In 1935, Father John Conway was appointed pastor of St. Patrick’s where he served until he was killed at the railroad crossing in Holden in 1941. Father Phillip Farrell, DD, replaced him; however, he only served a short time before being replaced by Father William Connell who served until 1947.

In 1958, Father James Moffatt became resident priest, and he served St. Patrick’s for 16 years, retiring in 1974. During his pastorate, he had the large Austrian bell electrified and the Angelus inaugurated. It was Father Moffat’s gift to the parish.

Even in his retirement, Father Moffat continued to say daily Mass in his home in Holden. He passed away in 1980, after a faithful life of service.

Upgrades and upkeep continued over the ensuing years as needs arose. In the mid-‘70s, a new air conditioner was installed, as well as two new heating units. In 1976, the pews were refinished and new carpeting laid.

Also in 1976, St. Patrick’s Knights of Columbus No. 6722 charter was written. The charter was formed due to the efforts of Jerome Heiman and Ernie Lefevre. St. Patrick’s Knights of Columbus is still a very active chapter for the men of the parish. They served the community every year at the Holden Fair, running the chuckwagon selling delicious barbecue meals.

Father Alexander Sinclair served St. Patrick’s from 1978 to 1981, and during this time a youth group was formed, as well as an adult choir. New songbooks were also purchased.

Father Patrick O’Connor served from 1981 to 1984, at both St. Patrick’s and Holy Trinity in Urich. During this pastorate, both parishes became debt free.

Father Harold Powell served the parishes until 1991. During his pastorate, a new pictorial directory was completed, a new roof was put on the church and a new main altar, side altars and lectern were constructed by longtime parishioner Charles Long.

Charles also made the large cross that hangs behind the altar. The cross holds the donated figure of the crucified Christ that came from Italy.

St. Patrick’s got another facelift in 1991, when new carpet was laid, as well as a complete cleaning and painting of the entire church.

Msgr. James Harper served the parish from 1991 to 1993, and during his pastorate, a St. Patrick’s Legion of Mary was founded.

Father Ernest Gauthier served St. Patrick’s from 1993 to 2002. With his guidance and the generosity of some parish families, the stained glass windows were restored in December 1993.

Also in the ‘90s, a children’s choir was formed with Ginger Billingsley, Dana Kephart and Jeannie Wise as leaders. The choir sang at the Holden Fair as entertainment on the main stage.

Repairs and updates were needed and were made during Father Ernie’s pastorate and were completed by longtime parishioners, including - new windows were installed in the rectory by Gene Daldrup, a new roof was replaced by Jr. Sisk, a part-time CCD/K-8 youth coordinator was hired and an endowment for the youth and religious education was left by Father Ernie’s mother.

As a way to further serve the community and parish, a hospice program was started in 1996, and in 1997, a Parish Pastoral Council was established under Father Ernie’s guidance.

In 1998, the Knights of Columbus remodeled the basement, and the Altar Society continued to be responsible for cleaning the church.

Father Stephen Cook came in 2002 and served here until 2005.  Father Steve also encouraged the young members of the parish and saw a rise in attendance of the youth group.

During his short time with St. Patrick’s, he headed up the Capital Campaign to make St. Patrick’s more handicap accessible and make improvements to the current building. An addition of the parish hall was planned, as well as new entrances on the south side of the church.

Father Peter Savidge arrived in 2005 and took the reins of the Capital Campaign. Parishioner Butch Shore with Shore Construction was hired to construct the addition and relocate the rectory across the street.

The rectory was moved across the highway in late 2005 and was a major undertaking that drew a crowd of spectators. The parish hall, new basement, and new entrances were finished in early 2007.  According to Father Pete’s recollection, the final cost of the construction/addition was around $750,000.

In 2017, Father Curt Vogel came to St. Patrick’s and is the current pastor here in 2024. Because he is serving St. Bridget’s in Pleasant Hill as well and lives in the rectory there, the decision was made to sell the rectory at St. Patrick’s. The sale occurred in 2019.

Father Vogel and the finance committee made the difficult decision to sell the rectory. According to Father Vogel, the sale of the rectory netted enough funds to pay off the church debt that had been hanging over St. Patrick’s for 16 years, since the Capital Campaign and addition of the parish hall.

It was decided that the interior of the church needed some renovations and at the end of 2019 through early 2020, work was taking place to make the house of God a more beautiful and inspirational place to worship.

Father Vogel oversaw many improvements to the interior of St. Patrick’s.

The first to receive a much-needed upgrade was the pink (mauve) carpeting that was everywhere in the church.

Father Vogel recalls that the renovation began with the Sanctuary floor, ripping that carpet up and putting down some white porcelain tile that had a surface that looks like expensive marble.

The end result was sheer elegance and people often comment on the stunning beauty of the altar. It looks as if it’s truly fit for a king, which is appropriate to partake of the Holy Eucharist during each Mass, as parishioners welcome the True Presence of their King.

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A different tile was laid under the pews, and for all the walking paths, a nice, deep green carpet was laid since St. Patrick is our patron. All of the church walls were repainted from the bleach white paint to a more warm and gentle tannish color.

