The late Most. Rev. John Francis Noll, D.D., Archbishop of Fort Wayne, appointed Rev. Jerome R. Bonk in June, 1948 to organize the parish of St. Anthony de Padua. 

Father Bonk, an assistant at St. Monica’s Church in Mishawaka for 17 years, was asked to make preliminary studies and surveys in preparation for the formation of the new parish. Later that year he was named as the pastor of St. Anthony’s. 

Ground was broken at 2310 East Jefferson Boulevard on Sunday, May 3, 1949, for the construction of a grade school with an all-purpose room to be used as a temporary church. 

Styled in Georgian architecture, it consisted of four classrooms on an upper level, and lower level all-purpose room seating approximately 300 people. The building comprised the east half of the present school. It was completed on January 1, 1950, at a cost slightly more that $80,000. On this same date, the first Mass was celebrated at St. Anthony de Padua parish.  

At the time, St. Anthony’s parish consisted of 285 registered families: 221 were formally parishioners of St. Monica’s, Mishawaka; 38 were from St. Joseph’s in South Bend; and 26 previously had been parishioners of other parishes in the city.

The school opened in the fall of 1950 with an enrollment of 96 in the first three grades. The teaching staff consisted of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis. Sister Mary Albina was the principal. 

The west half of the school was constructed in 1953, providing classrooms for all eight grades. The church was then relocated in this wing. Value of the combined units increased to more than $200,000. 

In 1955 the parking area was paved to provide St. Anthony’s with one of the largest and most accessible lots of any parish in South Bend. 

De Padua Hall, completed in 1956, marked another addition to the parish. It was erected south of the school, at a cost of $190,000. This new building allowed for the expansion of programs in physical education and in music instruction for the school students. It also provides facilities for meetings and parish social activities. Sunday Masses in the auditorium relieved the overcrowding of the church facility in the school. The building was dedicated on October 21, 1956, by Most Rev. Leo A. Pursley, D.D., Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend. 

The future of the parish was bright and had grown more than four-fold in the first six years of existence to more than 1,000 families. A six-acre tract of land at the corner of Ironwood Drive and Jefferson Boulevard – which once harbored a small fruit stand – now was enhanced with a school building and an auditorium. 

Across Ironwood, to the immediate west, a home was purchased at 2120 East Jefferson to serve as the convent. The home to the west of the convent – at 2114 East Jefferson, which originally was owned by a parishioner – was acquired in a trade for the rectory, which was then located at 206 North Hawthorne Drive. This then became the new rectory for Father Bonk and the assistant pastor, Re. Richard Urbine. It was renovated at a cost of $22,000.

Along with the physical development of St. Anthony’s came a spiritual growth. This was accomplished through the formation of such organizations as: The Legion of Mary; the Holy Name Society; the Rosary Society; the St. Vincent de Paul Society; the Family Helpers; the Christian Family Movement; the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; the Home and School Association; the Adult Choir; the Children’s Choir; the Altar Boys; the Ushers Club; Commentators; Boy Scouts; Blue Birds; Campfire Girls; and eventually, the Senior Group; N.I.C.E.; the Unity Singers; and shortly after the Second Vatican Council, the first functioning Parish Council in the South Bend-Mishawaka area.

Our founding pastor, assisted by Father Urbine and visiting clergy, officiated at the groundbreaking of the church during brief rites at 10:15 a.m. on Easter Sunday 1959. Councilors and the parish choir were present. 

Designed by South Bend architect Anthony J. Panzica, the church was built on Jefferson Boulevard east of the present school building. Contemporary in style, it was constructed of red brick with stone and marble trim. The church is 185 feet long, 140 feet wide, and 40 feet high. It has a seating capacity of more than 600. 

Departing from the original architectural drawings – which would have the church built of a Gregorian design abutting the center of the school forming a T-shaped building was done for a two-fold purpose. One, the cost factor of the Gregorian architecture with its grandiose exterior pillars, and second, size. The land east of the school would allow for a much larger facility than the original plans did.  

It was completed in April 1960, at a cost, including furnishings, of $423,000. Following a solemn High Mass at noon on Sunday, April 24, 1960, Bishop Pursley, assisted by more than 35 priests, officiated at the dedication. 

Among the clergy at the Mass were Rt. Rev. Msgr. Otto Keller, pastor of St. Bavo’s Church, Mishawaka, arch-priest: Rev. Steven Cvaniga, assistant at St. Bavo’s, deacon; Rev. Richard Smith, assistant at St. Thomas Church, Elkhart, sub-deacon. Serving as masters of ceremonies were Father Urbine, and Rev. Eldon J. Miller, assistant at St. Joseph’s Church, Mishawaka. 

Rev. Stanley Cak, chaplain at St. Joseph Hospital, Mishawaka, and Rev. Joseph Lesniak, pastor of Holy Family Church, South Bend, served as deacon and sub-deacon to Bishop Pursley. Canter for the litany was Rev. John Szot, pastor of St. Jude’s Church, South Bend. 

