Saint Joseph's Prairie Church is a former

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

parish of the

Archdiocese of Dubuque The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Dubuque () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in the northeastern quarter of the state of Iowa in the United States. The Diocese of Dubuque was erected in 1837 and ...

. The parish was located in Washington Township,

Dubuque County Dubuque County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 99,266, making it the eighth-most populous county in Iowa. The county seat is Dubuque, Io ...

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

- which is about ten miles south of

Dubuque Dubuque (, ) is a city in Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 59,667 at the 2020 United States census. The city lies along the Mississippi River at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a region ...

. In 1843, Father T.J. Donaghoe and five Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (B.V.M.) were invited to move to the Dubuque area by Bishop Mathias Loras. They moved from

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

to a wooded area in nearby Table Mound Township. A chapel and a convent were built on the land. The Sisters remained in the area until their original convent was destroyed by fire. At that point the Sisters moved north to Dubuque. After the death of Fr. Donaghoe in 1869, Bishop Hennessy of Dubuque sent Father Monaghan to establish the St. Joseph's Prairie parish. Matthew Powers, who was an area farmer, donated land for the church and cemetery. The church was built by 1875 for $4,000. A bell was added to the church, it had the distinction of being the largest bell in the Archdiocese of Dubuque. The bell weighed 5,247 pounds. For many years the bell stood in a tower at the north side of the church building. Eventually the bell was placed on a concrete platform on the church grounds. In 1894 the rectory was built for $1,500. One of the more famous pastors of St. Joseph's was Raymond Ettledorf, who as an archbishop served as

Apostolic Delegate An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...

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, as a pro-Nuncio to

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, and as an Official of State at the

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. In 1952, nearby

Holy Family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on,Ainsworth, 122 but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de La ...

parish had been put under the supervision of the Archdiocese after having been the responsibility of the

New Melleray Abbey New Melleray Abbey (Abbey of Our Lady of New Melleray) is a Trappist monastery located near Dubuque, Iowa. The abbey is located about 15 miles southwest of Dubuque and is in the Archdiocese of Dubuque. Currently the Abbey is home to about 16 mon ...

for many years. St. Joseph's Prairie and Holy Family were affiliated, and shared pastors from then until the closing of the parish. In 1989, it was decided to place the church on

oratory status In the canon law of the Catholic Church, an oratory is a place which is set aside by permission of an ordinary for divine worship, for the convenience of some community or group of the faithful who assemble there, but to which other members of t ...

. The rectory was sold at this point. Most of the families were transferred over to Holy Family parish. The parish still owned the church building and grounds. For the next five years regular Sunday Masses were not celebrated at the church, but the church building could still be used on special occasions - such as weddings and funerals. In 1994, it was finally decided to permanently close the church. One last Mass was held at the old church building. A decree was issued relegating the church to

Profane Use Profane use is a term used in the Roman Catholic Church to refer to closed parish churches that will no longer be used as churches. This is often done in preparation to sell the former church building to another party. In this context, ''Profane ...

- or that it was no longer a church building. The building was sold to the family that had purchased the rectory. The building has since been converted into a storage shed. The bell has since been moved from its location just north of the church, south to the church cemetery.

References

{{Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque, state=collapsed

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

Former Roman Catholic church buildings in Iowa

Religious organizations established in 1869 1994 disestablishments in Iowa 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States 1869 establishments in Iowa

See also

References