Holy Infant of Prague Catholic Church
The Holy Infant of Prague Catholic Church is a large Catholic church which began meeting in a new $8 million building on a 20-acre campus north of Deerfoot Parkway on U. S. Highway 11 in Trussville in October, 2006. The pastor, since 2004, is William Lucas.
The church was founded as a group of Catholics led by John Bratton who performed Mass in an empty apartment in the new Cahaba Housing Project in 1939.
After a census showed 50 Catholics living in the area in 1940, Bishop Thomas Toolen of the Archdiocese of Mobile appointed Frank Giri to come to Trussville to establish a new church. They built their first church on Hewitt Street with a $5,000 gift from radio evangelist Fulton J. Sheen in 1941. Sheen suggested the name, but did not provide a reason for it. (The Holy Infant of Prague is a famed statue, created in Spain in the 17th century and housed in the Church of Our Lady Victorious in Prague. Over the course of history many miracles have been attributed to the statue.)
The church, designed by architect Wilmot Douglas, was dedicated on May 10, 1942 with Toolen presiding. The first resident pastor, Joseph Adams, was appointed on June 21, 1947.
The church was enlarged in the late 1960s, and then rebuilt in 1991 on the same site, but soon outgrew that 250-seat sanctuary. The new building seats 800 and is expandable to 1,000. The downtown building was sold to First Baptist Church of Trussville. The campus includes offices, a parish hall, 13 classrooms, space for a future chapel, and plans for adding a gymnasium, family life center and school in the future.
Priests
- 1939: John Bratton
- 1941: Frank Giri
- 1947: Joseph Adams
- 1967: Charles Bordenca
- 1969: Joseph Kula
- 1977: Desmond Regan
- 1979: John Horgan
- 1981: Roland J. Inkel
- 1986: William Jones
- 1987: Paul Rohling
- 1993: Patrick O'Donoghue
- 2004: William Lucas
References
- Garrison, Greg (January 21, 2007) "Catholics have room to grow in Trussville." Birmingham News.