Fr. Jack Wall leaves Old St. Pat's; pastor revitalized parish 

By Kathy Hills 

“God’s been up to something at Old St. Pat’s,” said the Rev. John “Jack” Wall, a master of understatement. Fr. Wall arrived at Old St. Patrick’s as pastor in the summer of 1983. There were four registered parishioners. The church was dingy. The radiators clanked so loudly that first winter people could barely hear the priest’s words.

Now, members of 3,200 households attend Old St. Pat’s, the church runs a variety of social service programs, and the building has been renovated beautifully. So Fr. Wall is stepping down as pastor, noting, “The story of Old St. Pat’s is a great story.”

            Old St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, located in the West Loop at 700 W. Adams St., is a Chicago institution. It is the oldest public building in the city, the oldest church structure in the city, and the city’s second Roman Catholic parish. Parishioners gathered at Old St. Pat's original structure for the first time on Christmas morning of 1846. The first Mass in the current church was celebrated Easter Sunday of 1856. Schools, a settlement house, and what would now be called a social service agency were founded around and by the church. Old St. Pat’s brought people together in faith, provided education with a grammar school and two high schools, and established a settlement house that touched the lives of the poor. 

             “It has had a tremendous history of responding to critical moments in the life of the church and our city’s residents," Fr. Wall said. "Church lore has it that Irish immigrants would walk from the train station to the church and stand outside until they met someone from their hometown who would help them find rooms to rent and jobs.”

            As times and needs changed, the settlement house became Marillac House. The church’s St. Vincent DePaul Society became Catholic Charities. The girls’ high school became Marillac High School, now part of Loyola Academy in the north suburbs. The boys’ high school became St. Patrick’s High School, now located on Chicago’s Northwest Side.

            The church that survived the Chicago Fire barely survived construction of the Kennedy Expressway as it cut through St. Patrick’s turf and broke up the neighborhood. Parishioners moved out. “Families that traditionally had stayed in the same home and parish for their lifetimes were now moving to the suburbs," Fr. Wall said. "Old St. Patrick’s had lost its purpose, but it was always a significant church.”

            Fr. Wall knew the traditional notion of a neighborhood church was not workable here. He felt confident that "there could be a new expression of church: that we must re-found a church that had a rich tradition and history to see if church could be expressed in a new way," he said. "It had to be a mission-centered church, one for young adults and the working community.”

            Early on in Fr. Wall’s tenure, people walked to Old St. Patrick’s from work to pray. Then young adults in their 20s discovered the place. They invited their parents to join them and soon they, too, became parishioners. The word was out that Old St. Patrick’s was “the” church to attend. The charismatic Fr. Wall and his popular resident priests were the draw.

Fr. Wall thought when he “first came to St. Pat’s that it might be a center for young adults, not membership-based," he said. "It is now both. Membership has not had any privileges. Members take responsibility for the mission of their church. This is not a club. It is a mission center of people trying to do God’s work.”

            In 1989 they founded a school in the neighboring Presidential Towers housing complex with 35 children. Now Frances Xavier Warde School, with its campuses at Holy Name Cathedral and down the street from the church at 120 S. Desplaines St., has 700 students.

            Cara, meaning "friend" in Gaelic, and located at 703 W. Monroe St., is an ecumenical venture of Old St. Pat's sponsored by the business community. Cara transitions people out of homelessness and into jobs. The site also provides a Career Transitions Center for people downsized out of their jobs. “We see how the power of God can transform all their lives," said Fr. Wall. "This is really good.”

            The Monroe Street building also operates a social outreach center, both local and international in scope. Volunteers have no shortage of projects to work: Waveland, MS, after Hurricane Katrina; an orphanage in Nicaragua; Coprodeli Usa, which serves more than 50,000 people yearly in some of the most impoverished communities in Lima, Peru; the Global Alliance for Africa, working primarily with children and victims of the AIDS epidemic; and Lift, which trains poor yet extremely talented children in India in leadership excellence. “Each one of these programs is a separately incorporated program and Old St. Patrick’s has become their spiritual home," Fr. Wall explained. "The ideas for most of these programs came from our younger members, who take leadership and our mission very seriously.”

            As for the church itself, the decor remained modest until the early part of the 20th century when Thomas Augustus O’Shaughnessy was commissioned to fill the interior with his Celtic art and to design the stained glass windows. The art was painted over in 1945. O’Shaughnessy never entered the church again.

Fr. Wall called in curators from the Art Institute when old paint began peeling off, exposing the Celtic designs buried beneath. Thus began the massive restoration process, supported financially by the membership, which included recreating O'Shaugnessy's Celtic art. The word used most frequently to describe the renovated Old St. Patrick’s Church is “breath-taking.” Little wonder it hosts 160 weddings annually. 

            On July 1, Fr. Wall transitioned out as pastor of Old St. Patrick’s and assumed duties as president of the Catholic Church Extension Service. The extension service’s mission is to sustain and extend the Catholic faith in poor and remote mission areas of the U.S. where diocesan resources are insufficient.

“I met Bishop William Houck, former president of the service, when he came to Chicago and needed a place to stay," Fr. Wall explained. "He’d stay with us and assist at our liturgies. When Katrina hit, he helped us make the connection with Waveland, Mississippi.”

            This special time in the history of Old St. Pat’s will be celebrated Sunday, Sept. 23, with a Mass at 12:45 p.m. followed by a street party. On Friday, Sept. 28, members will fete Fr. Wall at the church’s annual Emerald Ball. The Rev. Thomas J. Hurley will be installed as the new pastor in October.

            Although Fr. Wall is stepping down as pastor, he will continue to live and say Mass at Old St. Pat's. “St. Pat’s has been going through a transition of leadership for the past year," he explained. "It’s been a wonderful experience being here. My dream for 150 years from now is that Old St. Pat’s will still be a great, mission-centered church. Leadership moves on. The church will change because the mission will change and all will be well. The staff and congregation have been so positive and supportive of my whole journey. I am very grateful for that.”

            Old St. Patrick’s Church is open from 6:30 to 8 a.m. and from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays and all day on weekends. For more information about activities there, see www.oldstpats.org and for information on the Catholic Church Extension Society, see www.catholic-extension.org.