1908: In Ecclesia Temporanea

As upsetting as it must have been for St. Patrick’s parishioners to lose their church, another kind of turmoil came along when they had to find practical venues for funerals, baptisms, and marriages. It would appear that some funerals at least were held at St. Francis de Sales church in Lincoln. Parish marriage records do not indicate where the weddings were held. Baptismal records indicate a temporary church (“in ecclesia temporanea”) at Indiana Avenue and Potter streets. Was that in Havelock? Street names have changed since then. Five of the six baptisms of St. Patrick babies took place at that temporary “ecclesia,”or church, wherever it was, taking place from May 31 to Oct. 18, 1908. A baptism on Oct. 25 took place in the home of the baby’s family. It is interesting to note that these references to the temporary church at Indiana Avenue and Potter streets end by May of 1909. Perhaps it is at that time that parishioners began to use the basement of the new church for its various services. Previously it had been thought that it was 1910 before the basement was ready for any kind of service. (Research continues)