Members of the Father Nieuwland General Assembly, Fourth Degree, Knights of Columbus, provided a guard of honor for the rite. Music was provided by the parish choir of 26 voices, directed by James Murphy.

The church has, in essence, four main entrances, one each at the four corners of the building. One of the major architectural features of the church is a 70-foot bell tower constructed of Indiana Limestone and surmounted by a 25-foot gold leaf cross. Another is a 2500-pound Carrara marble figure of Christ, designed by architect Panzica, the designer of the church. The 10-foot high figure was installed on the Jefferson Boulevard façade on an emerald pearl granite cross imported from Belgium. The Corpus was made in Carrara, Italy. It is hand-carved from a solid block of marble which weighed approximately four tons. 

The church sanctuary has a reredos of mosaic. It was made of Venetian glass and rises 40 feet above a contemporary altar designed in two shades of Italian Botticino Marble. The mosaic depicts liturgical symbols upon which a 20-foot redwood crucifix is attached. 

A shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary graces the western front entrance where a side altar once stood. The former side altar to St. Joseph now features a grand piano which leads the congregation in song during weekday school Masses and other liturgies. There are shrines to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St. Anthony de Padua near the front of the church on either side of the nave, and a shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe near the back of the church. The tinted, wood-carved statues from the altar and shrines were made in Italy. 

The principal window of the nave illustrates the Mysteries of the Rosary and The Apostles Creed. The stained-glass windows in the sunken baptistry (now a library), which is entered from the narthex (the portico leading to the nave), depicts the seven sacraments. The life of St. Anthony de Padua is portrayed in window which forms a glass wall behind the choir loft where a Wicks pipe organ of 10 ranks is installed. 

The interior roof of the edifice, which rises 40 feet above the nave, is of spruce decking. The pews are constructed of Wisconsin elm. The floor beneath the pews is terrazzo, and the aisles are formed of quarry elm. The church building has been renovated to include a cry room for families with small children, two confessionals, two sacristies, restroom facilities, and storage areas.

On November 5, 1961, Bishop Pursley made it known through the media that Father Bonk was to receive a distinctive honor. His Holiness, Pope John XXIII, announced that “Very Rev. Jerome Bonk, dean of the South Bend Deanery and pastor of St. Anthony de Padua Church was to be elevated to the rank of Domestic Prelate with the title of Right Reverend Monsignor.” This honorary title is conferred by the Holy Father granting certain privileges to the bearer. On these occasions, the prelate’s vestments will include a mire (a headdress, as a mark of office), pectoral cross, and an episcopal ring. Msgr. Bonk’s investure took place at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 3, 1961 at St. Anthony de Padua Church. 

St. Anthony de Padua Church celebrated the 25 ^thanniversary of its first Mass on January 11, 1975. Most Rev. Joseph Crowley, D.D., auxiliary bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, was the principal celebrant at the 4:00 p.m. concelebrated Mass in the church. He was assisted by Msgr. Jerome Bonk, the founding pastor, and Rev. Robert Yast, the pastor. 

In June 1981, ground was broken for an addition of six classrooms to the north of the school. It was completed in February 1982, at a cost of $200,000 along with remodeling of the existing school building at a cost of $255,000.

A major renovation and addition project got underway in December 1999. By the time work was finished the following summer, St. Anthony boasted a new multi-use meeting room and kitchen facility measuring 1240 square feet, just off the northwest entrance to the church. Inside the church, work included re-carpeting, the addition of a handicapped-accessible bathroom, extension of the sanctuary platform, removal of the altar railing and side altars, addition of new altar lights, replacement and relocation of the main altar on which Mass is celebrated, and the transformation of a confessional in the southwest corner of the church into the current shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Today our parish population stands at more than 600 active and registered families and counting, comprising more than 2,164 members. Its physical plant, sitting on approximately six acres, is one of the most complete in the area. The education of approximately 230 children who attend the parish school is of great importance. Throughout our history, St. Anthony de Padua Catholic School has been committed to three principles: promoting academic excellence, providing a warm and welcoming community, and developing lifelong values. Our school joins our rich spirituality with its strong academic excellence to provide an enriching environment as we strive to meet the needs of all students desiring a Catholic education.

With a new energy spreading throughout the parish, the future looks bright for St. Anthony. Perhaps Fr. Yast himself said it best in 1975, on the occasion of the parish’s 25^thanniversary silver jubilee:

Those who have gone before us deserve our praise and admiration for their accomplishments. They met the challenges of their times and that is why we honor them now. But the challenge of the future is no longer theirs, but ours to face. Our challenge is to continue the work begun, to preserve this Faith and cause the love of God to continue to flourish in the lives of generations to come.

Our challenge is to pray and work that the seeds which have been sown here, over the years, may blossom forth into works of faith and love of God and neighbor. May Almighty God grant to all of us the grace to meet this challenge!

We thank those before us for building our parish over the last 70 years, and we welcome you to join us as we build and grow St. Anthony de Padua Catholic Parish for the next 100 years.