ALL SOULS (1954)

Omer V. Foxhoven was apppointed pastor of All Souls Church upon its founding, July 1, 1954. At that time, the parish consisted of some 200 families living east of Broadway and south of Quincy Avenue. "The parish site was selected," according to Monsignor Thomas P. Barry,

because Archbishop Vehr, standing on the steps of the cathedral, looked south down Logan and decided to build a church about every ten blocks so that older people would have the Blessed Sacrament within walking distance of their homes. And thus it is that we have the cathedral, Mother of God, St. Francis de Sales, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Louis, and All Souls all along or near Logan Steet.

A house at 435 Pennwood Circle was purchased for $19,500 as a rectory where Father Foxhoven said daily Masses in the basement, using the gym at St. Mary's Academy for Sunday services. Ground was broken for a church and parish hall on January 1, 1955.

After the church was dedicated on November 29, 1955, All Souls established a school fund, enabling the Sisters of Loretto to open, in September 1959, a nine-classroom school. By 1970, All Souls boasted a sixteen-classroom school with a full-sized gym, music room, cafeteria, and almost 600 students taught by six Sisters of Loretto, twelve lay teachers, and two physical education specialists. Although the sisters are now gone, a lay staff (including one teacher who was there on opening day in 1959) still taught over 300 kindergarteners through eighth graders in 1989. Among the school's many accomplishments are speech trophies, state science awards, sports trophies, and many spelling bee winners, including a state champion. Sheila Miyamoto, director of the parish's religious education program in 1989, and a staff of volunteer catechists instructed 350 Catholic children attending public schools, as well as conducting adult religious education classes.

Father Foxhoven transferred to another parish in 1962, to be followed by Francis J. Kappes. Father Kappes enriched the parish, encouraging the establishment of a seniors group, the "Saints of All Souls," and delighting children with his "Blessing of the Animals" on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

All Souls had become one of the largest parishes in the archdiocese before its eastern half was reorganized as Risen Christ parish in 1967. The southern half of what remained became part of St. Thomas More parish in 1972. As Father Kappes noted in the 1980 silver anniversary booklet, that though All Souls had shrunk "by reason of the dissection of our original terriory, none the less, we continue to carry the heaviest program."

Under Walter R. Jaeger, who became the third pastor of All Souls in 1985, the parish continues to carry this heavy program with its school and a full range of activities for more than 1,000 families.