150th Anniversary: Parish History (from the Madison Catholic Herald - April 2010)

Monroe parish celebrates 150 years

MONROE - St. Victor Parish is celebrating this year its sesquicentennial - 150 years of faith, education, and community.

In addition to introducing a logo, T-shirts, a CD of music from the parish's Matthew Ronald Buholzer Memorial Pipe Organ, and a history book for the celebration, the parish will host many events throughout the year. A statue commissioned of Msgr. Thomas Campion, director of the Apostolate to the Handicapped, will be unveiled, a memory garden will be established, a vespers service and dinner in November, and a special Swiss/German ecumenical service will be celebrated in October.

The parish's history dates back to the mid-1800s, when "circuit rider" priest Fr. John Conroy of St. Patrick Parish in Janesville, celebrated the first Mass in Con Dillon's home. At the time, the Catholics in the area, mainly of Irish descent, were served from Shullsburg, a parish nearly 30 miles away. Increasing numbers of Catholics warranted a church built in Monroe.

In 1860, Fr. Richard Sullivan, assistant to Father Conroy, was assigned to serve the Catholics of Monroe. He soon became the first resident pastor of the new St. Victor Parish, at that time located in the Diocese of Milwaukee.

The Madison/Milwaukee Diocesan newspaper Catholic Herald had its origins in Monroe. In response to antagonism from local news media after the First Vatican Council's declaration of papal infallibility in 1870, St. Victor Parish's fourth pastor, Fr. John Casey, and parishioner Dr. D.W. Nolan founded the Catholic Vindicator to defend the faith. Bishop John M. Henni of Milwaukee ended the editorial feud that had developed by moving the paper to Milwaukee and renaming it the Catholic Herald Citizen. It was renamed the Catholic Herald in 1981.

A second parish, the German-speaking St. Mary Parish, was formed in Monroe in 1861, but the school was closed there in 1876 and the parish became a mission of St. Victor Parish until 1881 when a new German-speaking pastor was assigned. When, in 1918, the pastor of St. Mary Parish died and no German-speaking priest was available to replace him, the parishioners were welcomed into St. Victor Parish and the parish closed.

St. Victor School was established in 1916. Sisters from the order of Sisters of St. Dominic, with motherhouse in Racine, taught at the school until the late 1970s. Other orders that taught at the school include: Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Family, School Sisters of St. Francis, Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation of the Most Holy Rosary, Sisters of St, Francis of Assisi, Congregation of the Sisters of St. Agnes, and School Sisters of Notre Dame. The school currently serves 135 students from four-year-old kindergarten through fifth grade.

There have been only 17 pastors in the parish's history. The current pastor is Fr. Michael Klarer. His appointment in 2002 by Bishop William H. Bullock was the first appointment of a priest-son of the parish as pastor. The parish today has 1150 families which come from 9 different school districts in the area surrounding Monroe.

The first St. Victor Church was destroyed by fire on November 1, 1891, and a new church built in 1892 and consecrated after its completion in 1893. The church underwent major renovations in 1942 and 1943 for its 50th anniversary, and again in 2006 for the installation of the 1968 Möller pipe organ dedicated in memory of parishioner Matthew Ronald Buholzer.

It was announced by Bishop Robert Morlino that St. Victor Parish of Monroe and St. Rose of Lima Parish, Brodhead will begin the process of merger as of July 10, 2010 when Fr. Klarer will become pastor of both St. Victor, Monroe and St. Rose of Lima, Brodhead.