A 'New' Flint Hills Parish — Eureka, Kansas

"His name was Father Paul Ponziglione who is remembered as laying the foundation of many parishes in this area during those early years."​​

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Page 5 of the October 18, 2019 Catholic Advance includes a half-page article on the history of Sacred Heart Catholic Parish in Eureka.  The article, by Wichita Diocesan Historian, Father Michael Peltzer, tells a story that has a familiar ring across southern Kansas, Missouri and northern Oklahoma:

"The first Mass in the Eureka community was celebrated in 1872 in a stone house on the corner of Seventh and Elm streets, a block north of the present parish site, by a Jesuit missionary from the Osage mission, now St. Paul, in Southeast Kansas.  His name was Father Paul Ponziglione who is remembered as laying the foundation of many parishes in this area during those early days."

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Father Ponziglione was the most prolific 'mission founder' among the Osage Mission Jesuits.  But if you insert  names like: Fathers Colleton, Schoenmakers, Bax and others, there are similar stories about more than 150 mission stations in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas.  There was even one railroad worker's mission in Pueblo.  Did all mission stations become churches?  No, but many did . [1]  

​Click on the image above to open a PDF copy of Father Peltzer's article.  You can also open the entire October 18 issue of the Catholic Advance HERE.

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Some Reference Information:
1.  Here are a couple of links that might help you understand the scope of the wide-ranging missionary work done from Osage Catholic Mission:

• Click HERE for a map, discussion and more links about the Jesuits work from Osage Mission.
• Click HERE for a page that might help untangle the differences between a mission, a mission station and a church.

When you consider the missionary work alone, you might start to understand why we believe Osage Mission - St. Paul deserves to be a National Historic Site.  But there is much more to Our Story!