The History of The Parish of Saint Joseph
By Jim Wright
Except where
noted, photos courtesy Homewood Historical Society
Click on any of the photos for a larger version
The origins of Saint
Joseph Church date back to January 1912. At that time Reverend Armand
C. Martin, an associate at St. Louis of France Church on 117th Street
in Chicago, approached the Homewood Village Board and requested the use
of the village hall meeting room on Sunday mornings so he could say Mass
for Homewood’s Catholics. The village granted this request and Father
Martin began saying Mass in the village hall on January 14th. In May,
the Archdiocese of Chicago purchased a lot 
storekeeper
Henry Zimmer owned across from the village hall on the eastside of the
Chicago-Vincennes Road, now the Dixie Highway. Ground was broken for a
small wood frame church on this property in June and by the end of 1912
the church building was completed and consecrated to Saint Joseph.
Father Martin, an energetic young priest, had also been involved with establishing St. Anne Church in East Hazel Crest the year before. A small wooden church was built for this congregation in 1911 and was initially located near the intersection of 172nd Street and Loomis Avenue. Father Martin served both churches until 1914 when he was appointed the first resident pastor of St. John Church in Glenwood, which had been organized in 1884.
Following the departure of Father Martin, St. Joseph’s was raised to the status of a parish and Father John P. Doran was appointed its first pastor. St. Anne became attached as a mission of St. Joseph’s, a relationship that would last until 1949, when St. Anne Church itself was elevated to the status of a parish. During Father Doran’s tenure, which lasted through 1920, the Illinois Central Rail Road began construction of the Markham Yards, their huge classification and repair facilities just north of Homewood, which necessitated the move of St. Anne’s small wooden church building from the east side to the west side of the rail tracks. The building was moved to the northwest corner of 171st and Wood Streets in Hazel Crest where it remains to this day. After a new sanctuary was completed for St. Anne’s in 1958, the old building on Wood Street was sold to the Marian Council of the Knights of Columbus who used it as their meeting and social hall until they, in turn, sold it to a protestant denomination.
After Father Doran was named pastor of St. Ailbe Church on the south side of Chicago in May 1920, he was replaced as pastor at St. Joseph’s by the Reverend Michael S. Kane who had recently been an associate at St. Agatha Church on Chicago’s west side. Shortly after Father Kane’s arrival in Homewood, a group of his family and friends from Chicago sponsored a dinner at Funk’s Hall on Ridge Road, serving more than 500 people. A weeklong bazaar held later at the old Gottschalk’s Pavilion, combined with funds raised from the successful dinner, allowed the parish to completely pay off the church’s debt - quite an accomplishment for a new pastor.
Father Kane tended the growing flock at St. Joseph’s until 1925 when he was appointed pastor of St. Patrick Church in South Chicago. He was succeeded by the Reverend Stephen P. Sullivan who came to Homewood from St. Joseph Church in Rockdale near Joliet on May 15, 1925. Father Sullivan would spend the next 30 years leading the Catholic Church in Homewood. His tenure would be marked by tremendous growth and also by a great deal of hardship endured by parishioners and other residents in Homewood during the Depression and war years.
Father
Sullivan took over a parish of about 150 families in 1925 and by the time
of his retirement in 1955 that number had swelled to over 1000. Following
his arrival at St. Joseph’s, Father Sullivan envisioned the possibility
of building a parochial school for parish children. Catholics and non-Catholics
alike responded with remarkable generosity to his appeals for funds and
construction was started in May 1926 on a 6-room school just north of
the church. The Dominican Sisters of Adrian Michigan were asked to staff
the school, which opened on September 7, 1926. Seventy-two students were
enrolled when the school doors opened and these children were taught by
3 Dominicans under the direction of Sister Mary James Marsh, the school’s
principal. For many years, the nuns lived on the top floor of the school
building. During the time the school was being built, the front of the
church was also remodeled with the addition of a steeple and a brick veneer
to match the school.
