in Chicago.

Tentative plans are being made for a “closing Mass” Aug. 30 to celebrate the Dominicans’ 142 years of service to Holy Rosary.

Holy Rosary School and church in Minneapolis are pictured around 1905 on the west side of 18th Avenue S. near 24th St. COURTESY MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Looking back

Founded in 1878 near the intersection of Cedar Avenue and Hiawatha Avenue, Holy Rosary was the sixth Catholic parish established in Minneapolis. Known for their commitment to social justice, the Dominicans have led a parish that has long welcomed newly arrived immigrants — from the Irish at its founding to Germans, Italians, Hmong, Vietnamese, Native Americans and Somalis. Today, Holy Rosary predominantly serves immigrants from Mexico, the nations of Latin America and other Spanish-speaking countries. One Mass on Saturday and one of the two Masses on Sunday are celebrated in Spanish.

Both Dominican priests and sisters have served Holy Rosary over the years. Sister Margaret McGuirk, a Sinsinawa Dominican who works with families in need at Incarnation in Minneapolis, worked at Holy Rosary for seven years starting in 2006 — first as administrator and later as executive director of Centro Guadalupano.

Sister McGuirk is also partial to preserving history, including Holy Rosary’s, and she readily shares her knowledge.

The parish’s first permanent school was dedicated in 1883, she said, and several years before that, Holy Rosary’s first pastor, Father Thomas Power, himself an Irish immigrant, asked his sister, Sinsinawa Dominican Prioress Emily Power, to send Dominican Sisters to Holy Rosary. By the summer of 1879, six sisters arrived to staff a temporary school. Holy Rosary School, which grew over the years to serve grades K-12, closed in 1993.

In the parish’s early days, Irish immigrants often worked on the railroad, and the church was adjacent to a large rail yard. The light stone exterior became black with soot from locomotives before it was sandblasted in the 1970s.

‘A spiritual home’

Hopkins resident Dave Horner said he has found a spiritual home at Holy Rosary for the past 20 years. Early on, he enjoyed attending Mass at the church because it was a midway point to meet his mother, who, before her death in 2017, lived in St. Paul. But he continues to drive a dozen miles or so for Mass at the south Minneapolis parish. He said he has found “good people” there, a beautiful building and wonderful friendships with pastors.

“I have great memories of going out to lunch on Sundays with a group of parishioners for good talk and good camaraderie,” he said. He recalled a former pastor, Dominican Father Charles Santoro, joining the group every month or two.

Horner said he will remember Father Stookey’s friendliness. “He tells stories with a lighthearted touch,” he said. “He’s quick to laugh and quick to point out the flaws we all have. He’s very humble and makes good stories out of it.”

Yectli Huerta, a Holy Rosary parishioner for the past 13 years, said many Dominican priests have served in Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Cuba and Mexico. The priests often are assigned to various corners of the world, giving them a broad perspective, he said.

Huerta, who grew up in Texas and is bilingual, said that in addition to practicing his faith at the parish, he enjoys the opportunity to speak Spanish.

“I’ll miss the (Dominicans) because of their charism,” Huerta said. “They’re good people. Father Jerry made miracles happen, given the parish’s financial circumstances.

“But we’ll make it work,” Huerta added. “It’s our church. It’s a team effort. We’ll carry on their legacy.”

In 1935, St. Albert the Great parish was formed from the eastern portion of Holy Rosary’s geographic boundaries. Dominican Father Joe Gillespie, St. Albert’s pastor since 2006, was baptized at St. Albert and has strong family ties to Holy Rosary.

“Both sets of my grandparents are from Ireland and they ended up at Holy Rosary,” he said. “My parents were married there. My brother and sister were baptized there.”

He said he’s always had a soft spot in his heart for Holy Rosary.

“I’ve often thought that, in a way, (Holy Rosary) is a building,” Father Gillespie said, “but it’s a building that welcomes whatever wave of immigrants were coming.”

Today, the parish’s outreach center, Centro Guadalupano, serves a broad cross-section of the immigrant and refugee community through adult English classes and an after-school program that focuses on academics and music.

Holy Rosary’s youth ministry program provides spiritual and social activities for preadolescents to young adults. More than 200 children and youth are in sacramental preparation for baptism, first Communion and confirmation.

Dominican Father James Spahn, who ministered at Holy Rosary for nine years starting in 2009 and now is serving a parish in Denver, noted that Dominicans are known for preaching and speaking out about injustice.

Reflecting on his time at the parish, he said he enjoyed working directly with parishioners, especially immigrants. “It was just what my soul needed,” he said.

Father Stookey, who served Holy Rosary for two years, said he will miss the parish and its “great people,” but he is excited about his new role in St. Louis as director of the St. Dominic Mission Society, with special focus on the province’s new relationship with the Dominican Mission in Puerto Rico.

Father Williams said he is in the process of listening to staff, parish and financial council leadership, lay leadership and other groups to learn their hopes and to see how all can work together to make them a reality. Listening sessions with parishioners are planned to take place after Masses in September.

He noted that his grandfather was baptized at Holy Rosary.

“So many people have been touched by Dominicans’ ministry over the years,” Father Williams said, “and we’re grateful for their work.”

They did it with a lot of heart, he said, especially in their outreach to the immigrant community.

“We want to keep … that momentum,” he said. “We’re going to see what the Lord has in store.”

Dominicans in the Twin Cities

Father James Marchionda, prior provincial of the Dominican Friars’ Central Province in Chicago, said the order’s ministries in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis remain important to Dominicans and to the province. The province recently chose five cities, including Minneapolis, as Dominican Apostolic Centers, where Dominicans will serve in a number of ministries. Currently:

  • Father Joe Gillespie is pastor at St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis.
  • Father Brian Zuelke serves as part-time associate chaplain and adjunct theology instructor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.
  • Father Timothy Combs serves the St. Thomas faculty as a part-time associate chaplain and adjunct theology instructor. Brother Matthew Paul Grote, is a volunteer with St. Thomas Campus Ministry for the academic year as part of his formation.
  • Father Michael Monshau is assistant director of spiritual formation on the St. Paul Seminary faculty.
  • Father Cassian Sama is a hospital chaplain at the University of Minnesota Medical Center (M Health Fairview), Minneapolis.