Surrounding the arch over the main crucifix in the church was a Celtic knot design. Volunteers made a stencil of that Celtic knot design and applied it as a background for four of the saints statues with gold paint.

Additionally, instead of bleach white, the wall on the arch interior of the crucifix was given a coat of gold paint, which adds a great contrast to the main crucifix on the back wall of the church.

Dark green and gold paint accents were added around the arches and saints statues as backgrounds in the church. Behind each of the Stations of the Cross, three different colors of paint (green, gold, and light blue - the light blue is the main background color) were added so as to create depth for each Station of the Cross.

All three altars were restained as well as all the wood in the church except for the pews. There was a strong theme of light, golden brown wood stain in all the wood of the church. That was changed to a deep, rich brown stain with a slight reddish hue for all the wood in the church.

A new tabernacle was purchased for $3,100 after the old one had been vandalized by some area kids.

Other additions include a new Processional Crucifix with stand, thanks to a donation of funds from parishioners. New candlesticks for the altars were quickly acquired, thanks to more monetary donations from parishioners.

A new baptismal font was also purchased because the old one was hard to use. Father Vogel relates that it cost $3,000 but we were able to get it for $850. Also, new processional torches were purchased for the altar boys.

It’s clear that God had His hand on the renovations of His house since a lot of work was completed to update the church’s interior and many of the purchases were unbelievable bargains.

A brand new confessional was built which works much better than the previous small room that served as a confessional prior to the new one. A beautiful picture of Jesus as the Divine Mercy Savior was hung on the new confessional door.

“The placement of the Divine Mercy image on the center of the confessional box is perfect since Divine Mercy is given to everyone who enters into that confessional and receives the Sacrament of Confession, one of the most explicit moments any soul receives our Lord’s Divine Mercy,” explained Father Vogel. The Confessional box is all completely new.

“What was exceptional to our experience of renovating the church interior to St. Patrick parish was that we had many construction talented parishioners who were willing to lend their skills free to the parish,” Father Vogel went on to say.

“Literally everything in our renovation of St. Patrick church’s interior was done by the parishioners except for the laying down of the Sanctuary tile floor, the tile underneath the pews, and the green carpet.”

 In 2021, the idea for an altar rail was discussed. The church had one in previous years but it was removed years ago.

During these years at St. Patrick’s, a deadly virus known as COVID-19 began to spread worldwide. It was highly contagious and lethal. All public places were affected by COVID, and for a time even Masses were cancelled.

When some of the restrictions of COVID were lifted, the subject of the altar rail was again addressed, and eventually a new rail was installed.

The new altar rail is beautiful. It has a clover leaf design between each post with a golden Celtic cross embedded at the top center of each post. The wood stain of the altar rail matches the wood stain of the altars in the Sanctuary.

About this time, a new sound system was purchased, at a cost of $3,000. A new organ was needed and the Lord made that possible for St. Patrick’s as well.

According to Father Vogel, “Many areas of God’s Providence came through with this renovation; there’s no other explanation.

“With so much being donated or reduced in prices with materials (our biggest contributor here was Heiman’s True Value store, whose owners are parishioners) and our parishioners donating so much of their time and talents, we saved thousands upon thousands of dollars in this renovation of the church interior at St. Patrick parish.”

The grand total for the church interior renovation at St. Patrick’s parish ended up being approximately $26,000.

A lot of upgrades were added to St. Patrick’s in recent years and it continues to be the sacred House of God and home of local Catholics where they can come and worship and adore God and His Blessed Son - well over a century after the first St. Patrick’s church was built.

In recent years, under Father Vogel’s guidance, parishioners have taken their faith to the streets with periodic processions throughout the streets of Holden.

The processions are a way to show their Catholic faith and beliefs to the community, as well as to educate our Protestant brothers and sisters as to the Catholic way of life.

Three public processions are held each year, with the faithful processing about a mile in total, saying prayers along the way. Father Vogel says there is a portable speaker system so the public can hear what prayers are being offered.

The first procession was for Corpus Christi Sunday. There are always a large number of altar boys taking part in the processions, carrying incense and candles. Men of the parish carry the life-sized Crucified Christ statue, or, in the celebration of the Holy Virgin Mary, a large statue of the Blessed Mother is carried.

This year, a procession was held during Lent as well, and parishioners recited the Stations of the Cross prayers.

Holden police accompany the procession to direct traffic and keep everyone safe. It has been a wonderful way for the Catholic faithful to share their beliefs and publicly proclaim their devotion to  our Heavenly Father,  our Savior Jesus, and His Blessed Mother.

St. Patrick’s continues to stand for truth, compassion and love in the small town of Holden and the rich legacy of our Catholic forefathers will continue to grow as we practice the way Jesus instructed us to live. We welcome everyone to join us at St. Patrick’s.

The commitment and devotion of the parishioners of St. Patrick’s will live on long after this generation. God willing, St. Patrick’s will stand firm until Jesus comes again.

 

“How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

                    Genesis 28

 

He answered, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.                                 Luke 10:27