Parish History Overview

In 1981, Our Lady of Lourdes celebrated its centennial anniversary. The opening chapter of the Centennial Souvenir book described the first one hundred years, "The centennial of St. Mary's parish is a celebration of our Catholic Faith. For five generations peoples from all over the world have been settling and working in St. Mary's parish in Pittsburg, KS. The faith has been a beacon of light and a pillar of strength for countless people. They have worked to preserve their faith and to pass it on to the generations following. A desire to pass on our faith and preserve it has been expressed in many ways. Some through buildings, such as our gothic church, St. Mary's Grade School, and Colgan High School. In purely spiritual ways, such as the untold religious services that have been participated in and the endless hours of good works of the parishioners.

"Our parish over these past one hundred years has been blessed beyond reason.  We realize that nothing we have done 

has merited these many spiritual and material blessings. The Lord has been rich in His bounty to us. In comparison to the kindness the Lord has shown us, there is no way that we could ever repay Him for His graciousness, yet we wish to express publicly in these celebrations our deep appreciation.

"Our celebrations, in addition to thanking the Lord, have another purpose. Our centennial is a landmark for the generations that will follow us in the next one hundred years. We want this celebrations to be remembered by our future parishioners. We hope they realize how deeply we love our faith and we want them to know that our prayers are with them as they span another one hundred years.

"Pray for us, future parishioners of St. Mary's."

- Reverend Kenneth J. Melaragno. Assistant Pastor at the time, photo from Centennial Souvenir Book