By
1930, enrollment in the school topped 110 pupils but the start of the
depression would temper any increase in these numbers for many years to
come. The Depression years found Father Sullivan ministering to the spiritual
and, many times, to the financial needs of members of his parish and community.
Father Sullivan frequently arranged for food and monetary donations for
needy Homewood families regardless of their religious affiliation. By
1940, prosperity had begun to return to the nation but the outbreak of
World War II caused further hardship around the country. In Homewood,
21-year old Wally Burns, a St. Joseph parishioner, was the first resident
to lose his life fighting in the war.
The postwar years
were accompanied by an explosive increase in population in both the village
and parish. By 1950, the school was bulging at the seams with an enrollment
of over 320 students. 
During
this decade, two separate additions were completed to the school building,
adding classrooms and a gymnasium that would accommodate an enrollment
of over 1000 students by the end of the decade. By 1953, Father Sullivan
was no longer able to keep up with the demands of the growing parish alone.
Reverend Joseph F. Burke was appointed assistant pastor of the parish
and he and Father Sullivan embarked on an ambitious building program in
1954. Construction was completed on a convent to house the nuns who taught
at the school and construction was also started that year on the parish’s
new church building. The new church was built just south of the original
structure where services were held until construction was completed. Dedication
ceremonies took place for the new building on April 24, 1955. Following
this, the old church was torn down to make way for a rectory to house
the parish priests.
After 30 years as pastor, Father Sullivan, a colorful and beloved figure to many in the village, retired in June 1955 after which Father Burke was appointed pastor. Parish boundaries at this time encompassed an extensive area bounded by 175th Street on the north, 194th Street on the south, Crawford Avenue on the west and Halsted Street on the east. With the area in this territory experiencing similar increases in population, Father Burke was assigned the task of organizing a mission church in Flossmoor in 1954. A new church named in honor of the Infant Jesus of Prague was built on Flossmoor Road at Leavitt Avenue. Father Burke said the first mass in this church on Christmas Eve 1954 and the edifice was formally dedicated on June 24, 1955. Infant Jesus remained a mission of St. Joseph’s until 1957. In 1959, Father Burke was again instrumental in the formation of another parish in Country Club Hills. A mission church was built at 4346 180th Street and mass was celebrated for the first time in this modest brick building on Christmas Eve 1959. In May 1960, this mission church was reorganized as the Parish of St. Emeric. That same month, St. Kieran Parish was formed out of the area south and east of Homewood and for a short period of time was a mission of St. Joseph’s.
Despite a reduction in the parish boundaries, St. Joseph’s continued to increase in size to a high of 3200 families in 1978. About 2100 families are registered in the parish today. Father Burke continued to minister to the faithful at St. Joseph until he retired and assumed the role of pastor emeritus in 1980; a year after his niece Jane Byrne was elected the mayor of the City of Chicago.
Reverend
James M. Sayers succeeded Father Burke and was appointed pastor of St.
Joseph on July 15, 1980. Father Sayers joined Sister Nancy Fischer O.P.,
a former schoolmate, at St. Joseph’s. Sister Nancy came to St. Joseph
School in 1969 as principal, a position she would hold until her retirement
in 2002. During his tenure, Father Sayers was consumed with fulfilling
the demands of running a large suburban parish, tending to the spiritual
needs of his parishioners and overseeing the repair and upkeep of a large
parish complex. The beautiful stained glass windows installed in the church
during the summer and fall of 1983 are one of Father Sayers’ most
visible legacies. Father Sayers retired from the active ministry in 2002
and he now serves the parish as pastor emeritus. Cardinal Francis George
appointed Reverend Richard J. Kozak to the pastorate of St. Joseph’s
in July 2002.
Today Father Kozak, along with Associate Pastor Reverend Dan Jarosewic, the deacon couples and all of the parish staff, serve the vibrant faith community of Saint Joseph Parish. Parishioners participate in a variety of organizations, ministries and programs offered by their church and school, which allows them, as a body, to continue to grow and teach one another in the love of Jesus Christ.
(This is the first in a series of articles looking back at the history of The Parish of Saint Joseph.)