Welcome & Parish Photo Tour from Father Rick

Fr. Rick Ginther

Parish Photo Tour

Welcome to St Patrick Catholic Parish! It is a joy of my life to be able to serve the Catholic Church and St. Patrick as the father and priest of this growing and vibrant parish community!

It is my pleasure to now take you on a tour of St. Patrick and personally invite you to become a part of our Catholic parish community and its’ mission!

Just as St. Patrick our patron saint pointed to God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit symbolized in a three leaf clover in Ireland, we are called to point to the same One and Only God as the reason we minister to the Terre Haute community.

St. Patrick is a parish of many families.  We seek to minister to each other and the community around us as Christ and St. Patrick would.

St. Patrick is located at the corner of Poplar and 19th Street in Terre Haute, Indiana. A shamrock is painted in the center of the intersection every year before our annual St. Patrick Parade and Party. Our number one ministry at St. Patrick is St Patrick Elementary School located next to the church. Since 1882 it has been the mission of the parish to train children to become “Saints and Scholars.” Please check out the St. Patrick School web-site at www.saintpat.org/school

On March 8, 1998 Archbishop Buechlein dedicated our new Family Life Center where St. Patrick now holds multiple parish and school events.

To accomplish the many ministries of the St. Patrick parish, located next to the church is the parish rectory and business office. The back portion of the rectory has been converted into a soup kitchen for the hungry of the Terre Haute area. This is one of the many ministries carried out in God’s name at St. Patrick.

Prayer and Eucharist adoration is central to our parish community. St. Patrick has an Adoration Chapel ministry for all who wish to draw close to the Lord and pray any time of the day or night seven days a week – 24 hours a day. We are always looking for prayer and adoration persons to help us staff all the hours. Contact Cel Lundstrom at for more information.

Now that you have visited the parish community as a whole, I would like to take you inside the parish church.

There is an old Irish stating that goes like this, “it is the Mass that matters!” This is the heart of our faith as Catholics. The Real Presence of Christ comes to us in the Eucharist but also Christ feeds us in many ways as we worship Him in the Mass and in our daily lives. As in many Catholic churches St. Patrick has statues not only of our Lord but also of His mother the Virgin Mary and his foster father Joseph. The Church has called us to imitate  those that have lead holy lives and we are reminded that when we enter St. Patrick that we are called to love as they have.

Every year the a New Paschal candle is lit to symbolize that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, gives us hope of salvation and reminds us that Christ is the light of the world.

It is every generations challenge to pass on the Catholic faith and I’m so proud of St. Patrick’s commitment to Catholic Christian education.

I invite you to learn more about the Catholic faith and join St. Patrick in the worship and service of Christ the King! Please contact John Fuller for more information.