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The fourth pastor of St. John’s came
to the church in 1929 from St. Cecilia’s in Midway. During his twelve years as
pastor
there, three additional lots and a rectory were acquired, and a
parochial school
built. Before that Father Doyle had
been pastor of the church at Green
Isle,
Minnesota. His first appointment after his ordination in 1904 was to
St. Thomas
College, where he combined the duties of instructor in English and
Latin and
prefect of discipline, with those of director of athletics and coach of
the
baseball and basketball teams. During his stay at the college he
undertook the
collection of funds for the erection of an athletic field, and
personally supervised the entire work, which included the reclaiming of
the
swamp land which had been selected as the best available site.
According to the Northwestern
Chronicle an enthusiastic welcome was given Father Doyle at a reception
held in
his honor on Sunday, May 6.
It would have been easy with so fine
a parish establishment to have
succumbed
to the temptation to rest upon the achievements of his predecessors,
but Father
Doyle was filled with that pioneering spirit which seems to have been
the
inheritance of all the pastors of St. John’s. Father Doyle began at
once to work on the parish societies,
reorganizing some, starting new ones. Shortly after his arrival in 1929
he
consolidated all the societies for married women in the parish into the
Rosary
Society and established the Young Ladies Sodality. In the same year he
organized a Boy Scout Troop, and an Altar Boys’ Sodality. A
Parent-Teachers
Association, a Holy Name group, a Dramatic Club, a Literary Club, a
Young Men’s
Athletic Association and a Young Women’s Athletic Association, show the
enthusiasm with which he provided for the various needs and desires of
those
under his charge.
As the
parish
grew in numbers, a new school became necessary to care for the growing
student
population of the district. Plans were submitted to Father Doyle by the
firm of
Slifer and Abrahamson, architects, and work was begun in July, 1931. On
January 31, 1932, the new school
was formally opened to the public. The formal dedication of the
building took place on April 17, 1932.
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