St. Joseph the Worker church today in Maple Grove. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
In 1884, a north Minneapolis parish moved a number of blocks, nearly to downtown Minneapolis— literally pulling St. Joseph church, its school and other buildings on rollers to an area near Washington and Plymouth avenues.
After building a second church in 1889, the parish moved again decades later, forced in 1975 by an Interstate 94 expansion to sell its church and property. While no buildings were transported, the change was even more dramatic as St. Joseph added “the Worker” to its name and prepared to break ground for a church 14 miles away, in Maple Grove.
From its roots as the German national parish of St. Joseph in Minneapolis until today, the parish continues to find inspiration in its patron, now as a thriving suburban parish of 2,500 households with an active social justice outreach.
“When I first came here (in 2000) we had several parishioners who were from the downtown church,” said Father Michael Sullivan, the parish’s pastor. “They had moved out here earlier and they were so delighted” to learn that the parish was coming to Maple Grove, he said.
Inspired by St. Joseph, parishioners in Maple Grove serve others on issues including affordable housing, alleviating hunger, domestic abuse awareness and missions, Father Sullivan said.
St. Joseph church in Minneapolis in the 1800s. COURTESY ARCHDIOCESE ARCHIVES
“I think even from the small town of Nazareth, (St. Joseph) was saying, ‘How do I help my neighbors?’” he said. “We’re still tending to try to do the same.”
German, Hungarian and Austrian Catholics who had attended St. Boniface in what is now northeast Minneapolis received permission in 1869 to form the St. Joseph parish closer to downtown Minneapolis. The following year, Bishop Thomas Grace, a Dominican, blessed their church. It was a mission parish of St. Boniface until parishioners welcomed their first resident pastor in 1875 — one of many Benedictine priests from St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville who served the parish for more than 100 years.
At that time, parish boundaries extended north and west of Hennepin Avenue and west of the Mississippi River, according to archdiocesan records. In 1889, Archbishop John Ireland blessed the parish’s second church on that site, built in a German Romanesque style with beige bricks and brown-red sandstone. Four bells were purchased for its twin steeples.
Nancy Berg, 72, a parishioner of St. Joseph the Worker, said she remembers her father ringing the bells as a St. Joseph usher at the Minneapolis church in the 1940s and 1950s. Now, the bells are part of the church in Maple Grove.
“I remember seeing the cords and the knots and how difficult it was for even the men to ring those bells,” Berg said.
In the move to Maple Grove, parishioners found there were several St. Joseph parishes in the area. To avoid duplication, “the Worker” was added to the parish name. Changing the name completely would have meant forfeiting the old church’s assets, according to canon law at the time, Father Sullivan said. The parish didn’t build a school because there were several schools nearby, he said.
The first St. Joseph the Worker church in Maple Grove was dedicated in 1977; the second and current church was dedicated in 2003. Both churches used white marble, the tabernacle and statues of St. Joseph, the Virgin Mary and Christ’s Sacred Heart from the original Minneapolis church. A newer, life-sized wooden statue of St. Joseph and the child Jesus now stands in the gathering space.
When Berg and her husband, Don, joined St. Joseph the Worker in 1993, Nancy recognized the old statues from her childhood parish in Minneapolis.
“That’s where I got reacquainted, because all of the statues and the different parts of the church there brought back memories from knowing and seeing my old St. Joe,” she said. “St. Joseph has always been a dear, dear saint that I have looked to for guidance and help.”
Editor’s note: This is the third story in a monthly series on 10 places in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis with connections to St. Joseph.
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