New Book Chronicles St. Benedict Cathedral Parish's First Century

Copies of a new book, “A History of Saint Benedict Cathedral: The First 100 Years,” are being distributed to registered families of the Evansville parish, thanks to the generosity of supportive parishioners. Books are also available for purchase from a limited supply.

The parish was founded in 1912 on the eastern outskirts of Evansville through the efforts of Abbot Athanasius Schmitt of Saint Meinrad Archabbey and Bishop Joseph Chartrand of Indianapolis. The parish celebrated its centennial year from Advent 2012 through the following Advent and Christmas. 

Edited by Paul Leingang, former diocesan director of communications and editor of The Message, the book places the parish in the stream of Catholic and secular history – starting with St. Benedict and St. Scholastica in Italy, and continuing through the development of the diocesan structure in North America, and the arrival of religious women and men in southern Indiana. Saint Benedict Parish begins with a collaborative effort of an abbot and a bishop, setting a pattern for more than a century of parish life. 

Parish development and expansion are depicted in the context of the times – from World War I through the Great Depression, through the Flood of 1937 and the turmoil of World War II. Powerful forces affect parish life: the new Diocese of Evansville, the Baby Boom, Vatican II and the new reality of parish staffing. 

The book includes parish pastors and principals, trustees and councils, summer socials and chicken dinners, memories of school and church, and a few blank pages for parishioners to add their own stories. 

Copies may be purchased at the parish office or at the Diocese of Evansville Catholic Center, for $25.