SOUTH LOOP — The city's original Catholic parish is unveiling a new community center, with Archbishop Blase Cupich expected to attend Friday's dedication ceremony.
Old St. Mary's Church dedicates its new Parish Center on Friday, completing a 15-year process of rebuilding at its latest location at 1500 S. Michigan Ave.
"There was a master plan," said the Rev. Paul Huesing, who has guided the parish for almost two years. That plan began with the new, modern church in 2002, followed by a new Catholic school two years later to serve the even-then-burgeoning South Loop. The parish rebuilt the school in a manner complementing the church five years ago, and now the new Parish Center completes the entire renovation.
The new 17,000-square-foot center replaces what even Huesing referred to as a "dingy ... much smaller" building and a playground, although the new school building also has a playground.
"Although we lost a playground, we did gain a gym," Huesing said, and that should serve the school and the community year-round.
"We couldn't be more excited for the opening of the new Parish Center," said Julie Martin, principal of Old St. Mary's School. "We have a responsibility to the community to prepare our Catholic leaders of tomorrow, and this new space will help up to that and much more."
Although the dedication ceremony is set for 2 p.m. Friday, Huesing said the Parish Center has been open "a few weeks" and has already played host to basketball games, a free-throw-shooting tournament, a chili cook-off, retreats, pre-marriage classes, young-adult groups and Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon meetings.
"It gives us, really, first-class facilities to reach out to our neighbors," Huesing said.
That, he added, has been Old St. Mary's mission since it was known as St. Mary of the Assumption as the city's original Catholic church, commissioned by the bishop of St. Louis in 1833, four years before Chicago was even incorporated as a city.
It began in a humble building at State and Lake streets, with that structure soon moved to Michigan Avenue and Madison Street and enlarged. As Chicago's cathedral, it then moved into a steepled church at Madison and Wabash Avenue, a building lost in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
At that point, the city's Catholics dedicated a new cathedral parish, Holy Name, and Old St. Mary's moved into a grand former Protestant church at 911. S. Wabash Ave. There it remained for 100 years, for much of that century on the northern fringes of one of the city's most notorious vice districts, Satan's Mile, which eventually extended south to Cermak Road comprising the Levee District.
Imagine the sinners attending Sunday services in those days.
"This whole area was like that," Huesing pointed out, quickly adding that the area also included the Police Department Headquarters at 1121 S. State St. "I don't know how notorious, but it was what it was," he added.
After a century of wear, that grand old church was demolished in 1970 and, greatly diminished, Old St. Mary's moved into a chapel at 21 E. Van Buren St. But by the turn of the century it was clear the South Loop was reviving, and the church revived along with it in its new building.
"While that's an interesting area, it's more businessy," Huesing said of the previous location. "Whereas, up here, we've discovered this is the heart of where the new development is happening. So it's just been a phenomenal change."
The parish also covers the Loop, and it welcomes Catholics in a sanctuary that is quite a departure from the old church at 9th Street and Wabash.
"Our church today is a very modern church, a style that is popular today," Huesing added.
As the area has enjoyed a renaissance, so has the church, with the number of parishioners and students growing, Huesing said. The school now serves 427 students, with projections to accept 550 in the coming years, especially now that it has the new Parish Center gym.
"It's really wonderful to have this great facility," Huesing added. "It's wonderful to have that history behind us. We've certainly adapted to meet the needs of the community, and we have adapted again to meet the new needs of the community we serve."
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