Religious Education

Sacraments

SAINT COLUMBA PARISH
Established in 1850
Feast Day June 9
Church Dedicated August 9, 1992

A majority of the first parishioners were of Scotch-lrish descent and this probably is the reason for the parish being named St. Columba, an Irish saint. Columba (c. 521-97), also known as Colmcille, was born at Gartan, Donegal, Ireland, of royal descent. As a priest, he spent time preaching and founding monasteries all over Ireland, among them Derry, Durrow, and Kells. In 563, with twelve relatives, he went to lone off the coast of Scotland and built on that island a monastery that grew into the greatest monastery in Christendom. He devoted himself to evangelizing the Picts of Scotland. Iona became famous all over Europe, and St. Columba's holiness, and reputation for miracles attracted all manner of visitors to the monastery, where he died on June 9. Columba's influence on Western Christianity was enormous. Monks from lone went all over Europe, and the monastic rule he developed was practiced widely on the Continent until the Rule of St. Benedict became almost universal.

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION PARISH
Established in 1871
Feast Day December 8
Church Dedicated February 19, 1959

Our Parish of Immaculate Conception is named after the Catholic Doctrine which affirmed the freedom of the Blessed Virgin Mary from sin from the very first moment of her conception in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne. The formal definition of the doctrine proclaimed by Pope Pius IX (December 8, 1854) states: "We, by the authority of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul and by Our Own, declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of conception, by a singular privilege and grace of the omnipotent God, in consideration of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of humankind was preserved from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and there is to be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful" (Ineffabilis Deus).