ST OLAF CATHOLIC CHURCH
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Mission Statement
Located at 215 South 8th Street, in the heart of the downtown commercial district, St. Olaf serves people who are homeless, who work downtown, who come to Minneapolis for meetings, conventions or to visit family and who are parishioners from thirty-five zip codes. Founded in 1941, it connects faith and work while assisting those who are struggling with unemployment and temporary homelessness. There are 23 Masses and 9 confession times each week, along with YouTube Mass each weekend.
About This Cause
Founded in 1868 at Third Street and Third Avenue North, Immaculate Conception was the first downtown Catholic Church in Minneapolis. It was located in a residential area that by the turn of the century had transformed into what is now the Minneapolis warehouse district—an area that is increasingly residential once again. Consequently, around 1900, Archbishop John Ireland announced plans to close Immaculate Conception and build the new downtown Co-Cathedral of St. Mary (later known as the Basilica of St. Mary), to afford Minneapolis a magnificent church comparable to the prominent grandeur and location as the Cathedral of Saint Paul. Ground was broken for the new downtown church in 1907 with the first Mass celebrated in 1914. But less than two years later, it was clear that the Co-Cathedral was too far south of the “Loop” to serve as a downtown church. On Ash Wednesday, 1916, the old Immaculate Conception was reopened to serve the hundreds of downtown workers during Lent with a priest from the Basilica presiding at daily Mass at 12:10. Crowds averaging a stunning 500 people attended those noon Masses until 1922, when the church was declared a fire hazard and razed by the city. It seems that from very early in the broad history of St. Olaf “fire” would be a metaphor in both the most profound and tragic sense of the word in the life of St. Olaf Church. Minneapolis was without a downtown church until 1940 when Archbishop John Gregory Murray's decision to create a new parish ended the long intermission in superbly accessible liturgy, music and ministry for the thousands who worked daily in the heart of the city. June 1, 1941 marked the dedication of St. Olaf Catholic Church of Minneapolis. The nourishment of heart, mind and spirit resulted in a natural integration of faith and work that continues to this day. In every generation since 1941, the fire of that faith has burned brightly. In 1940 when Archbishop John Murray decided to create a new parish downtown, the first pastor assigned was Father James Coleman, who stayed only two weeks. Father Coleman had a zeal for bringing people into the Catholic faith, and knowing Olaf of Norway converted to Catholicism, he proposed St. Olaf as the name for the new parish. But poor health, Mass at Seton Guild (later owned by the League of Catholic Women), where he slept on a couch, ate meals at restaurants and visited patients at General Hospital (now HCMC), all proved too taxing. Father William Murphy took over, parish activities began in hotels and plans to buy a building emerged. Thus, the First Universalist Society of Minneapolis church, which replaced an earlier structure that fell victim to fire in 1888, was bought for $112,500. On June 1, 1941, Archbishop Murray dedicated the new St. Olaf Church. The next several years foreshadowed what would become hallmarks of St. Olaf: downtown workers integrating faith with work, very large numbers coming to confession, priests acting as chaplains and remarkable liturgies. In 1949, Father Leonard Cowley, Newman Center Chaplain at the University, became pastor. He brought impressive gifts to St. Olaf, including ministering to young people, counseling, excellent preaching and marvelous musical aptitude. As a musician, he had special interest in liturgical celebrations and brought an accomplished choir director and organist, Bruce Larsen, to St. Olaf. Much later, in 1964, then Bishop Cowley, Bruce and the choir all moved to the Basilica. Meanwhile, thousands attended Sunday Mass, people who were homeless came is scores, and much needed remodeling was completed for $4,300. Intriguingly, when first ordained and at St. Andrew’s in St. Paul, Father Cowley met a young John Forliti and subsequently preached at Father Forliti’s first Mass. Neither knew then they would both become pastors of St. Olaf. After Father Forliti’s ordination in 1962, he served a summer at St. Stephen’s in Anoka where, interestingly, Father Murphy had been pastor since leaving St. Olaf in 1949. As their lives intersected, all of these priests had vision, energy and hope in common and in abundance!